How Electronics Work ?
By: Lijo George

Electronics refers to that branch of science that deals with the transmission of electricity within electrical equipment for the equipment to perform its basic function. Electricity in an equipment flows through electronic circuits. These circuits are soldered onto PCBs or printed circuit boards that allow the components of the circuits to remain connected and interact.

What are circuits?

Circuits are actually paths made to transmit electricity from the source to the destination. They usually comprise of an energy source, a connection and an output device. The energy source could be electricity, generator or a battery. The output device is the equipment that uses the electric current to perform an operation and could be things like switches, lamps, and other electronic equipments. The connection is the major thing that allows the flow of the current and completes the circuit. This connection could be a cable or a wire.Electronic circuits are made by materials like insulators, conductors and semi conductors.

Insulators: materials that transmit electricity very slowly are called insulators. Examples of insulators are glass, rubber, wood and plastics. The molecules in the material being tightly packed inhibit the flow of electricity. Insulators are used to keep the circuits from getting short in case of being too hot.

Conductors: metals like copper, steel and aluminum are good conductors as they easy passage to the electric flow. As the molecules in these metals are loosely packed and have a lose hold on the electrons, the electricity passes through them easily.

Semi conductors: moderate rate of electricity is passed through semiconductors. Materials like germanium and silicon are become semiconductor materials when materials like boron and phosphorus are added to them. These semi conductors are used to transmit light or solar power to be used as electrical energy. They can be used to function as diodes, transistors and integrated circuits.

We now know what circuits are and what materials make a circuit. Various electronic equipments that we use today are all made up of circuits. There are different types of circuits that are used for different products. Each variety of the circuit has its own use. These types of circuits are:

1.Closed circuits: as per the name, these are circuits that are continuous and unbroken through which the electric current flows. A closed circuit is complete when there is a source of energy as input, an output device that would use the energy source and a connection that is the wire.

2.Series circuits: as the name suggests, the circuit in which there are a series of output devices receiving the same amount of electrical current form a series circuit. Each output device in the series would have to work properly in order to continue the circuit. An example of this type of circuit is a strand of light bulbs.

3.Short circuits: circuits which are created as a result of too much current being generated because of an unanticipated interaction it results in a short circuit. An example of this is when two bare wires come in contact with each other they produce excess current as a result of which the device shorts out.

4.Parallel circuits: complex circuit systems use parallel circuits. These circuits allow the operation of a number of devices which may be using different wires and connections.

Thus we see that the electronics work basically on circuits. The field of electronics is very vast and there are innumerable things associated with it, of which circuits is just one part.


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