Archive for the 'Electrical Engineering' category

Careers and Hobbies in Circuit Analysis and Electronics – Starting With 555 Timer Circuits

Apr 30 2012 Published by Wendy Vixen under Electrical Engineering

Want to learn how to make circuits? As you have probably guessed, there are many tutorials online for getting into circuit analysis and design, but as a novice, you probably have no idea where to start. If you are somewhat up for a challenge, learning how to build 555 or 556 timer circuits can be very rewarding and give you a real advantage in your personal projects or in industry. This is because 555/556 IC timing circuits are used in a plethora of electronics devices used today (especially digital devices).

The reason you want to start learning timer circuits with 555 IC as soon as possible is because you will learn the majority of the fundamentals of circuit analysis and design all in one circuit, but also because of the incredible utility this specific type of circuit has to offer for many types of implementations. The most famous of the basic 555 IC timing circuits is the one that allows the blinking of an LED (light emitting diode) at the rate which you specify when you build the circuit. The rate of flashing/blinking is decided by the time constant of your circuit, which is calculated by your resistance times your capacitance.

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Insulators vs. Conductors

Nov 06 2011 Published by Peter Enmore under Electrical Engineering

Any material on earth can typically be divided into an insulator or conductor. That means it will either support the flow of electrical current or it will impede it. One example of conductors that allow the flow of electrical current extremely easily are metals. This is the reason that metal is used to make many of the electrical parts that we use today, such as those in our televisions and computers.

Not all conductors are created equal. Some do the job better than others. For example, copper is a much better conductor that nickel. Silver and gold are even better than copper. When determining how to make electrical components, manufacturers have to weigh the cost compared to the ability for the conductor to transmit the right amount of electrical flow.

Glasses and ceramics make the best insulators typically. Some plastics do a great job of insulating as well. Others include cloth, rubber and sometimes even dry air. This is why kitchen handles are made from rubber or plastic because they are less likely to allow electricity and heat to flow through them.

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