Electronics

Voltage

• measured in volts

• preassure from an electrical circuit’s power source that pushes charges electrons through a conducting loop

Current

• Measured in amps

• Measure of flow of electricity

• ammeter

Resistors

• Measured in Ohms

• Used to control the flow of electrons in a circuit

• Variable resistance - resistance can be changed

• Fixed resistance - resistance can’t be changed

Capacitor

• A device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other

• Passive electronic component with 2 terminals

• Effect of capacitor is know as capacitance

Transistors

• 1947

• semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals and electrical power

• composed of semiconductor material usually with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit

• represents binarys 1s and 0s

Intregrated circuits

• (chip) electronic component that contains multiple discrete components combined together into logic circuits on a single silicon board

• contains resistors, capacitors, and inductors

Moore’s Law

• observation that the number of transistors in a small integrated circuit doubles about every 2 years

• May come to an end in the 2020s, transistors will be unable to operate in smaller circuits at higher temperature

• Cooling the transistor will take more energy than the energy that passes through the transistor itself

Analogue vs Digital

• Analogue is continuos. Digital is non - continuous

• Analogue has various amplitudes. Digital is on or off (0 or 1)

• Analogue signal examples - printers, audio devices, TV

• Digital signal examples - computers, CDs, DVDs