WEBVTT - Electronics 2: Basic Electronics 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.000 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot Com. Hi there, everybody, 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.160 Welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Pallette. I'm 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:24.080 the tech editor here at how stuff Works dot Com. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.799 And sitting across from me, as he often does on 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:29.440 days such as this one, you know we're recording the 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.120 podcast because he's my co host. That would be senior 0:00:32.120 --> 0:00:36.320 writer Jonathan Strickland. What an intro? That was more like 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:41.600 what intro? So you want to talk about some more electronics? No, 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.920 but we're gonna no, no, no, this is important stuff. 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.879 Um So yeah, it's and it's interesting stuff. It is 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.240 interesting stuff. It's just it's it's definitely. Uh, it's definitely 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.680 something that that I wish I'd paid more attention to 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.520 when I was in high school. I understand exactly what 0:00:57.600 --> 0:01:01.920 you mean. So last time we talked out electronics, the 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:05.240 theory that goes behind electronics, right, we we got into, uh, 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.520 what we started with adams and and how the negatively 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:12.479 charged portion of them, the electron is the basis of electricity, 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.319 and we got into how they can be used to 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.679 create circuits and right, and that some materials resist the 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.280 flow of electrons and others are particularly good at conducting. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.960 And we talked about Benjamin Franklin who gave us the 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:31.600 whole concept of currents and described current as moving uh, 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:36.520 as positive particles moving towards the negative terminal, which sadly 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.480 is the opposite of what is happening, is that we 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:42.559 have negative particles moving towards a positive terminal. So current 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:45.000 goes one way, electron flow goes the other way. And 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.160 Benjamin Franklin was a brilliant woman izer. I think we 0:01:49.200 --> 0:01:54.200 also covered that. Well we didn't use that word. No, No, 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.400 I think I think I called him a gad about town. No, 0:01:57.800 --> 0:02:00.840 actually you didn't. Well it was a long time ago anyhow. 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.360 But yeah, we we got into the basic, the very 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.080 basics of electricity and UH and how it moves. So 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.880 now we're gonna talk about circuits. Yes, it's a little 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:11.880 more about circuits. So we described last time as a 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.200 circuit as a kind of a pathway for electrons, a 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:20.040 complete closed pathway. UM. And electrons actually have to have 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.839 a pathway for them to flow in the first place. Yeah, 0:02:22.880 --> 0:02:25.040 they can well, I mean they can flow well, well, 0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.120 they can zip around pretty much anywhere because because I 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.280 think of it this way, plasma that's an ionized gas. 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.880 That's a gas in which electrons are zipping around all 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.959 over the place on their own. They become stripped from 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:43.320 their their respective atoms. But you can't really direct that 0:02:43.400 --> 0:02:46.400 electron flow, so exec to go from point A to 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:50.320 point B. Yes, yes, so yeah, the circuit is a 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:54.400 way to direct the actual flow of electrons um and 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:59.000 you create it. It's like creating a highway system. Really yeah, 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:03.200 for some oftimes particles. So, uh, let's a very basic 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:07.480 circuit would be just say, take a battery which has 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:11.760 two terminals, positive and a negative terminal, and you attach 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.840 it to a circuit so that you've got a a wire, well, 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.160 let's say a copper wire that connects one end of 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:21.959 the battery to the other. Will that be a very 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.120 very basic circuit that doesn't actually do anything other than 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.960 allow the electrons to move from the negative end to 0:03:28.000 --> 0:03:30.000 the positive end, which means the current is flowing from 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:33.160 the positive end to the negative end. That's all it's doing. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.200 Wouldn't be doing any work, wouldn't really be interesting. All 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.600 it would really do is slowly kill your battery as 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.520 the chemicals within it create the electrons necessary to generate 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:48.960 the electron flow. Okay, so clearly that wouldn't be enough. 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:50.720 You need to add some more elements to it. So 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:55.720 let's say you were too uh put a uh what 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:57.520 what would you like to put in in our our 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:02.680 basic circuit first, and we'll talk about what it does. Okay, Well, um, 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:08.720 a resistor, a capacitor, um switch, anything you want. The 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:12.280 switch is the easy part, switch because it's essentially a 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.960 gateway for the circuit. Yeah. So a switch, if a 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:18.840 switch is just a brake somewhere in the circuit really 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.359 where if you open the switch, then the pathway is 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:26.640 interrupted and so electrons can no longer flow along the path. 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.760 When the switch is closed, the pathway is complete and whole, 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.440 and then the electrons can flow freely. So there's your switch. 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.080 That was easy, all right. Hit me with another one, 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:40.960 Come on, come on, okay, let's throw a resistor. Resistor alright, 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:46.440 So resistors um resistors are this special kind of device 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:51.800 that reduces electron flow. Okay, I'll tell you what. I'll 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.240 tell you what. Before we add the resistor, let's add 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:59.280 something to the circuit like say a lightbulb. Okay, so 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.040 when you have the battery and you have a light 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.040 bulb and you have the switch. So when you open 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:09.120 the switch, the circuit completes and the flow of electrons 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:11.240 goes through the light bulb and the light bulb comes on. 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.800 But then if you throw a resistor in there and 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:18.080 it slows down the flow of electrons, then theoretically, if 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:22.560 I'm not mistaken, the light bulb should dim somewhat. Yeah, well, yeah, 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.680 because the the it reduces the it's it's they don't 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:31.240 they don't block the flow of electrics. There's resisting I mean, 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:34.520 how aptly named can it be? Yeah, and the you 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:36.360 might wonder why you would have a resistor in there, 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.599 but there's lots of reasons. Essentially, what you're talking about 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.960 whenever you're building any kind of circuit, you're talking about 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:46.080 controlling electrons, and electrons behave in a very predictable way. 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.200 But you may need to throw resistors in there so 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.479 that you don't overpower a certain part of your circuit 0:05:53.160 --> 0:05:55.799 um or it may be that you know, it's really 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.560 it's really just traffic control. This is really what it 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.760 comes down to, is that the the amount number and 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.800 the voltage and current that you are generating maybe too 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:06.920 great for parts of the circuits. So the resistors are 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.640 thrown in there as part of traffic control. That's a 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:11.840 very simple way of putting it, and it doesn't get 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:17.120 all the subtle nuances that that really come along with resistors. 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:22.080 But without really getting into, uh, really the nitty gritty 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:27.359 of electronics, I think it's it serves as a basic foundation. Okay, 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:29.520 So do you want to talk about capacitors next, since 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:32.480 you've already mentioned them kind of don't belong in our 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:36.640 circuit in a way, because I've made too simple a circuit. Yeah, 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:39.920 but because you really wouldn't need a capacitor in this case. No, no, no, 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.440 But a capacitor is uh, it's it's we mentioned it 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.479 in the last podcast actually because we're talking about capacity tense, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.160 but a capacitor uh involved isn't. What's involved in there 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.719 is you've got two different plates that are separated by 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.680 either space or more likely some sort of uh insulating 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:01.520 material in between the plates um and the plates hold 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:06.839 opposite charges, and they can store a charge and then 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:11.240 eventually they can discharge that charge. So they're they're kind 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:15.800 of like a battery in a way except that, um, 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.960 they pretty much discharge all at once. They don't tend 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:24.720 to discharge over time. That and and uh, this capacitor 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.360 is different from a battery, and that the battery is 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:30.280 actually creating electricity through a chemical reaction, and the capacitor 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:37.440 you stores and electric Yeah, and uh, capacitors can be polarized. UM, 0:07:37.520 --> 0:07:39.480 as you point, which, which would you know, permit the 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.680 flow of electricity in one direction only if you were 0:07:42.720 --> 0:07:46.800 to reverse the attempt to reverse the flow of electricity 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:50.440 in the other direction. I you don't. You don't want 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.720 to do that because it would there's a very very 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.840 good chance that it will explode, which is a bad thing. 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.760 This is why in Star Trek they always reverse the polarity. 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:03.760 I don't know if that's true or not. I just 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:05.840 wanted to say it because as soon as you said polarity, 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:08.640 that's the first thing I thought of. Well, no, that's that. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:10.400 But that is an important thing though, I mean, do 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:13.560 not do not try this at home thing. Don't reverse 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:17.600 the electrical flow through a polar esque capacity. There are 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.640 other dangerous there are other UM. Capacitors are dangerous in general, 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:22.640 there are other things. Yes, we we did mention this 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.120 in the in the last episode as well. A capacitor, 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.880 since it does store electric charge and then can discharge 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.360 it very rapidly, can't does have the potential to be dangerous. Now, 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:35.000 a small capacitor is not really that dangerous. It could 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.360 deliver a shock and you might even you know, might 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.320 be a shock strong enough for you to feel. But 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:46.640 larger capacitors are are really dangerous, and you find them 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:51.199 in electronics that are around you right now, probably things 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.839 like well old computer monitors, television sets, things like that, 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:58.120 they have these capacitors and them that store up a 0:08:58.160 --> 0:09:01.360 pretty deadly charge and even if the device is not 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.320 plugged in or turned on at the time, the capacitor 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.440 can still hold that charge and it could be enough 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.760 to cause you injury or even kill you. So that's 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.640 another good reason to never really mess around with uh 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:18.440 with large electronics, even if they're unplugged, and you know, 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.240 definitely don't do it thinking that you're completely safe from 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.440 getting shocked, because that's just not the case. It all 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:29.920 depends on what's in that circuitry. So, um, let's see, 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:33.440 we talked about capacitors, We've talked about resistors, we talked 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:37.920 about switches. There are inducers, which again are that's where 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.960 you would have a coil of wire that would induce 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:45.920 a magnetic field, often used in things like electric electronic motors, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.240 also used in UH from what I understand, and those 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:55.040 devices that sit under the street of traffic lights. Yeah, 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:59.480 that that's interesting. You're talking about the sensors that can 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.240 tell if they're is a car at a cross like 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:04.920 an intersection, so that knows to turn the left turn 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.320 light on for example right right, so when your car 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.320 is there if it has not. Not all intersections have these. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:15.000 There are many different ways that UH that traffic the 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:19.360 different traffic devices used to detect whether or not a 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:22.080 car is at a traffic stops. Some don't use anything 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:25.640 at all. It's just a simple timer, but on other 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.400 traffic stops they the it's on a not just a 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.679 timed system, but it will detect whether or not a 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.200 car is at a particular location and that will indicate 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:37.560 whether or not needs to turn on a turn signal 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.679 or if it needs to just change the lights so 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.720 that the traffic can move in a different direction. The 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.040 way it does this is you have these um these 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.800 essentially inducers underneath the street and when your car is 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.240 on top of them, that's all big metal, you know, 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:57.400 big old hunkle metal which can create it can attract 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.640 with the magnetic field that's created by the inducers, generates 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.000 the electric current, which then runs to the system and 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.120 tells the system, Hey, there's a big honking car here 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.000 that needs to turn. Maybe we should put on that 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:15.160 arrow yep. And then there are diodes, which are another 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:17.800 for a form of traffic control because they only permit 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:21.520 electricity to flow in one direction. That's a very useful 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:25.800 element to have, especially if you're using alternating current, I 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:30.079 mean direct current moves in one direction anyway, alternating current. 0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.280 That's when you're starting to look at things like diodes, 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.880 where because of the nature of the current itself, you 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.320 need to have some sort of element there to direct 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.520 electron flow properly. Uh. There might be some parts of 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:46.679 the circuit that it's all right for the electrons to 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:49.600 flow one way versus the other way, there's no real difference. 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.240 And then there are other parts where you may need 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:53.800 a diode there to act as kind of a traffic stop. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.600 Do you do you want to briefly mention light emitting 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.400 diodes LEDs, yes, UM so because they are a form 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.120 of diet. It's a form of diode. It's the little 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:07.160 lights that you see in lots of different things. Like 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.200 you know, my my phone has an LED at the 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.120 top that indicates whether or not I've missed a call. 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.400 By the way, it's probably gonna vibrate any second now 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.680 as it tells me that I'm supposed to uh to 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:21.600 be researching for tweet of the week. But yeah, there 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.840 are other you know, light emitting diodes that you see 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:28.200 all over the place. There televisions that use light emitting 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:32.160 diodes UM as the way to generate a picture. It's 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.720 a pretty common technology. It's and it's very very simple 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.000 at the heart of it, but it's it's a definitely 0:12:39.000 --> 0:12:45.760 important component. But you also have transistors, which are really important. 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.640 They can act as both switches and amplifiers, right and 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.080 again this is more of an alternating current kind of thing, 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:55.480 but this transistors are are really that forms the basic 0:12:55.520 --> 0:13:00.280 of things like the microprocessor UM technology that we all 0:13:00.320 --> 0:13:02.840 have come to depend upon when it comes to things 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.920 like you know, computers and smartphones and MP three players 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:09.240 things like that. Otherwise they'd be giant because we'd be 0:13:09.280 --> 0:13:14.920 still using vacuum tubes. So yeah, transistor effectively takes the 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.559 takes the place of a vacuum tube. But it is 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:21.400 again another traffic control system. And also, like I said, 0:13:21.400 --> 0:13:25.800 an amplifier, So you may need to um amplify the 0:13:25.800 --> 0:13:29.559 the flow of electrons in order to make your electronics 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:33.480 work properly. Transistors can do that, and uh, they've gotten 0:13:33.520 --> 0:13:37.440 incredibly small over the years. Like if you ever see 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:41.200 a picture of the first transistor, it's a large object. 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.880 I mean it's it's clunky looking, um and you know, 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:50.320 it definitely does not look elegant at all. Today you 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:56.960 have transistors that are measured in nanometers and uh those 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.880 are really really teeny yeah, one allienth of a meter. 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:05.400 I believe that is very very small. So these transistors 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:08.520 now you can find billions and billions of them, to 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:12.480 quote Carl Sagan on a single processor chip, or at 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:17.160 least more than a billion um That's it's it's it 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.640 boggles my mind. I don't know about anyone else's, but 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.520 to think that there are all these teeny tiny uh switches. Now, 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:25.800 in this case, we're talking about digital circuits as opposed 0:14:25.800 --> 0:14:28.640 to analog ones. But um, I mean that's all solid 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:34.920 state stuff. So and before we now that we've talked 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:36.680 about some basic elements, I mean, there're more that we 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:38.800 could talk about. But I also wanted to talk about 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:44.120 the different the three different types of basic circuitry. You've 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.000 got your basic circuit, which is just a simple pathway, 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:50.720 You've got your circuit in series, and you have your 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:59.680 parallel circuits. I'm done talking about them now. So a 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.840 base circuit, you would have a pathway that leads to 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.640 whatever element that you're trying to power, whether it's a 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:07.800 light bulb or what. Let's see, stick with light bug 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.600 because it's a very simple example. So with the basic circuit, 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.840 you would have say, a battery that's providing I'm just 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:20.440 gonna be arbitrary here. Let's say three volts of electricity 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.840 and the the electricity is flowing through uh and powering 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.440 this one light bulb. Um, when it gets to the 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.960 other side, you've got zero volts because the the light 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.640 bulb is consuming that voltage. All right, that it's all 0:15:35.680 --> 0:15:38.800 the pressure is going to the light bulb. Okay, got it. Now, 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.760 Let's say that you hook up a second and third 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.200 light bulb to that same circuit. So now you've got 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:48.720 three light bulbs in series, a series of light bulbs, right, 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.720 because so the so what you're saying is the electrons 0:15:51.800 --> 0:15:54.960 flow into the first light bulb and out of the 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:57.480 first light bulb to the second, right, So it's you know, 0:15:57.560 --> 0:16:00.160 going through a series of light bulbs once then too 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:04.000 than three. Yes, now all three of those lightbulbs will light, 0:16:04.560 --> 0:16:08.280 but they'll each be one third as bright as the 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.360 one lightbulb basic circuit would be. So light bulb one 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:13.640 is going to be the brightest. No, no no, all three 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:21.560 will be the same brightness, sharing exactly. So you're so sorry. 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.280 That's what I was thinking at first, and then that's 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.280 when you said that I interpreted it differently after apologie. 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:29.320 It was probably the way I worded it. Circuit number 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.160 one would be three times as bright as circuit number two. 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:35.920 Circuit number to would have three times as many lights, 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.440 but each light would be one third as bright as 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.360 the light on the first circuit. So essentially they're they're 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.720 having to share the same number of electrons being generated 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.280 by the two I'm assuming two batteries because we were 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.400 saying three volts. That's you know, the average say double 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.640 a battery would be one and a half volts. So right, 0:16:56.720 --> 0:17:00.440 I'm going to say yes, So let's let's talking about 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:05.640 that and now parallel circuits. So a serious circuit. That's 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:07.800 kind of easy to imagine because you're talking about a 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:12.320 loop with three light bulbs along the loop. Now, if 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.800 you're talking talking about a parallel circuit, you're talking about 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.879 let's think of a large loop, all right, that starts 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.119 from the battery, loops out and then comes back to 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:26.439 the battery. So on the far edge, there's one light bulb. Okay, 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:31.440 then you you bisect the loop with like a shortcut. Essentially, 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:35.000 got it all right. Along that shortcut you have a 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:38.440 light bulb, and then you have maybe let's say that 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:41.240 it's like the one third the distance out to the 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.320 to the edge, and then two thirds of the distance 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:46.600 out to the edge you have another shortcut. So essentially 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.240 you've got three pathways that all connect to one major 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.159 circuit from the positive end of the battery to the 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.680 negative end of the battery. This is this is hard 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:57.840 to imagine. It's it's a lot easier if you guys 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:00.560 look up what a parallel circuit looks like. It's kind 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:06.680 of hard to explain. But in this case, uh, you've 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.919 got you know, it's a little different. It's not you're 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.639 gonna have a third of the current going through each 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:20.159 um light bulb. Okay, the voltage remains the same. The 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:24.760 current will be one third. So in the series, you're 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.440 talking about the voltage reducing each time it goes through 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.119 a light bulb, but the current would remain uh constant. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:38.359 In parallel, the current is reduced, the voltage remains constant. Okay, 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:43.320 So the pressure is the same, the current is decreased. Yeah, 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:46.800 it's a little difficult to imagine. I just tried, by 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.320 the way, listeners, just so you know, I want to 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:51.439 I want this in the interest of full disclosure. I 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.879 just attempted to create an analogy, and I got so 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.320 bogged down in my analogy that I just told Liz 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:59.080 to cut that. So if she hasn't cut that, she's 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:01.439 been a very bad is But Liz is awesome, so 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.760 I know she will cut it. Okay. But yeah, so 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.800 basic series parallel. And here's the thing is that the 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.800 different elements we talked about, like resistors and uh and 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.880 things of that nature, capacitors, they all behave differently depending 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:24.800 on whether the circuit is in parallel or is in series, UM, 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:30.520 And it's not always intuitive until you really get a 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.880 real firm grasp on what each element is doing. That's 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:37.640 why electronics is is a pretty complex subject in general 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:39.800 and very difficult for me to talk about in particular. 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.359 If you would like to speak about Middle English literature, 0:19:45.760 --> 0:19:50.080 that would be awesome because I could let my brain rest. 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.760 All right, let's see, um trying to go through mine 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:59.080 notes here, because you've touched on just about everything I had. Well, 0:19:59.080 --> 0:20:01.240 we have, we've cut is I mean without getting into 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:06.160 to a lot of heavy duty stuff like doping and semiconductors. Yeah, 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:08.640 I think I think that would be a good uh 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.400 stuff to say for the third part we're getting we're 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.440 getting up there in time now anyway. And the integrated 0:20:14.440 --> 0:20:18.680 circuits too, because integrated circuits are very important, especially for 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.040 a lot of this stuff that we use in our 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:24.760 in our homes today. I think we can save that, Yeah, 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:26.760 we can save that for electronics three, where we'll talk 0:20:26.760 --> 0:20:30.879 specifically about the kinds of circuits that we use in computers. 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:32.440 Because a lot of the stuff we've been talking about 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.800 with resistors and switches things like that, UM, most of 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.480 that deals with physical circuitry that you would find in 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:43.600 uh yeah even right, Yeah, I mean this is this 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:45.560 is this is simple stuff. I mean, once you get 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:49.840 into the heart of a computer or an electronic device, um, 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:53.920 even it seems like simple, simple electronic devices. Now I'll 0:20:53.920 --> 0:20:57.160 have chips in them with tons and tons of transistors 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.239 on them and all kinds of different things, which is 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:01.879 wonderful because it makes them very sophisticated, but it also 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.200 is makes it very difficult to talk about how they're 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:10.159 wide right. Yeah, But we'll we'll tackle uh, digital circuitry 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.720 in a future podcast, which that'll be and we've talked 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.280 a little bit about it before with microprocessors and things 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:18.920 like that, and I'm actually on fairly firm ground with that. 0:21:19.480 --> 0:21:22.399 It's funny because you think about it, this this basic 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:24.840 electronic stuff, which really should be the foundation of my 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.560 knowledge for things like microprocessors. Um, I kind of skipped 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:32.280 that and went straight to the microprocessors, and uh it 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:37.040 shows yeah, well, um yeah, I mean there there are 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:39.680 plenty of other little things we could talk about two 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.760 like their mists and photo resistors and sure, I mean 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:45.920 we could talk about like microphones, which take a physical 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:49.919 element converted into electricity, send the electricity through a circuit 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:52.520 which then eventually makes its way to a speaker, which 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:56.720 then converts the electrical electrical signal into a physical signal. Again. Yeah, 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.720 I mean that's that's really when we're talking about when 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.080 we say that electricity does work. That's kind of the 0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:05.159 work it it could do. Like it can take sound 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.760 waves converted into electrical impulses, send it to a speaker, 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:12.000 which then converts it back into sound waves. Pretty cool stuff. Yea, 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:15.920 you know, the process of changing one type of energy 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:20.119 into the other ran. Yeah, so alternating to direct us 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.879 that what you're talking about, you know, like transducers and 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:28.439 then again talking about transformers, about changing the voltage from 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:31.520 high voltage to lower vice versa. Yeah, there are a 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:33.480 lot of elements we can get into. So we'll probably 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:38.280 be doing these electronics updates occasionally for the rest of 0:22:38.280 --> 0:22:41.960 our natural lives. Well, if you have something specific to 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:44.639 that you'd like us to talk about um with regard 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:47.239 to electronics, please let us know. Yeah, write us an 0:22:47.280 --> 0:22:50.080 email our addresses tech stuff at how stuff works dot 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:52.959 com and we will be glad to tackle it, especially 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:55.119 if we can have enough time to make sure we 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:58.119 understand it before we start talking about it. Yeah, you know, 0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:01.800 anything from from some of the stuff that we've already mentioned. 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:06.240 You know, motors, um, you know, changing mechanical I mean 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:09.440 electrical electrical energy into mechanical energy, all sorts of stuff 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:10.960 like that that we haven't we haven't yet gotten to. 0:23:11.040 --> 0:23:12.879 If there's something in specific you'd like to know about, 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:15.359 please let us know. Yeah, if you want to know, uh, 0:23:15.400 --> 0:23:18.360 you know how Benjamin Franklin was able to win over 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:20.960 the ladies. That's more of us stuff you miss in 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:23.679 history class. But you know what, um, I'm willing to 0:23:23.680 --> 0:23:25.600 look into it. That that is part of the the 0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:30.800 uh that that also involves chemistry and you know, attracting. Yeah, 0:23:30.920 --> 0:23:32.840 that's also getting into science. Then, because we're now you're 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:36.600 starting to sound like a quirk. Alright, Well that wraps 0:23:36.640 --> 0:23:40.640