Amplifier

Just as a faucet is not the source of the water it dispenses, an amplifier does not create the energy it controls. An amplifier draws on the power of the weak input signal and supplements it with energy provided by a power source, increasing the power of the signal.

A replacement battery installed in a portable cassette-tape player supplies it with all the energy that will eventually create sounds during the life of that battery. The battery contains no information about the music or speech the player will eventually produce. Amplifiers in the tape player make it possible for the program on a compact disc, cassette tape, or a radio signal to dispense the battery's energy at a controlled rate as needed to produce the desired sounds.