2. Basic Electronics

Charge, voltage, current, circuits, Ohm’s law, power, and energy using practical computer-electronics examples.

This unit builds a practical model of electricity before introducing specific components in detail.

Grob’s Basic Electronics is the main technical reference for charge, potential difference, current, closed circuits, Ohm’s law, power, energy, opens, and shorts. [1, pp. 22-49, 76-99]

Open Circuits is used as a visual reference for what these ideas look like inside real electronic components and power-conversion hardware. [2]

1. 2.1 Charge, Voltage & Current
2. 2.2 Closed, Open & Short Circuits
3. 2.3 Ohm’s Law
4. 2.4 Power & Energy

Why this order?

The goal is to understand the quantities first:

• charge tells us how much electric charge is involved
• voltage tells us the potential difference between two points
• current tells us how quickly charge is moving
• resistance describes opposition to current
• power tells us how quickly energy is transferred
• energy tells us the total amount transferred over time

Specific components such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, and transistors can then be introduced when we actually use them.