Part 1 Direct current

1 Basic physical concepts 3

Atoms 3

Protons, neutrons, and the atomic number 4

Isotopes and atomic weights 4

Electrons 5

Ions 5

Compounds 9

Molecules 10

Conductors 11

Insulators 11

Resistors 13

Semiconductors 14

Current 15

Static electricity 15

Electromotive force 16

Nonelectrical energy 18

Quiz 19

2 Electrical units 23

The volt 23

Current flow 24

The ampere 26

Resistance and the ohm 26

Conductance and the siemens 28



Power and the watt 29

Energy and the watt hour 31

Other energy units 33

ac Waves and the hertz 34

Rectification and fluctuating direct current 35

Safety considerations in electrical work 37

Magnetism 38

Magnetic units 39

Quiz 40

3 Measuring devices 44

Electromagnetic deflection 44

Electrostatic deflection 46

Thermal heating 47

Ammeters 48

Voltmeters 49

Ohmmeters 51

Multimeters 53

FET and vacuum-tube voltmeters 54

Wattmeters 54

Watt-hour meters 55

Digital readout meters 56

Frequency counters 57

Other specialized meter types 57

Quiz 60

4 Basic dc circuits 65

Schematic symbols 65

Schematic diagrams 67

Wiring diagrams 68

Voltage/current/resistance circuit 68

Ohm’s Law 69

Current calculations 69

Voltage calculations 71

Resistance calculations 71

Power calculations 72

Resistances in series 73

Resistances in parallel 74

Division of power 75

Resistances in series-parallel 75

Resistive loads in general 77

Quiz 77

5 Direct-current circuit analysis 82

Current through series resistances 82

Voltages across series resistances 83



Voltage across parallel resistances 85

Currents through parallel resistances 86

Power distribution in series circuits 88

Power distribution in parallel circuits 88

Kirchhoff’s first law 89

Kirchhoff’s second law 91

Voltage divider networks 92

Quiz 95

6 Resistors 99

Purpose of the resistor 99

The carbon-composition resistor 102

The wirewound resistor 103

Film type resistors 104

Integrated-circuit resistors 104

The potentiometer 105

The decibel 107

The rheostat 109

Resistor values 110

Tolerance 110

Power rating 110

Temperature compensation 111

The color code 112

Quiz 114

7 Cells and batteries 118

Kinetic and potential energy 118

Electrochemical energy 118

Primary and secondary cells 119

The Weston standard cell 120

Storage capacity 120

Common dime-store cells and batteries 122

Miniature cells and batteries 124

Lead-acid cells and batteries 125

Nickel-cadmium cells and batteries 125

Photovoltaic cells and batteries 127

How large a battery? 128

Quiz 130

8 Magnetism 134

The geomagnetic field 134

Magnetic force 135

Electric charge in motion 136

Flux lines 136

Magnetic polarity 137

Dipoles and monopoles 139





Magnetic field strength 139

Permeability 142

Retentivity 142

Permanent magnets 143

The solenoid 144

The dc motor 145

Magnetic data storage 146

Quiz 149

Test: Part 1 153

Part 2 Alternating current

9 Alternating current basics 165

Definition of alternating current 165

Period and frequency 165

The sine wave 167

The square wave 167

Sawtooth waves 167

Complex and irregular waveforms 169

Frequency spectrum 170

Little bits of a cycle 172

Phase difference 173

Amplitude of alternating current 173

Superimposed direct current 175

The ac generator 176

Why ac? 178

Quiz 178

10 Inductance 183

The property of inductance 183

Practical inductors 184

The unit of inductance 185

Inductors in series 185

Inductors in parallel 186

Interaction among inductors 187

Effects of mutual inductance 188

Air-core coils 189

Powdered-iron and ferrite cores 190

Permeability tuning 190

Toroids 190

Pot cores 192

Filter chokes 192

Inductors at audio frequency 193

Inductors at radio frequency 193

Transmission-line inductors 193





Unwanted inductances 195

Quiz 195

11 Capacitance 199

The property of capacitance 199

Practical capacitors 201

The unit of capacitance 201

Capacitors in series 202

Capacitors in parallel 203

Dielectric materials 204

Paper capacitors 204

Mica capacitors 205

Ceramic capacitors 205

Plastic-film capacitors 206

Electrolytic capcitors 206

Tantalum capacitors 206

Semiconductor capacitors 207

Variable capacitors 207

Tolerance 209

Temperature coefficient 210

Interelectrode capacitance 210

Quiz 211

12 Phase 215

Instantaneous voltage and current 215

Rate of change 216

Sine waves as circular motion 217

Degrees of phase 218

Radians of phase 221

Phase coincidence 221

Phase opposition 222

Leading phase 222

Lagging phase 224

Vector diagrams of phase relationships 225

Quiz 226

13 Inductive reactance 231

Coils and direct current 231

Coils and alternating current 232

Reactance and frequency 233

Points in the RL plane 234

Vectors in the RL plane 235

Current lags voltage 237

Inductance and resistance 238

How much lag? 240

Quiz 243





14 Capacitive reactance 247

Capacitors and direct current 247

Capacitors and alternating current 248

Reactance and frequency 249

Points in the RC plane 251

Vectors in the RC plane 253

Current leads voltage 254

How much lead? 256

Quiz 259

15 Impedance and admittance 264

Imaginary numbers 264

Complex numbers 265

The complex number plane 266

The RX plane 269

Vector representation of impedance 270

Absolute-value impedance 272

Characteristic impedance 272

Conductance 275

Susceptance 275

Admittance 276

The GB plane 277

Vector representation of admittance 279

Why all these different expressions? 279

Quiz 280

16 RLC circuit analysis 284

Complex impedances in series 284

Series RLC circuits 288

Complex admittances in parallel 289

Parallel GLC circuits 292

Converting from admittance to impedance 294

Putting it all together 294

Reducing complicated RLC circuits 295

Ohm’s law for ac circuits 298

Quiz 301

17 Power and resonance in ac circuits 305

What is power? 305

True power doesn’t travel 307

Reactance does not consume power 308

True power, VA power and reactive power 309

Power factor 310

Calculation of power factor 310

How much of the power is true? 313





Power transmission 315

Series resonance 318

Parallel resonance 319

Calculating resonant frequency 319

Resonant devices 321

Quiz 323

18 Transformers and impedance matching 327

Principle of the transformer 327

Turns ratio 328

Transformer cores 329

Transformer geometry 330

The autotransformer 333

Power transformers 334

Audio-frequency transformers 336

Isolation transformers 336

Impedance-transfer ratio 338

Radio-frequency transformers 339

What about reactance? 341

Quiz 342

Test: Part 2 346

Part 3 Basic electronics

19 Introduction to semiconductors 359

The semiconductor revolution 359

Semiconductor materials 360

Doping 362

Majority and minority charge carriers 362

Electron flow 362

Hole flow 363

Behavior of a P-N junction 363

How the junction works 364

Junction capacitance 366

Avalanche effect 366

Quiz 367

20 Some uses of diodes 370

Rectification 370

Detection 371

Frequency multiplication 372

Mixing 373

Switching 374

Voltage regulation 374

Amplitude limiting 374





Frequency control 376

Oscillation and amplification 377

Energy emission 377

Photosensitive diodes 378

Quiz 380

21 Power supplies 383

Parts of a power supply 383

The power transformer 384

The diode 385

The half-wave rectifier 386

The full-wave, center-tap rectifier 387

The bridge rectifier 387

The voltage doubler 389

The filter 390

Voltage regulation 392

Surge current 393

Transient suppression 394

Fuses and breakers 394

Personal safety 395

Quiz 396

22 The bipolar transistor 400

NPN versus PNP 400

NPN biasing 402

PNP biasing 404

Biasing for current amplification 404

Static current amplification 405

Dynamic current amplification 406

Overdrive 406

Gain versus frequency 407

Common-emitter circuit 408

Common-base circuit 409

Common-collector circuit 410

Quiz 411

23 The field-effect transistor 416

Principle of the JFET 416

N-channel versus P-channel 417

Depletion and pinchoff 418

JFET biasing 419

Voltage amplification 420

Drain current versus drain voltage 421

Transconductance 422

The MOSFET 422





Depletion mode versus enhancement mode 425

Common-source circuit 425

Common-gate circuit 426

Common-drain circuit 427

A note about notation 429

Quiz 429

24 Amplifiers 433

The decibel 433

Basic bipolar amplifier circuit 437

Basic FET amplifier circuit 438

The class-A amplifier 439

The class-AB amplifier 440

The class-B amplifier 441

The class-C amplifier 442

PA efficiency 443

Drive and overdrive 445

Audio amplification 446

Coupling methods 447

Radio-frequency amplification 450

Quiz 453

25 Oscillators 457

Uses of oscillators 457

Positive feedback 458

Concept of the oscillator 458

The Armstrong oscillator 459

The Hartley circuit 459

The Colpitts circuit 461

The Clapp circuit 461

Stability 463

Crystal-controlled oscillators 464

The voltage-controlled oscillator 465

The PLL frequency synthesizer 466

Diode oscillators 467

Audio waveforms 467

Audio oscillators 468

IC oscillators 469

Quiz 469

26 Data transmission 474

The carrier wave 474

The Morse code 475

Frequency-shift keying 475

Amplitude modulation for voice 478

Single sideband 480





Frequency and phase modulation 482

Pulse modulation 485

Analog-to-digital conversion 487

Image transmission 487

The electromagnetic field 490

Transmission media 493

Quiz 495

27 Data reception 499

Radio wave propagation 499

Receiver specifications 502

Definition of detection 504

Detection of AM signals 504

Detection of CW signals 505

Detection of FSK signals 506

Detection of SSB signals 506

Detection of FM signals 506

Detection of PM signals 508

Digital-to-analog conversion 509

Digital signal processing 510

The principle of signal mixing 511

The product detector 512

The superheterodyne 515

A modulated-light receiver 517

Quiz 517

28 Integrated circuits and data storage media 521

Boxes and cans 521

Advantages of IC technology 522

Limitations of IC technology 523

Linear versus digital 524

Types of linear ICs 524

Bipolar digital ICs 527

MOS digital ICs 527

Component density 529

IC memory 530

Magnetic media 532

Compact disks 535

Quiz 535

29 Electron tubes 539

Vacuum versus gas-filled 539

The diode tube 540

The triode 541

Extra grids 542

Some tubes are obsolete 544





Radio-frquency power amplifiers 544

Cathode-ray tubes 546

Video camera tubes 547

Traveling-wave tubes 549

Quiz 551

30 Basic digital principles 555

Numbering systems 555

Logic signals 557

Basic logic operations 559

Symbols for logic gates 561

Complex logic operators 561

Working with truth tables 562

Boolean algebra 564

The flip-flop 564

The counter 566

The register 567

The digital revolution 568

Quiz 568

Test: Part 3 572

Part 4 Advanced electronics and related technology

31 Acoustics, audio, and high fidelity 583

Acoustics 583

Loudness and phase 585

Technical considerations 587

Basic components 589

Other components 591

Specialized systems 596

Recorded media 597

Electromagnetic interference 601

Quiz 602

32 Wireless and personal communications systems 606

Cellular communications 606

Satellite systems 608

Acoustic transducers 612

Radio-frequency transducers 613

Infrared transducers 614

Wireless local area networks 615

Wireless security systems 616

Hobby radio 617

Noise 619

Quiz 620





33 Computers and the Internet 624

The microprocessor and CPU 624

Bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes 626

The hard drive 626

Other forms of mass storage 628

Random-access memory 629

The display 631

The printer 633

The modem 635

The Internet 636

Quiz 640

34 Robotics and artificial intelligence 644

Asimov’s three laws 644

Robot generations 645

Independent or dependent? 646

Robot arms 648

Robotic hearing and vision 652

Robotic navigation 657

Telepresence 661

The mind of the machine 663

Quiz 665