If you are squeamish about electricity or don’t care about electricity you may want to skip this one. But we’re going to talk about some things at are pretty neat, central to the world of electronics and downright cool if you’d like to stick around. Recent blogs have talked about resistors, capacitors and inductors which, …
The purpose of fuses is relatively easy to grasp. A fuse interrupts a circuit (turns off) if the current flow (amps) is more than expected or more than the circuit components including wires etc. can safely handle. High current is usually the result of a short circuit, the failure of a device connected to the …
Inductors and capacitors both provide short term storage of electrical energy but in different ways and with different goals. A capacitor physically stores electrons and acts as a source of voltage. An inductor stores electrical current in a magnetic field and acts as a source of current. Although not present in all inductors, a core …
Both capacitors and inductors are “reactive” components. Unlike resistors, capacitors and inductors store electricity on a short term basis but in different ways. For me, the capacitor is a little easier to understand so let’s start with it. For all practical purposes, capacitors consist of two pieces of conductive material (think aluminum foil) separated by …
The purpose of a diode is to allow the flow of electrical current in only one direction. The ability to control current flow is very useful in electronics applications. Diodes have been around in one form or another for a long time. In the days of vacuum tubes, a “diode” was a tube with a …
The lowly resistor is probably the electronic component that is most familiar to most of us. Its one and only purpose is to limit the number of electrons that flow through a circuit. The “poorly conductive material” used in the vast majority of resistors is a mixture of carbon with various other “stuff” to hold …
In a previous blog, we talked about the effect that different waveforms have on RMS vs. Peak voltage. Now we’re going to look at the ramifications of that when it comes to power consumption. For purposes of discussion, we are going to use an old-fashioned light bulb with a filament – something that’s easier for most …
Over the years I have made tens if not hundreds of efforts to clarify the meaning of the term “power” as it applies to the capabilities of ultrasonic cleaning systems. Despite these efforts, a functional means of rating the capability of ultrasonic cleaning systems is still undefined. There are several conventions and declarations. But in …
The blog A Little About RMS introduced the concept RMS (Root Mean Squared) as a way of expressing the equivalent effect of alternating current vs. direct current electricity in the power consumed by a resistive load. Now would be an excellent time to read that one again before going ahead with this one. As part …
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