Electronics All-in-One For Dummies. Doug Lowe

What Can You Do with Electronics? Looking inside Electronic Devices

      2  Chapter 2: Understanding Electricity Pondering the Wonder of Electricity Looking for Electricity Peering Inside Atoms Examining the Elements Minding Your Charges Conductors and Insulators Understanding Current Understanding Voltage Comparing Direct and Alternating Current Understanding Power

      3  Chapter 3: Creating Your Mad-Scientist Lab Setting Up Your Mad-Scientist Lab Equipping Your Mad-Scientist Lab Stocking up on Basic Electronic Components One Last Thing

      4  Chapter 4: Staying Safe Facing the Realities of Electrical Dangers Other Ways to Stay Safe Keeping Safety Equipment on Hand Protecting Your Stuff from Static Discharges

      5  Chapter 5: Reading Schematic Diagrams Introducing a Simple Schematic Diagram Laying Out a Circuit To Connect or Not to Connect Looking at Commonly Used Symbols Simplifying Ground and Power Connections Labeling Components in a Schematic Diagram Representing Integrated Circuits in a Schematic Diagram

      6  Chapter 6: Building Projects Looking at the Process of Building an Electronic Project Envisioning Your Project Designing Your Circuit Prototyping Your Circuit on a Solderless Breadboard Constructing Your Circuit on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Finding an Enclosure for Your Circuit

      7  Chapter 7: The Secrets of Successful Soldering Understanding How Solder Works Procuring What You Need to Solder Preparing to Solder Soldering a Solid Solder Joint Checking Your Work Desoldering

      8  Chapter 8: Measuring Circuits with a Multimeter Looking at Multimeters What a Multimeter Measures Using Your Multimeter

      9  Chapter 9: Catching Waves with an Oscilloscope Understanding Oscilloscopes Examining Waveforms Calibrating an Oscilloscope Displaying Signals

Chapter 1

      Welcome to Electronics

      IN THIS CHAPTER

       Understanding electricity

       Defining the difference between electrical and electronic circuits

       Perusing the most common uses for electronics

       Looking at a typical electronic circuit board

      I thought it would be fun to start this book with a story, so please bear with me. In January of 1880, Thomas Edison filed a patent for a new type of device that created light by passing an electric current through a carbon-coated filament contained in a sealed glass tube. In other words, Edison invented the light bulb. (Students of history will tell you that Edison didn’t really invent the light bulb; he just improved on previous ideas. But that’s not the point of the story.)

      Edison’s light bulb patent was approved, but he still had a lot of work to do before he could begin manufacturing a commercially viable light bulb. The biggest problem with his design was that the lamps dimmed the more you used them. This was because when the carbon-coated filament inside the bulb got hot, it shed little particles of carbon, which stuck to the inside of the glass. These particles resulted in a black coating on the inside of the bulb, which obstructed the light.

      Edison and his team of engineers tried desperately to discover a way to prevent this shedding of carbon. One day, someone on his team noticed