This site is great for students or hobbyists looking to expand their understanding of general electrical topics.

This site is still in its early stages as new topics and information will be posted regularly.

Introduction

Electricity is considered the driving force that creates almost all the power for the industrialized world. It is used to cook meals, light homes, heat and cool buildings, drive motors, and supply the ignition for most automobiles. The specialized person who understands electricity can easily obtain employment in almost any part of the world.

History of Electricity

Regardless of the simple fact that the practical application of electricity came to be common primarily during the past hundred years, it truly has been viewed as a force for much longer. The Greeks were the first ones to uncover electricity about 2500 years ago. They determined that when amber was rubbed with it became charged with an unknown force that had the ability to attract objects such as feathers, dried leaves, parts of cloth, or other lightweight materials. The Greeks called amber elektron. The term electric was obtained from it and meant, “to be like amber,” also to possess the capability to attract other objects.

This puzzling force remained just a curious phenomenon until about 2000 years later, when some individuals set out to conduct studies. Back in the early 1600s, William Gilbert discovered that amber was not the sole material that could be charged to attract other objects. He called materials that could be charged electriks and materials that could not be charged non-elektriks.

About 300 years back, a handful of men began to learn about the behavior of assorted charged objects. In 1733, a Frenchman named Charles DuFay discovered that a piece of charged glass would repel some charged objects and attract others. These men soon found that the force of repulsion was really just as important as the force of attraction. From these experiments it was eventually determined that certain materials repelled one another, and others attracted each other. Benjamin Franklin chose to call these attractions and repulsions, positive and negative.

Resistors - Diodes - Magnetism - Oscilloscope