ITEC Emerging Tech Practice Exam 2025 - Free Emerging Technology Practice Questions and Study Guide

The correct answer identifies a memristor as an electronic element that stores data by changing its resistance based on current. Memristors are a fundamental nonlinear passive two-terminal electrical component that maintains a relationship between the time-integral of current and the voltage across it. This property allows them to "remember" the amount of charge that has previously passed through them, hence their role in data storage.

Unlike capacitors, which store electrical energy in an electric field, and transistors, which act as switches or amplifiers and do not inherently store data, memristors uniquely leverage changes in resistance to store information. Resistors, on the other hand, primarily impede the flow of electrical current and do not change their resistance based on stored data or previous current. The ability of memristors to retain information without a constant power supply positions them as promising elements in the realm of non-volatile memory and brain-inspired computing.