Re: Straight Forward Answers


"John Popelish" <jpopelish@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:m4Sdnbgih80zd0PenZ2dnUVZ_tydnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dennis Walter wrote:
I am not necessarily new to the hobby, i build a lot of pre-made
schematics and kits and such. Now i am looking for an electronics book
that tells me exactly what a component does, without going into all of
the math and extraneous material, i have enough books that do that. For
example, i want a book that says what a resistor does, and why you would
need that to be done, not necessarily how it does it, frankly i don't
care at this stage of my hobbying. Does that make sense? Most books or
tutorials i have read are not vague, but not written in the right context
for what i want.

I am pretty much self taught in electronics (before I got frustrated with
no one taking me seriously, and went back to school and got my degree), so
I think I know what you are talking about. So many text books go straight
for the descriptive equation, without taking a paragraph of 3 to try to
get you to imagine generally what a component is for and how it acts, in a
strictly conversational way. It is only after they wade into all the math
that the discussion of all the limitations, approximations and exceptions
where the equations do not apply, exactly, that you start to find out the
real "personality" of the various parts.

I taught electronics in the Army in the late 60's and picked up classes
full of people who had spent a half a year in practical training, and
still didn't feel comfortable thinking about resistors, transistors and
capacitors, even though they had passed many tests about them to get to
that point. I had to swing back through the basics, and try to get their
imaginations inside the parts, so they could look at a schematic and
imagine what was going on in the circuit, in a general way, for
troubleshooting purposes, as if they were a detective observing a room
full of interacting people, looking for clues of someone who was acting
out of character.

Unfortunately, I have not seen a text book that approaches things quite
that way. They all get into at least simple algebra before a chapter has
passed.

However, since this is the basics discussion group, there is no
electronics question too basic to be discussed. Ask a question about a
component and we will see if we can get inside your head and help you make
progress.

Does anyone else approach it as simple hydraulics or plumbing? I'm
somewhat teaching myself and I think in those terms, current being
the flow of water and voltage being water pressure. A resistor is
like a constrictive valve (bending a garden hose), a capacitor is like
a water tower, a diode is like a butterfly valve, a transistor is like a
faucet, etc. This type of thinking has its downfalls but has worked
enough to keep me from giving up. I'll read the chapter on transistors
in five different books and they all sound like rocket science. I'll finally
be in the company of someone with a working knowledge of transistors
and he can explain it in 10 minutes. Now why can't any of the expert
authors do that? This group has been VERY helpful to me several times,
members patient with my "dumb" questions and DO give straight answers.
A best seller would be a collaborative book authored by
sci.electronics.basics!
Bart


.