Course Topic 1.

Electronics Fundamentals

Overview:

This history of the different milestones of Electronics is discussed in this topic. The
charged particles like proton and electron are included to further understand the effect of the
valence electrons in determining the characteristics of different materials. Basic principles of
electricity like current, voltage and resistance are also explained to help the student
understand their relationship with each other.

Learning Objectives:
After successful completion of this topic, you should be able to:
➢ Understand the history of electronics.
➢ Explain the basic electrical principles including the review of atomic theory.
➢ Differentiate the different materials according to its characteristics.

Course Materials:

2.a. History of Electronics

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2.b. Basic Electrical Principles

Types of Electronic Components:

1. Passive electronic components- are components that do not generate energy, but
can store or dissipate it. It includes resistors, inductors, and capacitors.
2. Active electronic components – are components that rely on an external source to
control or modify electrical signals. It includes diode, transistor, SCRs, etc.

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Common Electronic Components:

Resistor is a component that limits the flow of current. Resistance is the

characteristic of resistor which determines how good the resistor can oppose current
flow, measured in ohms. Fixed resistors are components that have resistances that do
not change when subjected to different situations.
Variable resistors are resistors that can change its resistance. They are usually
rated at its maximum value.

The capacitors are components that can store electrical energy. This ability of the
capacitor is measured by its capacitance in unit of farad.

The inductor is also called coil. If the

capacitor can directly stored energy from
the source, the inductors can only induced
or store energy when changing current is
flowing in the component. Transformers
are examples of inductors.

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Basic Materials Used in this Course:

Breadboard is used to construct the circuit without the need of soldering the components.
Soldering means we are attaching an electronic component to another electronic component by
using a soldering iron and soldering lead. While the multitester is a test instrument that can
measure resistance, voltage and current.

In practical activities (due to the Covid pandemic, practical activities are only advised to be done
at home with the supervision of people with the required knowledge to avoid accidents), some
tools are needed like the pliers to hold components while being soldered. Desoldering tool is
used if you want to remove the joint between components.

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 Wire stripper is used to remove the cover or insulation of the wire. Soldering lead is the
chemical we used to join components. Printed circuit board is where we put the components to
form the circuit we designed. Ferric chloride is the chemical we used to make the printed circuit
board design (pcb design).

Safety Reminders:

Make your connections clear and can be easily removed so that if accident happens,
you can easily remove the power. You know that water is a good conductor of current so do not
drink in your work area to prevent any spill of liquids in the circuits that you are doing,

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 This what happens when current flows in your body:

As you can see from the figure above, a current of 30-75 mA is already affecting our
body. It can make you lose your consciousness due to respiratory paralysis. Take extra
precautions when dealing with high values of current.

Basic Electricity:

electrons

nucleus

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 The red part of the figure represents the nucleus where we can find the proton and
neutrons. Electrons are the tiny dots in the orbits.

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Supplemental Materials

- https://www.wisc-online.com/learn/technical/electronics-dc/dce19218/methods-of-
producing-electricity
- https://www.wisc-online.com/learn/career-clusters/stem/dce19318/how-current-requires-
voltage
- https://www.wisc-online.com/learn/career-clusters/stem/dce15911/conductors-insulators-
and-resistors
- Meade, R. L., & Diffenderfer, R. (2007). Foundations of electronics: circuits and devices
(electron flow version). Australia: Thomson/Delmar Learning.

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SEATWORK # 1 History and Basic Electrical Principles
1. Why is the capacitor considered as a passive electronic component?
2. What will happen to the current when the resistance increases? Why?
3. Describe the difference between analog ang digital multi-testers.
4. If a current of 4 amperes should be passed through a wire for 2 seconds, how many electrons will
be needed? Show your solution.
5. Give two examples of materials which are not given in this IM, that does not allow current flow

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