What is Electronics?

J Gamble — 2010-08-11T19:25:37

The word electronics has half of it's name derived from the word electron, which would imply that electrons would have some thing to do with the process, study or science. So you can see at some point we are going to have to take a step back to study what electrons are and where they come from. But for now I can give a simple definition of what it is. Let say you have a battery, the battery has a negative terminal and it has a positive terminal. The electrons are at the negative terminal and they want to get to the positive terminal. Electronics is the process of letting the electrons get to the positive terminal but not without them doing something for us in the process. It's like a mouse moving through a maze to get the reward when he gets through it. The electrons are symbolic to the mouse, the electronic circuit is symbolic to the maze and the positive terminal is symbolic to the reward at the end of the journey. The electronic maze is constructed with electronic components, they are resistors, capacitors, diodes and inductors. There are more but these are the building blocks.
With these components we construct electronic mazes like TV's, Cell Phones and Computers just to name a few. These are very complex items but they all use the basic building block electronic components mentioned above. When electrons flow through these components they each behave in a certain fashion. Therefore we will have to study each of these components to learn their behavior. In the coming months we will do so plus discuss current and voltage and their relationship to each other with the various components. We will discuss AC and DC voltage. You will learn how to build simple circuits, you will be able to test your knowledge with quizzes. This site is primary for the beginner but will have items and articles to capture the interest of the professional technician or engineer. Stay tuned much more to come.

A good reference for the professional is: "Compendium of Basic Electronics" by Wijono Hadikusumo. To view more information on the book. Click Here!