Unit Overview, Introduction, Outline:

Author: Jim Burnham -  TopClown@STEAMClown.org.  License: Distributed as Open Source. 

This Basic AC / DC Electronics Unit is going to cover basic Electronics.  The Basic AC / DC Electronics Unit provides instruction covering the fundamental information required to understand the theory of AC and DC electricity and electronics including sources of electricity, basic circuits and components and their application.   Students will explore the Fundamentals of Electronics,  the basic principles and hands-on skills of electronics, such as the relationship between voltage, current and resistance/reactance in AC and DC circuits.  Students will learn the theory of operation and industrial applications of transistors and integrated circuits, as well as learn to use test and measurement equipment (voltmeters, oscilloscopes, in-line and clamp-on ammeters, etc.). Students will start with the basics of what a Breadboard is and Flashing and LED and basic series and parallel resistor circuits. They will cover Ohms Law, and then dive into RC circuits with Resistors and Capacitors... Then move on to some simple Transistors and other Active components. Coverage will also includes principles required for understanding electrical machines magnetism and generator theory and application to motors and transformers.  

Learning Objective:

Every Student that wants to learn basic electronics has to start somewhere, and that usually means tinkering with gadgets and appliances.  Maybe your are trying to fix them.... Maybe you are just taking them apart to see what they do. This Basic AC / DC Electronics Unit curriculum is designed to help Students turn that interest or hobby into a professional skill.  

• Students will acquire a serious grounding in electronics theories that are absolutely essential for workplace safety and success. (pun intended :-))

• Identify the unique vocabulary associated with electronics and be able to explain the basic concepts. 

• Demonstrate familiarity with basic electronic components and use them to design simple electronic circuits.  Be able to manipulate voltages, currents and resistances in electronic circuits.  

• Students will learn how to diagnose and debug circuits. 

• Students will be able to draw and explain series and parallel resistor circuits.  They will be able to calculate resistance and voltage is voltage divider circuits.

• Understand RC and other time domain circuits and how signals can be represented in the time and frequency domains 

• Draw and explain the structure of Transistor circuits. Be able to explain the Transistor operation, including junction bias voltage and charge carrier movement. Identify and explain the various current components in a transistor.  Be able to describe the application of Transistors for current and voltage amplification. Be able to describe  the characteristics of different configurations of the transistor. Describe DC load line and bias point. List, explain, and design and analyze the different biasing circuits.

Prerequisites:

• No specific prerequisites

Caution & Safety  Considerations:

• Primer:  "Aaron, I can imagine no way in which this thing could be considered anywhere remotely close to safe. All I know is I spent six hours in there and I'm still alive... You still want to do it?"

• Safety Not Guaranteed: "WANTED: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O.Box 322 Oakview, CA93022. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety Not Guaranteed. I have only done this once before."

• As with any activity, please make sure you are using appropriate safety equipment.   If you are building breadboard circuits, be sure to watch out for short circuits and mistakes in your power connections.   If you are coding, make sure you stand up and stretch every hour or so,  Please consider any safety issues connecting the Raspberry Pi, Arduino's, computers and other electronic equipment.

New Words - Technical Terms & Vocabulary:

Getting Started:

AC/DC Electronic Fundamentals - Lessons,  Lectures, Labs:

• Lesson 1 - Breadboard & LED Introduction and Lab

  • This lesson is about how a bread board works.  as part of this lesson, you will receive access to a bread board, learn how it works,  You will get an LED, Resistor, and some jumper wires.  You will build or receive a power adapter and you will connect a 5 volt power supply  to your circuit.  You will connect a simple series circuit that will include an LED, 220Ω  or 330Ω  resistor and a push button switch.

  • What's a Breadboard - Make

• Lesson 2 - Resistance Is Futile - Digital Multi Meter Introduction

  • This lesson is and introduction to the Voltage, Resistance and Current.  You will be using a Digital Multi Meter  (DMM) to measure Resistance, Voltage and Current.

  • Resistor Color Band Calculator  and a short video  The Resistor Color Bands Explained

• Lesson 3 - Ohms Law

• Lesson 4 - What is a Resistor?

• Lesson 5 - Series Circuits Introduction

  • This set of lessons is about Series Resistors and how to measure, calculate and structure voltage dividers circuits.

• Lesson 6 - Voltage Dividers Circuits (and the Math Behind the Calculations)

• Lesson 7 - Potentiometer (Variable Resistance)

• Lesson 8 - More Variable Resistors (Potentiometers, Photoresistors, Thermistor)

Resources:

License & Attribution:

This lesson and content there in is distributed as Open Source.   This interpretation is primarily the Intellectual Property of Jim Burnham, Top STEAM Clown, at STEAMClown.org .  This Lesson, presentation and content is distributed under the Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0.    The programming code found in this presentation or linked to on my Github site  is distributed under the  GNU General Public License v3.0  & the European Union Public Licence EUPL 1.2 or later    My best attempt to properly attribute, or reference any other sources or work I have used are listed below or in the slides and lecture notes

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