WEBVTT - Electronics 1:Theory 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technologies with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:17.840 tech stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello there, everyone, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.400 and welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette. 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:23.560 I'm the tech editor here at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:27.560 Sitting across from me, as always, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:32.760 Hey there, very subdued. It's a cloudy day outside where 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:34.479 we are at the moment that we're recording this, and 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:36.960 I think we're both sort of mellow today. Yeah, well 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.720 step it up. Also, blood loss has affected me someone 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.199 the shaving incident. Yes, we we won't go into detail. 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:48.360 We'll just the incident is good enough. The surgeons hope 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:53.440 to reattach his scalp. Anyway, Yeah, I took just a 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:58.920 little off the top. Nice, Okay, So I'm a I 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:02.360 actually am feeling charged up about our podcast this afternoon. 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.319 I found it shocking. You know, we're gonna do that 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.480 all all podcasts that people right and complain about our 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:13.240 overpunnings as well, they should really frankly, yes, yes, frankly, 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.160 so it's a pun that no one's gonna get yet. Um, 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:23.600 so we are tackling electronics and basic electronics. But in 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.039 order to talk about electronics, you can't. You can't really 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.840 just leap into it because it really makes absolutely no 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.080 sense unless you have and here's another pun a grounding 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:40.960 and electrical theory. Yes, I can't. I didn't even mean 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:42.679 to do that. And as I was saying, and I 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:47.760 just so, do you want to start small? Yeah, let's um, 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.880 let's start electricity. Start small. Yeah, we're electricity all has 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.120 to do with the movements of a particular subatomic particle 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.800 that would be the electron. Right, do you see a 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:03.520 pattern here with electricity, electron onyx electrons? Yes, yes, I do, 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.600 not to be negative or anything. Alright, So see the 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.079 the nucleus of an atom is made up of protons 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:14.160 and neutrons, and you know, revolving around that are the 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:17.560 electrons in those outer shells, although revolving is probably uh 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:20.840 not terribly accurate, zipping around. Okay, we'll go with that, 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.679 zipping around because they're not necessarily any circular, right, They're 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.919 actually pretty erratic and and funky. The more we know 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.840 about electronics, or sorry, not electronics, but the more we 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:35.560 know about atomic behavior, the more bizarre, it appears to me. 0:02:37.240 --> 0:02:40.400 It seems like as we as we get gain more information, 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:42.280 it becomes harder and harder for me to get a 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:45.079 grip on it. But in general, yes, the electrons are 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:49.480 the negatively charged particles that orbit around the nucleus of 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:53.480 an atom and some you know, it all depends on 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:55.720 what what kind of material you're talking about. I mean, 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.440 different materials have different number of electrons orbiting them. Um. 0:02:59.520 --> 0:03:03.120 Some of have what we often call free electrons and 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:05.359 some do not. You can tell the ones that do 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:09.880 because they have a sign outside the sets free electrons. 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:12.320 There's a big arrow and the guys like twirling it 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:13.760 every now and then, throwing it up in the air. 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:17.560 And no, that's not what that means. Um. But but 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.920 materials that have free electrons tend to be able to 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:24.919 pass them along pretty easily. And so those are what 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:29.440 we call conductors. They they are able to conduct the 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.440 flow of electrons. Uh. And then you have um, other 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.240 elements that are not that that. You know, they pretty 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.080 much have their electrons locked up. They don't have any free, 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:44.600 real free electrons in their their electron shell. Um. Those 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.600 are not good conductors. They're not so they're they're actually 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:52.920 insulators where it actually it resists the flow of electrons. 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.760 So using these different materials you can create a pathway 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:01.480 for electrons to flow through UH. And so that that's 0:04:01.520 --> 0:04:04.360 the very basis of electronics. Let's talk a little bit 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.360 about some of the terms you're gonna run into when 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:10.640 you whenever you chat about electronics. UM, let's talk about 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:15.480 current and let's also talk about one of the UH, 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:20.520 the great thinkers in American history who influenced tons and 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:26.440 tons of different UH ideas and political movements, not and 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.640 and just inventions in general. I'm of course talking about 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.640 Samuel Adams, the beer maker. No, I'm sorry, Benjamin Franklin, 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:37.080 Benjamin Franklin. I was just thinking of the inventor who 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.520 was most important to me. I'm just waiting for the 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.360 listener mail to come in on that one. Hey, I 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:46.440 bet our listeners appreciate Samuel Adams like I do. Um. 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.400 Actually I probably appreciate him more, but the so so 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:54.440 Benji as I like to call him, or Frankie Baby. 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.839 Sometimes depending on how much how often we've been over 0:04:57.880 --> 0:04:59.560 to sam Adams, did I end up on stuff you 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:04.920 should know? So, Hey, Chuck, get a load of this guy, 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:10.559 you know, um so, so Benjamin Franklin, he he observed this, uh, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.279 this phenomenon, and he came up with the concept of current. Now, 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:20.279 when Franklin was thinking about this, this phenomenon, he came 0:05:20.320 --> 0:05:23.800 to the conclusion that current was a flow of positive 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:29.360 particles moving across the pathway when across a charge differential. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.880 Really okay, so he thought of current as the flow 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:37.400 of positive to negative Now we know that current is 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.760 caused by the flow of electrons, which are negatively charged particles. 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.520 So even though current goes positive to negative, the electron 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.159 flow is actually negative to positive. So, in other words, 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.120 when you talk about current, it's the opposite direction of 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.159 electron flow, which is incredibly confusing for people who happened 0:05:55.200 --> 0:06:00.320 to be English majors that would be USA. So so, 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.320 first of all, get that, let that sink in. Current 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:07.040 is essentially that you're talking about electron flow, but it's 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:09.760 moving in the opposite direction of electron flow. Because Benjamin 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:14.920 Franklin was a dufus about this. Well, you know, he 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.080 was what you might call a pioneer in the field. 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:21.360 I'd call him the Tiger Woods of his day, would 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.080 you really, yes, yes, I'm not gonna go any further 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:31.360 with um wow. Oh no, no, no, no, we're still 0:06:31.480 --> 0:06:35.480 We're still current. We are current. And actually for current 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:40.160 to flow, as you mentioned earlier, you need a pathway. Generally, 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:43.640 you're gonna need it to be a complete pathway also 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.839 known as a circuit. If there's a break in that circuit, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.799 then the electrons are not going to flow. Um. Which 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:54.359 is important. Yeah, not only because it's important to know 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:58.279 to prevent electrocuting yourself, it's also important to know if 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.240 you're actually going to make something that I'm volves the 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.680 flow of electricity, and it also also tells you another 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:09.080 very basic thing that we'll get into later on, probably 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:13.520 not in this podcast, but maybe in a subsequent one. Switches, 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.920 which are essentially manufactured breaks in a circuit. Yes, you can. 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:20.520 You can create a break in a circuit so that 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.080 you control whether or not electrons are flowing through that 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.800 particular circuit at any given time. When when the circuit, 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:31.440 when the switches closed, the electrons can flow through, and 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.160 when it's open then they can't. You know, that part 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.560 of electricity is actually pretty simple. Yeah, it's when you 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:42.160 start getting into some of the other concepts that it 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.400 starts getting complicated. First of all, when we're talking about current, 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:50.560 we're talking, uh, we measure that in a ampiers, also 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:55.320 known as amps, although because one ampier is actually pretty 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.240 darn big, we usually talk about milla amps. Yeah, there 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:01.640 are a lot of There are a lot of different 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:08.960 terms that are used to measure electricity in different capacities. Sorry, um, 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.320 and their name for a number of different people. Um, 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:15.040 and piers are one watts or another. Of course, what 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:23.800 electricity is you know, measured in watts overall, but current 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.840 is measured in ampiers, right and then uh, so you'll 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:28.960 hear other terms as well, so you know current? What 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:34.720 about voltage? Voltage? Voltage is a little confusing, um for 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:38.760 for someone who isn't terribly familiar with electrical fields and 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:42.280 uh and the like. Voltage is an electrical force that 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:47.960 exists between two charge distributions, and we measure it in volts. There. 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:51.160 That's surprising, right, So what are we talking about when 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.560 we say an electrical force that exists between two charge distributions? 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:59.199 Does that actually mean? Okay, so think of electrical charges 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:01.800 the same and in the same general sense as we 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.480 talk about magnets, because, as it turns out, electricity and 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:10.800 magnetism have a really strong relationship with one another. Um 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.360 one can induce the other. In fact, that's true, and 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.920 as a matter of fact, that's very important to the 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:21.440 production of electricity. We'll get into So if you if 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:26.080 you're familiar with magnets, you know that the two of 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.559 the same kind of of poles, like north pole to 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:34.040 north pole, repel one another, but opposite poles attract. So 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:36.320 a north pole south pole will attract one another. So 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:38.600 if you put the north pole of one magnet near 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.840 the south pole of another magnet, and they're close enough, 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:45.120 they will pull one another close together. The same sort 0:09:45.160 --> 0:09:48.800 of thing can be said about charge. A positive charge 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:52.760 is attracted to a negative charge vice versa, whereas similar 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.680 charges repel one another. So if you have a positive 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.880 charge on one side and a negative charge on the 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:02.880 other side, the the force between the two, that's the voltage. 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.280 And you can think of it as if you have 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:11.200 a particle, a positively charged particle that's going to move 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:16.000 away from the positively charged field. Okay, So let's let's 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:17.920 say you've got you the positive field on your right 0:10:18.000 --> 0:10:20.839 and the negative field on the left. Okay, Now you've 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:23.720 got a positive particle that you are inserting between the two. 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:26.439 All Right, the positive field on the right is going 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:30.600 to push that particle because it's the same charge positive 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:32.800 to positive. The negative field and left is going to 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:37.280 pull that particle because it's opposite charge. Right, So the uh, 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:41.000 the force but that it takes to move that, that's 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:44.600 what you're talking about with the whole voltage. That's that's 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:49.880 the whole concept there, and that depends on a multiple factors. 0:10:49.960 --> 0:10:52.600 But uh, the other way that you can think of voltage, 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:54.480 this is the way that we actually describe it in 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.600 our article on how electricity works, which is extremely helpful. 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.760 By the way, do you recommend reading it? Is if 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.440 you think of current as electron flow, you can think 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:07.640 of voltage as the pressure behind the current. So the 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:12.400 greater the voltage, the harder it is pushing those electrons. 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.800 All Right, all right, yeah, I got it. We've got 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:18.959 another concept that we have to tackle though, because Lord knows, 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.920 electronics aren't hard enough. Really, Benjamin, really, do you see 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.960 what you started here? I mean, yes, granted, without this 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:30.000 kind of knowledge, I wouldn't have a job, But seriously, 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.360 this made my head hurt more than it already was. 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:39.559 But to the incident. But his uh, but his his work, 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:43.000 you know, his experiments held the key to all of 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:49.680 this knowledge. Huh, go fly a height. Um. So the 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:52.080 other thing we have to think about is resistance. So 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.880 you want to talk about ohms, then yes, on the 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:59.559 range so uh, a range of holmes. Okay, I'm sorry 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.320 being silly. So resistance is another term that you're going 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:07.520 to encounter whenever you're looking into electronics. Resistance refers to 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:13.160 the reduction in current flow. Now, there's all materials have 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:16.760 some sort of electrical resistance, all right, so you can 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:22.200 think of Uh, materials with high resistance don't allow electrons 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:25.280 to flow through very freely. With low resistance, electrons can 0:12:25.320 --> 0:12:30.079 flow very quickly. And it depends on two different elements, 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:36.200 not just saying elements. Yere two different factors. It's so 0:12:36.240 --> 0:12:39.000 hard to talk about this without confusing things. Two different factors. 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.960 One is the kind of material you're talking about, so 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:46.120 like things like copper, copper has is good it's very 0:12:46.200 --> 0:12:51.720 very good conductor, right, Um. But also the diameter of 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:56.400 the pathway. So in other words, a wire that is 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:02.880 thick has a lower resistance than a and wire. And uh, 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.960 this is important because so if if you think of 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.440 again we're talking about the the analogy of of if 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.200 vault is the pressure behind the current. Resistance kind of 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.560 talks about how big are the pipes that will allow 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.520 the current to go through. So if the pipes are 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:24.040 very large, then the current flows pretty easily, there's not 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.160 a lot of pressure there. If the pipes are very narrow, 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:30.640 there's much more pressure. Uh. And in the case of electronics, 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:35.199 pressure pretty much goes too comes around as a heat. 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.560 So let's say that you have a very very thin 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.800 wire and you're trying to push a high voltage current 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:47.480 through UM, it's gonna heat up really quickly. In fact, 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.000 if your voltage is too high UM and the current 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.760 is if it's if it's just too much for that 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.839 that wire to whole handle, it'll melt. So you need 0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:01.920 to have a heavier gauge wire that case UM or 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:04.280 actually a lower gauge wire. Because that's the other thing 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:09.680 that's confusing with electronics. Things that you think, okay, more 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:15.240 means means that it's gonna be bigger, not always as 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.000 you as your gauge gets larger in a wire, the 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.640 wire it's the diameter actually gets smaller, so like a 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:27.240 twelve gauge wire is actually, um, you know, it's actually 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:32.600 smaller than a ten gage wire. I actually didn't know 0:14:32.640 --> 0:14:35.160 that part. You didn't know that that part I didn't get. 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.520 So that'll that'll bite you if you try and build 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.960 a circuit and you're like, yeah, ten gauge twelve gauge, 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:43.640 what's the difference. I generally pay other people to do 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.080 it for me. Yeah. I put a nice plastic box. 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.040 You can do stuff with it, exactly. Unfortunately, I pay 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:50.960 quite a bit of money in order for my my 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.400 circuits to be built within whatever device I already want. 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:56.800 But I have to say it's it's kind of a 0:14:57.800 --> 0:15:00.160 it's sort of a nice to refresh this because is 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.720 the kind of thing that you learn in junior higher 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:07.240 middle school shop class and then immediately forget. Actually it 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:09.680 was physics class from me, I think, where we had 0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:14.560 to build um basic circuits. So, uh, you mentioned ohm 0:15:14.960 --> 0:15:18.800 resistance is measured in ohms. M oh came up with 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:23.360 this crazy law which we call law, which is that 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.720 voltage equals current times resistance, and of course you can 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:32.040 move that around, you know, just basic algebra. So current 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:35.760 wood equal voltage divided by resistance that kind of thing. Um. 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:38.280 And that's just one of those basic laws that a 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.600 lot of electronics. You know, you if you're if you're 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:42.240 going to be really schooled in it, you have to 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.760 know Ohm's law. Well that this is ay it obey 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.800 the law. Um. Yea. This is the kind of thing 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:53.400 that I mean, this is it's it's kind of dry 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:57.760 in some ways because it's very uh technical. But the 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:01.000 thing is the combination of all the things that we 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.680 have already talked about on this podcast is the basis 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.680 around what we do with our electronics. And we know 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.160 the kinds of materials that conduct electricity, the kind of 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.280 materials that can you know, prohibit the flow of electricity, 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.120 and the kinds of materials that slow it down. Um. 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:20.280 And using those things, you can you know, choose the 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.880 right the materials to build your electronics out of, and 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:25.920 you can get a grip on the flow of electricity 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:30.520 and and monitor it. So it's you know, manipulative, manipulative 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:33.400 you can mess with it there you go. So so 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.880 that actually that's that raises a good point though, I 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.240 mean we're talking about here, we are talking about current 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:44.320 voltage and resistance. Um, well, how does that matter to electronics. Well, 0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:46.720 what what matters is that why would you you know, 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:48.720 I mean, why would you build these paths for electrons 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:52.200 in the first place. It's because the electron flow can 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:56.400 actually produce work. Now, in the case of analog electronics, 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.440 we're talking about it generating power for things like an 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:04.080 electric motor or possibly powering a light bulb by sending 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:08.600 electrons through the filament um. But uh, in which case 0:17:08.640 --> 0:17:11.160 you give off photons. See now it's getting really complicated. 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:15.000 Pretty soon. We're gonna go into quantum mechanics light energy. Yeah, 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:18.639 so that's that's with analog electronics, but you also have 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.040 the digital electronics. Now, digital electronics is a little bit different. 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:26.159 What you're doing is, instead of of producing work the 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.879 in the traditional sense, you are doing things like creating 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:37.680 devices that can count, that can that can execute certain commands, 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:42.760 can that can uh perform calculations um based upon the 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.240 electron flow that goes through them. And that's a little 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.080 more difficult to to to wrap your head around than 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:54.679 the very basic analog electronics. But I mean that's the 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:56.560 that's why you would want to build a circuit in 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.200 the first places, because you can, you know, by harnessing 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:04.400 electrons you can do work. It's pretty incredible stuff really 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.440 when you think about it. I mean, electrons are are 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.680 subatomic particles. They're so tiny that you know, you can't 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:16.440 see them with even the most powerful light microscope. So yeah, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:21.080 at the same time, there empowering our cities and our 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:25.520 transportation in our computers, and ton't they. So there are 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.200 a couple of other concepts I think we should probably 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.720 touch on briefly before before we call it a wrap 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:36.560 on on just the theory part electronics. One is induction, 0:18:36.720 --> 0:18:40.600 which we were referenced earlier. Yes, you are now fully 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:47.359 admitted into the Society of Electrons. No, there's no tattooing 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:54.080 or brand. There's all the neutrons. They are the biggest bullies. 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.119 Let me tell you. You'd think that they wouldn't be 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:57.880 what would be neutral and all I was gonna say, 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:00.560 they've always seemed rather impartial to me, that kind of 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:02.879 you would think they'd be boring, But no, those guys 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:09.240 turn on you in a heartbeat. So uh, induction. Induction 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.800 is going back to what I was talking about with 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:16.920 the whole relationship between electricity and magnetism, and we've talked 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:21.880 about electro magnets before, actually in several podcasts. But uh, 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:25.840 the flow of electrons can induce a magnetic field, not normally. 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.000 The way you would do this is you would coil 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:33.560 a wire an electron pathway essentially, and as electrons flow 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.960 through the wire, the coil of the wire, um, they 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:39.639 create you create a magnetic field that moves in the 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.520 opposite direction of the current, which, if you remember, is 0:19:43.520 --> 0:19:46.920 in the same direction as the electron flow, right opposite 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.800 direction of the current, same direction as electron flow. Because 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:55.200 Franklin thought that there were positive particles moving around and um, 0:19:55.359 --> 0:19:58.560 he also wore bifocals. So I'm just gonna drop Franklin. 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:05.080 He was so certain he wasn't just sure he was positive. 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:11.320 Oh man, anyway, so okay, so anyway, the magnetic the 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:13.440 magnetic field moves in the opposite direction of the current. 0:20:14.119 --> 0:20:16.560 And uh so that that's why if you wrap a 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.240 copper wire around a a an iron nail, and you 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.600 attached the ends of the copper wire to a battery, 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:26.480 you can create on an electromagnet and pick up other 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:31.679 little filings, yeah, or paper clip or you know whatever. Um, 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:34.679 how yeah, that's the thing is it sort of depends 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.520 on how strong in the battery you were using, if 0:20:37.520 --> 0:20:40.880 you used a bigger battery, also depends on the gauge 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:43.560 of the wire and how many coils you wrap around 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.520 the you know, how long the wire is. Um. But 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:53.600 more electrons, yeah, bigger electromagnetic field. Yeah yeah, so do 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:58.520 you you know there are electro magnets that are very underpowered, 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:00.240 really you would say, like the little thing that you 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.000 made with your battery, and then there are massive electromagnetics 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:06.240 magnets that can do things like lift an entire car. 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:08.280 You see. I knew you were going to say that, 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.159 because those are the ones that I always think of 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:17.040 as being the you know, seriously powerful electric car. So um. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:19.919 But here's the other thing is that a magnetic field 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:26.359 can also induce an electronic electric current. So if you 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:30.840 have that same kind of a coil of wire and 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.200 you pass a magnetic shield so that it comes into 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:38.760 contact with the wire, uh, that can actually create a 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:41.600 flow of electrons within that wire, even if you didn't 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:45.240 have it connected to any sort of power source. Um. 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:48.160 Which we talked about a bit with the electric guitar, 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:51.159 as I recall, because you know, as you strum and 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:55.200 a string on electric guitar. The pickups, uh actually use 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.320 electro and an electro magnetic principle, the magnetic The strumming 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:04.199 of the string creates um the magnetic field, which in 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.960 turn creates the electric electricity that goes to the amp. 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:12.760 So pretty cool stuff. Now, the last thing I think 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:17.920 we should probably talk about is capacitance. Okay, do you 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.400 have the capacity to talk about that or shall I? Well, 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:24.640 feeling I am going to all right, I'll talk about it. So, 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:30.200 capacitance is when you have, uh, you have two plates 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:34.960 separated by either space or some sort of insulating material, 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:41.440 and they have um opposite charges. Right, so you've got 0:22:41.440 --> 0:22:43.359 one plate that's got a positive charge, one plate that's 0:22:43.359 --> 0:22:47.399 got a negative charge. And capacitance is the basis of 0:22:47.480 --> 0:22:50.359 one of the elements we'll talk about in our next 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:55.520 electronics podcast, which is of course the capacitor. And uh, 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:58.040 just so you know, I will probably repeat this again, 0:22:58.720 --> 0:23:01.480 repeat this again, we'll pete this for the first time 0:23:02.240 --> 0:23:07.120 in our next podcast. Uh. But the capacitors are both 0:23:07.160 --> 0:23:09.800 very useful in electronics and those are the things that 0:23:09.840 --> 0:23:14.359 can kill you, um, and particularly in large devices like 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:18.520 television sets. Well, they're used to store electricity and release 0:23:18.560 --> 0:23:21.480 it upon demands. But they store you know, they could 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:23.240 beat They can actually have quite a bit of juice 0:23:23.240 --> 0:23:25.800 in them. Yeah, and they they can release it very 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:29.000 very quickly. It's not like a battery. Um, it's just 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:32.119 sort of on. It's like all or nothing. Yeah kind of. 0:23:34.440 --> 0:23:36.560 That's that's one of the possibilities. Yes, So if you 0:23:36.600 --> 0:23:38.879 were too if you were to yeah, if you were 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:41.040 to touch the no, no, if you were to touch 0:23:41.080 --> 0:23:44.119 the lead of a capacitor while it was fully charged, 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:47.639 you could discharge it directly into you. And with certain 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.639 devices like televisions, that means that it could kill you. 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:52.719 And yeah, the TV does not need to be plugged 0:23:52.760 --> 0:23:54.800 in or turned on or anything for that to happen. 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:57.080 If the capacitor is holding a charge, it will hold 0:23:57.119 --> 0:23:59.399 that charge. And if you touch it and discharge it 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:08.360 um ouch or possibly yeah, yeah, possibly fairly well um 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:12.800 beyond ouch. Alright, So anyway, we have pretty much covered 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:17.640 the basics of electronic theory. Um. I think we're gonna 0:24:17.680 --> 0:24:20.159 need to go and get something to drink, like, um, 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:24.000 something from Sam Adams possible. Well, did you uh, did 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:26.840 you want to talk about the different kinds of current, oh, 0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:30.040 alternating versus direct, Yes, do you do you want to 0:24:30.119 --> 0:24:31.399 chat about that for a little bit. I mean, we 0:24:31.440 --> 0:24:35.920 can talk about Edison versus Tesla, well, which that would 0:24:35.960 --> 0:24:39.040 be softballing it. Well, one of the things that uh, well, 0:24:39.080 --> 0:24:40.920 I wasn't hurting if this this fell into this one 0:24:41.040 --> 0:24:43.000 or the no. No, I think we can talk about 0:24:43.040 --> 0:24:47.800 here because they're they're essentially two different types of current. Um, 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:51.240 you know, the the very first one, the most simple, 0:24:51.359 --> 0:24:55.480 is the direct current, which you know basically goes around 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.000 and around and around in the same direction and doesn't stop. 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:01.760 Alternating current, on the other hand, uh, goes you know, 0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:05.240 switches direction at regular intervals, right, So the current, the 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:07.439 current will go from one direction and then I'll go 0:25:07.480 --> 0:25:09.440