Week Two: Basic Electronics - Posted on 2014-04-24 by Carmon Peery

Week two I learned a lot of cool new things! Things I have never even heard of! I learned about Resistance; the ability to conduct electricity is based on the resistance to the flow of electrons. I learned that certain elements are said to be better conductors of electricity. Some of the best conductors are silver, gold, copper, and aluminum. Resistance is the measure of opposition to the flow of electricity and is measured in ohms. I learned that voltage is named after Alessandro Volta. Voltage is the measure of electromotive force. Higher the pressure=higher the voltage. A single volt is a unit of measure similar to a decibel. 

I learned that current is measured in amperes (amps). Amperes is the measure of the amount of electric charge passing a point in an electric circuit per unit of time. An electric circuit is made up of singular electronic components such as: transistors, capacitors, diodes, resistors, and inductors. Most modern day circuits are conductive material laid out on printed circuit boards. Components are soldered into place on a PCB and connected to each other through conductive material etched into the circuit board itself. A cool thing I learned this week was how to solder! Thank you to my mentor for that! I loved the experience and I am ready to solder some more! 

Electronic circuits can be broken down into two major categories; Analog and digital. Analog circuits are circuits that carry a voltage that is either continuous or changing. Analog circuits can be broken into series and parallel. A series circuit, for example, a string of Christmas lights. If one light goes out the circuit is broken and there is no connectivity to carry the voltage. Parallel circuits is equal amounts of voltage distributed to the components due to how those components are wired.Digital circuit transmits information. It is capable of transmitting binary values in the form of an on or off signal. Binary number systems have two values 1 and 0. In a digital circuit, 1 is usually represented with a positive voltage and 0 is represented with a 0 voltage.

Direct current flows electrons in one direction. It is typically found in batteries, solar panels, and low-voltage applications. All that is required for the transmission of electricity is the movement of electrons. The direction of movement can change and the transmission of current is said to be moving. Alternating current (AC) is the type of electron movement that is present when you plug something into a wall socket. The electrons flow in both directions and change directions 50 or 60 times per second. In the US, the voltage that is standard is 120v. The current alternates at 60 cycles per second.

The journey of electricity!

POWER PLANT --> STEP-UP TRANSFORMER --> TOWER --> TRANSMISSION SUBSTATION --> DISTRIBUTION SUBSTATION --> TRANSFORMERS --> HOME