AT 223

BASIC ELECTRONICS

(Prelim)
What is electricity?
• Electricity is the flow of electrical power or
charge. It is a secondary energy source which
means that we get it from the conversion of
other sources of energy, like coal, natural gas,
oil, nuclear power and other natural sources,
which are called primary sources. The energy
sources we use to make electricity can be
renewable or non-renewable.
• Before electricity generation began over 100
years ago, houses were lit with kerosene
lamps, food was cooled in iceboxes, and
rooms were warmed by wood-burning or coal-
burning stoves.
• Benjamin Franklin's experiment with a kite
one stormy night in Philadelphia, the
principles of electricity gradually became
understood.
• Thomas Edison helped change everyone's life, he
perfected his invention, the electric light bulb.

• Prior to 1879, direct current (DC) electricity had

been used in arc lights for outdoor lighting.

• In the late-1800s, Nikola Tesla pioneered the

generation, transmission, and use of alternating
current (AC) electricity, which can be transmitted
over much greater distances than direct current.
Types of Electricity
• Static Electricity
• Static electricity is when electrical charges
build up on the surface of a material. It is
usually caused by rubbing materials together.
The result of a build-up of static electricity is
that objects may be attracted to each other or
may even cause a spark to jump from one to
the other.
• Current Electricity
• Current is the rate of flow of electrons. It is
produced by moving electrons and it is
measured in amperes. Unlike static electricity,
current electricity must flow through a
conductor, usually copper wire.
Two main kinds of electric current
• There are two main kinds of electric current.
Direct (DC) and Alternating (AC). It's easy to
remember. Direct current is like the energy
you get from a battery. Alternating current is
like the plugs in the wall. The big difference
between the two is that DC is a flow of energy
while AC can turn on and off.
There are three primary electrical parameters: the
volt, the ampere and the ohm.
• "Voltage" (V) is the potential for energy to
move. The characteristics of voltage are like that
of water flowing through pipes.
• An "amp", short for ampere, is a unit of electrical
current which SI defines in terms of other base
units by measuring the electromagnetic force
between electrical conductors carrying electric
current.
• Ohms is the standard unit of electrical
resistance in the International System of
Units(SI), formally defined to be the electrical
resistance between two points of a conductor
when a constant potential difference applied
between these points produces in this
conductor a current of one ampere.
 Ohms Law and Power
• The electrical current flowing through a fixed
linear resistance is directly proportional to the
voltage applied across it, and also inversely
proportional to the resistance. This
relationship between the Voltage, Current and
Resistance forms the basis of Ohms Law
 Electrical Power in Circuits
• Electrical Power, ( P ) in a circuit is
the rate at which energy is absorbed
or produced within a circuit. A
source of energy such as a voltage
will produce or deliver power while
the connected load absorbs it. Light
bulbs and heaters for example,
absorb electrical power and convert
it into either heat, or light, or both.
The higher their value or rating in
watts the more electrical power they
are likely to consume.
 Basic Electronic Components
• Passive Electronic Components - These
components can store or maintains energy
either in the form of current or voltage.
• Active Electronic Components - These
components rely on a source of energy and
are able to control the electron flow through
them.
 Active Electronic Components
• Diodes
• A diode is a device that
allows current to flow in
one direction and usually
made with semiconductor
material. It has two
terminals, anode and
cathode terminals. These
are of different types like
PN diodes, Zener diodes,
LEDs, photo diodes, etc.
• Transistors
A transistor is a three terminal
semiconductor device. Mostly it is used
as switching device and also as an
amplifier. This switching device can be a
voltage or current controlled. By
controlling the voltage applied to the
one terminal controls the current flow
through the other two terminals.
Transistors are of two types, namely
bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and
field effect transistors (FET). And further
these can be PNP and NPN transistors.
• Integrated Circuits

• An Integrated circuit is a
special component which
is fabricated with
thousands of transistors,
resistors, diodes and
other electronic
components on a tiny
silicon chip. These are
the building blocks of
current electronic
devices like cell phones,
computers, etc. These
can be analog or digital
integrated circuits.
• Batteries
• Batteries are most common
power source for standalone
industrial, domestic and
handheld device applications. It
converts chemical energy into
electrical energy through
electrochemical discharge
reactions. These consist of one
or more cells and each cell
contains an anode, cathode and
the electrolyte. The battery cells
are classified into two types
namely primary cells and
secondary cells. The primary
cells are not of rechargeable
type but the secondary cells cab
be rechargeable.
 Passive Electronic Components
• Capacitors
A capacitor made from two conductive
plates with an insulator between them
and it stores electrical energy in the
form of an electric field.

A capacitor works like a tiny

rechargeable battery with low capacity.
The time it takes to discharge a capacitor
is usually only a split second. And so is
the time to recharge it.

These capacitors are different types like

film, ceramic, electrolytic and variable
capacitors.
• Inductors
• An inductor is a passive electrical
device (typically a conducting coil)
that introduces inductance into a
electric circuit. It is basically a coil
of wire with many winding, often
wound around a core made of a
magnetic material, like iron.
Simplest form of an inductor is
made up of a coil of wire. When
current flows through a coil (or any
wire) it produces a magnetic field
in the space outside the wire, and
the coil acts just like any natural,
permanent magnet, attracting iron
and other magnets.
• Resistors
• A resistor is a component that resists the flow of current. It’s
one of the most basic components used in electronic circuits.
Resistor works based on the principle of Ohm’s law which
states that “voltage applied across the terminals of a resistor
is directly proportional to the current flowing through it”
V=IR
• Fixed resistors:
• This type of resistor is
used to set the right
conditions in an
electronic circuit. The
values of resistance in
fixed resistors are
determined during the
design phase of the
circuit, based on this
there is no need to adjust
the circuit.
• Variable resistors:
• A device that is used to
change the resistance
according to our
requirements in an electronic
circuit is known as a variable
resistor. These resistors
comprise of a fixed resistor
element and a slider which
taps on to the resistor
element. Variable resistors
are commonly used as a
three terminal device for
calibration of the device.
Resistor Color Code