Talk:Electronics/Aim

Dear people editing this book, while math is useful and does have its place in an electronics textbook, it makes it very hard for people to understand electronics. So I ask the people editing this book to somehow make a clear division between theory and practice. Ideally I would like people with no background in electronics or math to be able to understand electronics. By a similar token, I'm sure that everyone editing this book would appreciate a rigorous explaination of electronics. The main reason I say this is that electronics is one of the most misunderstood subjects in existence, and unlike gravity very few people have any sort of intuition about E&M.

In reading A Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking he said (and I paraphrase) that his editor told him that for each formula that he included in his book the readership would drop by one half. As a result the only formula he included was the one Einstein is famous for. I would suggest you keep that in mind as you add math equations. Decide if the equation you are adding really adds enough value to the work to justify the loss of half the readers being able to comprehend the passage. Not saying to leave them out, but don't add them for their own sake.

The aim of this textbook is to educate someone with little or no previous experience in electronics to a 1 or 2 year level. This includes a thorough understanding of DC and AC electronics concepts, and an introduction into logic gates and digital electronics, which should be covered in another textbook.

''I think we need to establish what they do know, so we know how in depth we should go. What is our target audience?''

I think we should go as far as we can adequately explain. Meaning we can include anything we want but we have to be rigorous about the theory. If this means giving a summary of specific results from other fields, then so be it. The idea is not to prove everything in that field, but to tell how it relates to electronics. A good balance would be to focus on the theory and to provide a link to the math. That way we can cater to everyone, both newbies and the people who understand electronics.

My idea for the road map for this book:
 * Electricity
 * Charge
 * Voltage
 * Current
 * Resistance
 * Ideal circuits & real circuits (and a description of the difference between schematics that just show wiring between real components, and schematics which show the ideal functioning of components)
 * Ideal voltage and current sources
 * Ideal nodes and meshes
 * Capacitors
 * Inductors
 * Introduce magnetism here or in the electricity section?
 * Transformers
 * Controlled voltage and current sources
 * Other types of components
 * Diodes
 * Bridge rectifiers, LEDs, etc.
 * Transistors (presenting these as controlled variable resistors is more intuitive than as "amplifiers" or controlled voltage sources)
 * BJTs
 * FETs
 * Vacuum tubes
 * Op-amps next?
 * Digital circuits
 * AND OR gates
 * other gates
 * Show how every gate can be built with a NAND or whatever
 * Radio can come after all of that

''Your road map looks similar to what we have except minus the section on power. Also I am not sure how big a difference there is between ideal and real. What major structural changes you would like to make to the book?''


 * I just meant I think it should be in this order.

=Difference between ideal and real circuits=

A real circuit diagram shows real components and how they are connected:



An ideal circuit diagram shows how each components functions, using ideal components (perfect voltage sources, perfect resistors, etc.) This is what allows us to do mathematical calculations to determine how the circuit works:



The circuit can be even more idealized by showing things that wouldn't have an effect normally, but might in specific situations. Every resistor has some capacitance and inductance, every capacitor has some resistance and inductance, every opamp has some input current, input capacitance, output resistance, finite gain, parasitic capacitances, etc etc etc). All of these would have a huge effect on circuit performance if the circuit is operating near MHz frequencies, for instance.

Now I am thinking we should just have an explanation of the difference between the two types of circuit diagrams first. Then when we introduce each component, we will tell how it ideally behaves, and how a real component behaves. All coils have non-negligible resistance, for example, and all diodes have at least a little voltage drop.

/ I understand that you feel this is an important topic, but try not to go overboard in covering it, for all practical purposes, ideal circuits can be used without much problem.

Electronics vs. Practical Electronics
May I propose that this textbook be concerned with how the components works, and the textbook Practical Electronics be concerned with how to make circuits work, along with tips and tricks like good soldering technique, etc? That way, people who just want to learn how to do something without trawling through the equations can do it at Practical Electronics, and those who would like to know exactly why somethings works can do so here. Otherwise, both sides lose out.

Just a thought, as it seems to me that PE is otherwise just another version of this book

Also, I thnk that perhaps this books should just have a basic overview of semiconductors, and PE can take care of the practicalities (which transistor to use for what, etc), and Semiconductors can take care of the equations and physics. Otherwise, this book stands to have a huge chunk of information that exists in common with Semiconductors .

Inductiveload 23:44, 7 September 2006 (UTC)