Basic Electronics

Muhammad Haris Shams

 Resistors

 Resistors resist, as the name suggest, the flow of

electrons or the current.
 Symbols are :
 Measured in units called Ohm(Ω)
 Resistors can be broadly divided into two types.
1) Fixed resistor
2) Variable resistors.
 Fixed resistors means the value is fixed. It will
not change during the use
 Variable resistors: the value of the resistance can
change while being used in different circuits.
 Resistor with higher voltages will be bigger in
size in general
 Resistance value

 Resistance value is displayed using a color code or color

bars
 Resistance value is a discrete value for example you have
come across values like one, 2.2, 4.7, 10, etc. in a typical
situation

Example 1

Example 2
 Variable Resistors

 Two general ways in which variable resistors are used.

1) One is where the value is to be changed during the operation. E.g. example is
the volume control.
2) The semi-fixed resistors are used to compensate the inaccuracies of the
resistors.
 Continued….
 Similarly there is another type of variable resistors
which is a special type called thermistor.
 Thermal means temperatures; that means heat
sensitive resistors.
 Therefore they can be used for measurement of
temperature.
 The resistance value of the thermistor changes
according to temperature and therefore they are used
as temperature sensor.
 There are in generally two types of thermistors;
1) One is called negative temperature coefficient
2) The other is called positive temperature coefficient or
PTC.
Ohm’s LAW
 Kirchhoff's current law (KCL)

 At any node (junction) in an electrical circuit, the sum of currents flowing into that node
is equal to the sum of currents flowing out of that node
OR
 The algebraic sum of currents in a network of conductors meeting at a point is zero.
 Kirchhoff's Voltage Law (or Kirchhoff's
Loop Rule)
 It states that the total voltage around a closed loop must be zero.
 If this were not the case, then when we travel around a closed loop, the voltages would
be.
 Series & Parallel Resistors
 Combination of resistors
 How resistors can be combined to obtain different values as well as how to divide
a given voltage source to any required magnitude by using couple of resistors
which is basically called a potential divider because it divides a potential.
 If I have 1000 ohms with me, quite a large number, but I want to obtain a 3000
ohms resistance. I don’t have 3000 ohms resistor; I must be able to obtain 3000
ohms resistance with the available 1000 ohms resistor.
 How do I combine them?
 There are two different ways of combining resistors in a given situation. These
are called series combination and parallel combination
Resistance in serial

 A series circuit is a circuit in which resistors are arranged in a chain, so the current
has only one path to take.

 The current is the same through each resistor. 

 The total resistance of the circuit is found by simply adding up the resistance values
of the individual resistors: equivalent resistance of resistors in series : R = R 1 + R2 +
R3 +  Rn

1) Same current flows through all the resistors in the series

2) Resultant resistor is the sum of all the resistors in the series
3) Series resistors divide the total applied voltage proportional to their magnitude

 Example???
Resistance in Parallel

 A parallel circuit is a circuit in which the resistors are arranged with their
heads connected together, and their tails connected together.
 The current in a parallel circuit breaks up, with some flowing along each
parallel branch and re-combining when the branches meet again.
 The voltage across each resistor in parallel is the same.
 1 / R = 1 / R1 + 1 / R2 + 1 / R3  + 1 / Rn
1) Same voltage across the resistors
2) Reciprocal of the resultant resistors is the sum of reciprocals of all the
resistors
3) Parallel resistors divide the current in inverse proportion to their magnitude
 Examples??
Potential Divider

  Also called voltage divider

 Since series resistors divide voltages, this voltage can be used to get a
smaller voltage from power supply

 If R1=R2, Vout= 0.5*Vin

 -1)
 -1)
Capacitors

 Used for storing electrical energy

 The unit of capacitance is Farad(F)
 Capacitor is characterized by very large resistance to DC and smaller
resistance for AC.
 One plate connected to a wire and another plate here connected to
another wire and in between a dielectric which is basically air or any
other insulator
 When we measure the resistance of between the leads of a capacitor, it
will show infinite resistance. Therefore, it blocks DC
 However, when an AC voltage/current is applied, it is passed