Hello awesome Forum!
I've been in the midst of "life" for the past year now its time to get back to the fun stuff!

My company is publishing a book in the coming months, and I am looking to get input on the glossary.

In short, I need a concise sentence (no more, obviously no less) explaining five basic components - The Resistor, The Capacitor, The Transistor (NPN), The Relay (ElectroMagentic), and The Diode. One sentence for each discrete component.

Thanks!

Best,
-M

 

Well gee, I'm so sorry to hear you are so busy with your projects.

Good luck getting a response to your query.

 

Good point (edited).

 

You are publishing an entire book on electronics, but you need someone else to provide you with FIVE SENTENCES?

This is some type of joke right? NY humour?

 

Homework, perhaps?

 

Hi,
Thanks for the responses - and I can see where the confusion has arisen.
My company (MAKS [Musically Advanced Kinetic Systems]) is working on an audio book - audio meaning music, and the book being purely visual - photos of the natural world, figurative paintings, and electronic symbols. Safe to say, this isn't a science textbook.
For the audience / viewer to enjoy themselves, some definition of the electronic symbols shown will be needed, lest the package seem totally cryptic. This where I need your help.

I attached a screen shot of some of the pages to give you all an idea - the music ranges from noise (the resistor), classical string quartet (the capacitor), electronic music (the transistor) etc.....

Hope this clarifies the need for my posting,
-M

 

Resistor - resists the flow of electricity.
Capacitor - stores electric charge.
Transistor - an electric switch.
Relay - a magnetic switch.
Diode - allows electricity to flow in one direction.

 

Personally, I was never confused by your query. I was just too busy to reply.

(If anyone had read OP's original unedited post they would certainly agree.)

 

Hey buddy, if your so busy get off my thread

 

Resistor - Resists the flow of electricity, irrespective of frequency.
Capacitor - Stores an electric charge, blocks DC, but allows AC to pass with increasing frequency.
Transistor - A semiconductor device used for amplification, can also act as an electric switch when fully on or off.
Relay - A Relay is an electrically operated switch.
Diode - Device which normally allows electric current to flow in only one direction

 

Tnx Sparky49, cork_ie

some lingering questions thus far ::

1) Would it be safe to say the transistor "ushered in the digital age" ?
2) The Resistor resists electron flow and generates heat as well - correct?

 

Tnx Sparky49, cork_ie

some lingering questions thus far ::

1) Would it be safe to say the transistor "ushered in the digital age" ?
2) The Resistor resists electron flow and generates heat as well - correct?

1) The transistor facilitated miniaturisation in electronics, which "ushered in the digital age"
N.B. Analogue electronics is still a very important and will remain so for a very long time.

2) The resistor resists current (electron) flow, which is lost as heat.

 

How does this fare :

The Resistor converts current flow into heat.

The Capacitor stores energy in an electrical field.

The Transistor is a semi conductive device whose presence brought forth the Digital Age.

The Relay is an electrically operated switch used to control high voltage lines.

The Diode allows electrons to flow in only one direction.


and yes, analogue electronics will probably always be important. Lets hope CG doesn't ruin movie FX forever profit, meh...

 

The Resistor converts current flow into heat.

Yes, but that's a bit misleading since it's function in a circuit is usually to limit current or divide voltage and the production of heat is generally considered a by-product.

It would be more accurate to say: The resistor limits the flow of an electric current.


My other preferred definitions follow without explanations.

The Capacitor stores energy in an electrical field.

The capacitor stores energy in an electrostatic field.

The Transistor is a semi conductive device whose presence brought forth the Digital Age.

The transistor is a semiconductive device that brought forth a new era of miniaturization, speed and power savings.

The Relay is an electrically operated switch used to control high voltage lines.

The relay is an electrically operated switch.

The Diode allows electrons to flow in only one direction.

The diode allows an electric current to flow in only one direction.

 

Boy, your like a god - or the equivalent there of (sorry, read too much Nietzsche).

Now, for the sake of the publication (linking electronics with nature in large part), I'm prone to use this for the resistor :

The Resistor limits current flow and generates heat.

This is not WRONG, correct?

Secondly, what is incorrect about stating that the transistor ushered in the digital age. Do you find it too broad of a statement?

Thanks for your invaluable tutelage,

-M

 

and for the relay :

"The Relay is an electromechanical switch able to control high voltage lines."

Better? Used I see is misleading, as in theory a relay can switch on/off any kind of load....

 

Clearly, you are trying to force an interpretive approach that deviates from the mainstream of scientific knowledge.

I could say "the discovery of fire led to the development of scented soap" and argue with anyone claiming that heat and light are more important, but I choose not to.

 

Clearly, you are trying to force an interpretive approach that deviates from the mainstream of scientific knowledge.

I could say "the discovery of fire led to the development of scented soap" and argue with anyone claiming that heat and light are more important, but I choose not to.

But we live in the age of short attention spans and sound bites. Details and accuracy must give way to quotability.

 

Not to nitpick, but full blown electronic computers were made during WWII using tubes. Add the word cheap, maybe.

The term "debug" came from them. They had high voltages (130VDC), and if a fly wandered into the wrong place a tech would have to find its charred corpse and remove it with tweezers. Given these computer had around 8,000 or so tubes (number is a guess) it could take a while. Their Mean Time Between Failure was measured in minutes.

 

Clearly, you are trying to force an interpretive approach that deviates from the mainstream of scientific knowledge.

I could say "the discovery of fire led to the development of scented soap" and argue with anyone claiming that heat and light are more important, but I choose not to.

hahaha true, true