• Question: How does remote control in TV work?

    Asked by dangermousegirl98 to Amy on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Hi dangermousegirl!

      Thanks for the chat today!

      Remote controls are pretty helpful — with just the press of a button, you can change the channel on the TV! But they don’t actually work magically they work thanks to light! (Instead of super-powers.) Have you ever looked at the tip of your TV remote? There’s a small little spot on the end that usually looks like a plastic bead or a fake eye! This little “eye” on the end of the remote sends out a special signal of infrared light when you press the buttons on the remote. You can’t see the light, but a sensor on the TV can detect it. Depending on which button you press, the light flashes in different sequences, like two short blinks and one long blink (sort of like morse code). The TV is programmed to know which blinks mean “volume up” and which blinks mean “channel seven”! Smart huh? 🙂

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