What term describes the series of electrical pulses processed by microprocessors?

The term that describes the series of electrical pulses processed by microprocessors is "Words." In computing, a word is a standard unit of data used by a particular processor design. It refers to the amount of data that a microprocessor can handle in a single operation, which can vary depending on the architecture of the microprocessor.

Words are typically measured in bits, where a common word size today is 32 bits or 64 bits. The word length is important because it affects the performance and capability of a processor, as it determines how much data can be processed at once. In contrast, bits and bytes are smaller units of data. A byte consists of 8 bits, and while these terms are fundamental to understanding data representation, they do not specifically encapsulate the concept of the length of data that a microprocessor processes in a single instruction.

Messages, although relevant in terms of data communication, do not pertain directly to the operational semantics of how microprocessors process data. Therefore, "Words" is the most accurate term for this context regarding the functioning and processing capability of microprocessors.