Circuits: Defining The Fundamentals

Let me explain,

Unfortunately, I spent my K-12 not applying myself. Students are being taught theories & fundamentals, but what's not stressed enough is application. While my grades reflected my motivation, I think I would have excelled much further if more real world applications were introduced.

For instance, wave propogation. I recall my Chemistry teacher introducing this after finishing up with the periodic table. It may not seem like a big issue now, but "mechanical" & "EM waves" are rather abstract to most 10th graders.

But it's simple! Wave propogation IS the interaction. So 115 of these "elements" are tossed at you. This is how the things that make up the world interact with each other.

& yet, ^ wasn't even mentioned. ...waves were just another "abstract" something...

Who knows. Maybe the K-12 system is suppose to work like that. You're taught strict fundamentals & it's up to you to make sense of the world LATER:shock:

Hope you enjoyed my rant:smile:




So rather diving into circuits, I think I'm going to take a different approach & break the fundamentals down, specifically their purpose!

Okay, so I've studied the atom. The interactions between (EM & Mechanical). Mathematical equations that defy these interactions & hold true to them. Toss in some physics, & I have a little model of the world in my hands. Okay, I'm getting there:smile:


I understand there is plenty of information Google pertaining to circuits & how I can start building them with breadboards, but I want to know how it's broken down.

Circuits are there to harness energy, & of course to manipulate

Well just exactly what are trying to manipulate? Can you break it down? It's near infinite, right. Can someone toss a rough model together?


Here's an analogy:

K-12 system is broken down into: Math, Science, History, etc...

Circuit functions are broken down into?

...& I'm sure you can take it even farther & start branching

It would be terrific if there were a course which teaches the entire body of electronics knowledge... from beginning to present... arranged systematically and comprehensively.

However I don't imagine it's possible.

Even 100 years ago the academia of electricity and electronics was vast. Today we hear brief mentions of names like Volta and Faraday and Maxwell. We must even go to some effort to find out about Nikola Tesla, whose genius was crucial to our modern electronic lifestyle.

There is barely time for us to learn the fundamentals. I constructed several projects from schematics, containing components which interact in ways that I didn't 'get' at the time. It took me until later in life to grasp some of the basics.

Today the field has grown so vast that we tend to gravitate toward a certain category, often reflecting our particular personality.
We might be:

a radio enthusiast
or
a career engineer
or
an audio enthusiast
or
a magnets-&-motors specialist
or
a high-voltage enthusiast
or
a digital ops specialist
or
a pcb fabrication expert
or
a computer technician
or
a fixer/ tinkerer
or
an off-the-grid enthusiast
or
an educator,
etc.

The professor has a tough job. He needs to present the material in such a way that you are not liable to say to yourself 'I could have learned this on my own.' I once heard that textbook authors must purposely make their presentation more complicated than it needs to be, because if it looks easy to learn then the reviewing committee might purchase a competing textbook which appears more academic... which is to say, harder to learn.

No matter how much we learn from reading, it's still up to us to gain practical knowledge from hands-on experience. This is a lifetime process. I find there are yet gaps in my knowledge as to some of the basics. I should add that running simulations has contributed greatly to my comprehension, yet I need to recognize it is a mistake to think that I can learn everything I need from a simulator.

The best purpose of grade school is to show us an assortment of everything that's out there, so we can discover something we like enough to make a living at. The grading system rewards the overachiever, while some of us on the other hand are late bloomers.

You may actually find this book to be something that you would find useful as it avoids theory and tries to impart practical knowledge.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-Paul-Horowitz/dp/0521370957