Electronics

Why Electronics?

This is a rhetorical question because you no doubt already know why you have an interest in electronics, or you wouldn’t have picked up this book. But we’ll take a moment to review the things that make electronics well worth your while.

First off, electronics is fun! You get to build things that beep, whir, flash lights, and even move around the room. You acquire skills so that you can work with neat tools and proudly hold your head up at any gathering of electronics geeks.And don’t forget that electronic products are all around us. They make up a growing part of our lives. Some people are content just accepting these gadgets, gizmos, and widgets, but others want to know how they all work. Obviously, you’re in that second group, which is definitely the cooler group out there. The science of electronics has advanced to the point that you can now hold a very powerful computer in the palm of your hand. With that com-puter, you can build something that controls the lighting in your entire house, a robot that vacuums the living room all on its own, or a sensor system that sounds an alarm if somebody tries to get at your collection of 1950s comic books.

Here’s the amazing part: You can make electronic gadgets that do these things for just a couple of bucks! At the same time that the art and science of electron-ics is rapidly advancing, the price for building a circuit that can do something incredibly nifty is dropping like a stone. Unless you’re constructing a time machine, or the world’s largest robotic rabbit, the typical home-brewed elec-tronics project costs less than dinner for four at a no-frills restaurant. If you’re looking for a cool hobby, electronics is one of the least expensive ones around.

Oh, and did I mention that electronics is fun?

You may also want to consider this possibility: People who know the practi-cal side of electronics — what things are, how they work, and how to put them together — can find some really great jobs on the market right now. If you’re interested in a career in electronics, make this book your first step to a fun and rewarding new job.

Also, many other hobbies rely on knowledge of electronics in some way. Maybe you’re into model railroading. You can figure out how to build your own auto-mated track switchers. Or perhaps you like racing radio-controlled cars. With an understanding of electronics, you may discover how to improve the perfor-mance of your car and beat your best friend in the next race. Knowing more about how electronics stuff works can make your other hobbies more fun.
And, last but not least, electronics is fun. Or maybe I mentioned that already?

How This Book Is Organized

Electronics For Dummies is organized so that you can quickly find, read, and understand the information that you want. It’s also organized so that if you have some experience with electronics, you can skip chapters and move on to the parts that interest you.

The chapters in this book are divided into parts that also help you find the information that you’re looking for quickly and easily.

Part I: Getting Started in Electronics

Start with Part I if you’re brand-spanking new to electronics. Because this book is designed to get you on the road to electronics as quickly as possible, this part has only two chapters, an overall introduction to electronics concepts and safety information. Please read Chapter 2, “Keeping Humans and Gadgets Safe,” even if you decide to skip the introduction to electronics you find in Chapter 1.

Part II: Aisle 5, Component Shack: Stocking Up

If you’re just starting out in electronics, you probably need a couple of tools. Read about the most important ones in Chapter 3, “Outfitting Your Electronics Bench.”

You can’t make a project out of thin air. You need resistors, diodes, capacitors, and other building blocks of today’s electronics. Chapters 4 and 5 explain what each of the most important electronics components does and how often you use each in building a circuit.

Part III: Putting It on Paper

If you’ve ever seen an electronics diagram, you probably thought it looked like Egyptian hieroglyphics. In Chapter 6, we explain all about how to read these diagrams (they’re called schematics), and you can discover how to follow a schematic to determine the basic functionality of a circuit in Chapter 7.

Part IV: Getting Your Hands Dirty

At this point, you’re ready to start building your own electronics projects. The chapters in Part IV tell you how to solder and how to use three of the most important testing tools in electronics — the multimeter, logic probe, and oscilloscope. You don’t absolutely need the last two to get started with electronics, so you can come back to Chapter 10 a few months from now if you’re just starting out.

Part V: A Plethora of Projects

In Chapters 11 and 12, we demonstrate how to build your own circuits. We cover how to construct temporary circuits on something called a solderless breadboard. Then you discover how to produce permanent circuits using several methods, or by designing and ordering printed circuit boards from a supplier. Chapter 13 introduces you to the exciting universe of microcon-trollers, electronic circuits that you can program to do any of a million things. And finally, in Chapters 14 and 15, you can play with over a dozen fun (and not too complicated!) projects that you can build yourself.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

This part contains several chapters laid out in top-ten-list format. Here, you explore some optional testing tools that you can add to your electronics bench as you gain more experience; get advice about where to find electron-ics parts; and finally, study useful electronics formulas that don’t require a degree in math.
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