Electricity: the Basics

Components

• Actuators: convert electrical energy into other forms
• Transduction: changing one energy into another, eg: a microphone changes sound pressure waves in the air by the changing electrical voltage. Devices do this called transducers.

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• Every circuit has a source to provide electrical energy and a load to use it
• SVG collection:

File:Electrical symbols library.svg - Wikimedia Commons

• Resistor: Thermistors in reaction to temperature; Photoresistors in reaction to light; Flex sensors in reaction to being bent or flexed,which are typically about the length of a finger and work well for measuring the bend of a finger; Potentiometer: adjustable resistor
• Voltage regulator: takes a range of DC voltage as input and convert it to a constant voltage
• Capacitor: store up electricity while current is flowing into them, then release the energy when the incoming current is removed. Measured by farads (F); sometime polarized
• Diodes: permit the flow of electricity in one direction; LEDs: light-emitting diodes
• Transistors & relays: electrical switching devices
• Momentary switches: remain closed only when pressing them; and toggle switches: stay in place after switching them

Relationships

• Watts = Volts * Amps (P = V * I)

Circuit

• Energy flows from one to the other, the components are in series; ****energy flows through them at the same time, they are in parallel
• In parallel, I1 + I2 = Itotal and 1/Rtotal = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3