Rotation 1: Electronics - wrafab/taor GitHub Wiki

In this rotation we learned about the basics of electronics, including the names and schematics of the parts and Ohm's Law. As practices for our knowledge in electric circuits, we pieced together different schematics in the Electronics Kit. The pictures for my completed exercises are as follows:

Exercise 1

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

Exercise 3

Exercise 4

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

Exercise 5

Exercise 6

Exercise 6

Exercise 7

Exercise 7

Exercise 8

Exercise 8

Exercise 9

Exercise 9

Exercise 10

Exercise 10

Exercise 11

Exercise 11

Exercise 12

Exercise 12

Exercise 13

Exercise 13

Exercise 14

Exercise 14

Exercise 15

Exercise 15

Exercise 16

Exercise 16

Exercise 17

Exercise 17

Exercise 18

Exercise 18

Exercise 19

Exercise 19

Exercise 20

Exercise 20

We also learned in practice what the components in a electronic circuit do:

  • A capacitor stores up a small amount of charge and discharges it in the circuit when prompted.
  • A transistor can either act as a amplifier for the electric signal or as an on-off switch in the circuit.
  • A resistor offers resistance in the circuit to control the magnitude of the current in the circuit so that other components are not burned.
  • An LED emits light.
  • A diode is a direction controlling device where the current can only flow through it one way and not the other.
  • A potentiometer is a device that can provide different levels of resistance and can therefore regulate the magnitude of the current in the circuit.
  • A breadboard is the place where we can make a circuit using the inlaid connections.
  • A multimeter can measure many different things, including voltage, current, resistance, continuity, etc.
  • A switch is an device that can break or complete the circuit.

From Ohm's Law I learned that voltage is the driving force/potential for a circuit, whereas current measures the rate of charges moving through the circuit. To use the baseball metaphor, voltage is the speed of the ball and current is the size of the ball. Resistance measures the extent where the media for electricity resists the flow of electricity. According to Ohm's Law, for a electronic component the voltage across equals the product of the current through and its resistance. There are two different types of power supplies: AC and DC. AC, or alternating current, describes the fact that the voltage of the power supply oscillates in a sinusoidal fashion above and below ground. DC, or direct current, describes a power supply that only provides a stable, above ground, voltage.