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Dickon Ross Editor-in-Chief, Electronics & Technology Magazine Cathleen Shamieh Gordon McComb Electronics experts Learn to: • Get to grips with electronics theory • Start working with electrical parts and equipment • Read schematics and build simple circuits • Create your own projects, from flashing lights to infrared detectors Electronics Making Everything Easier! ™ UK Edition C1 C2 R5 IC-1 555 timer 470 D1-6 LED 1-7 2 6 14 3 7 1 8 16 5 13 15 IC2 CMOS Decade counter reset disable 82 1 7 4 10 12 Q1 Q5 Q3 Q2 Q4 Q6 +10 4 R4 R1 R2 R3 R6 S1 S2 9V Schematic for an electronic die Open the book and find: • What electronics involves • Ways to harness electricity • How electronic components really work • Advice on using integrated circuits • Key tools and equipment for your workbench • How to create solderless and soldered breadboards • Ways to measure your circuits with multimeters and oscilloscopes • Key safety information • Top tips to help you succeed Dickon Ross is the Editor-in-Chief of Electronics & Technology Magazine, published by the IET. He is also the launch Editor of Flipside, a science, engineering and technology magazine aimed at teenagers. Cathleen Shamieh is a technology writer with extensive engineering and consulting experience. Gordon McComb is an electronics author and consultant. £16.99 UK / $24.99 US ISBN 978-0-470-68178-7 Electronics Go to Dummies.com ® for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles or to shop! Get charged up about electronics If you’re interested in how things work and want to get hands on with technology, you’ve come to the right place. Covering everything from the low-down on the science and equipment to the practical information you need to build exciting projects, this easy-to-follow guide will get you up and running in no time. So get reading and start putting the electricity into electronics! • Understand the basics – learn about electrons and find out about resistors, capacitors, inductors, conductors and more • Make a start – set up your workspace, learn how to read schematics and build simple breadboards • Get practical – create your own circuits and build fun projects such as electronic compasses, infrared detectors and electronic dice • Stock up – find out which parts you need for every project and where to get them in the UK and overseas UK Edition Electronics Ross Shamieh McComb spine = 20.4mm www.it-ebooks.info spine = 20.4mm Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include • Checklists • Charts • Common Instructions • And Other Good Stuff! Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our • Videos • Illustrated Articles • Step-by-Step Instructions Want a weekly dose of Dummies? Sign up for Newsletters on • Digital Photography • Microsoft Windows & Office • Personal Finance & Investing • Health & Wellness • Computing, iPods & Mobile Phones • eBay • Internet • Food, Home & Garden Find out “HOW” at Dummies.com Get More and Do More at Dummies.com ® To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to http://www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/electronicsuk www.it-ebooks.info Electronics FOR DUMmIES ‰ www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info by Dickon Ross, Cathleen Shamieh, and Gordon McComb Electronics FOR DUMmIES ‰ A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, Publication www.it-ebooks.info Electronics For Dummies ® Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd The Atrium Southern Gate Chichester West Sussex PO19 8SQ England E-mail (for orders and customer service enquires): cs-books@wiley.co.uk Visit our Home Page on www.wiley.com Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmit- ted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England, or emailed to permreq@wiley.co.uk, or faxed to (44) 1243 770620. Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its af liates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER, THE AUTHOR, AND ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN PREPARING THIS WORK MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DIS- CLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PAR- TICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. 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For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-470-68178-7 Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 www.it-ebooks.info About the Authors Dickon Ross, adapting author of the UK edition, has been a science and technology journalist for 20 years, working on titles ranging from Electronics Times to Focus. Dickon is now Editor-in-Chief of Engineering & Technology magazine and Flipside – the magazine he launched for teenagers – for the Institution of Engineering and Technology. Cathleen Shamieh is a writer with an engineering background who spe- cialises in creating communication materials focused on technology and its business bene ts. She received an outstanding education in electrical engineering at Manhattan College and MIT, and enjoyed working as an engi- neer for several years in the medical electronics and telecommunications industries. Accepting a challenge from a respected colleague, she shifted her career into business consulting with a focus on technology implementa- tion, eventually migrating into marketing and communications consulting for high-tech companies. Cathleen enjoys leveraging her technical and business background to create white papers and other materials for not-so-technical audiences. Gordon McComb has penned 60 books and over a thousand magazine arti- cles. More than a million copies of his books are in print, in over a dozen lan- guages. For 13 years, Gordon wrote a weekly syndicated newspaper column on personal computers. When not writing about hobby electronics and other fun topics, he serves as a consultant on digital cinema to several notable Hollywood clients. www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Dedication To my parents, Beth and Jim Corbett, who taught me that I can do anything I put my mind to; to Sister Eustelle, who made a writer out of me; to my wonderful husband, Bill, who’s always there to support me; and to my four fantastic sons, Kevin, Peter, Brendan, and Patrick, who make life a fun, loving adventure every single day. C.S. To my father, Wally McComb, who instilled in me a fascination with electronics; and to Forrest Mims, who taught me a thing or two about it. G.M. Authors’ Acknowledgements Dickon Ross would like to thank his son Edmund for his help in building and testing the circuits in this book. Cathleen Shamieh extends her thanks to the excellent editors at Wiley, espe- cially Katie Feltman and Christopher Morris, for their hard work, support, and gentle reminders, and to Kirk Kleinschmidt for his intense technical scru- tiny of the material. She is also grateful to Linda Hammer and Ken Donoghue, who kindly recommended her work to Wiley. Finally, Cathleen thanks her family and friends, whose support, assistance, and understanding helped make her goal of becoming a Dummies author a reality. Gordon McComb gives heartfelt thanks to Wiley and the hard-working edi- tors at Wiley, especially Katie Feldman, Nancy Stevenson, Carol Sheehan, Laura Miller and Amanda Foxworth. Many thanks also to Ward Silver, for his excellent and thorough technical review, and Matt Wagner at Waterside Productions for always having a positive outlook. Gordon also wishes to thank his family, who once again put their lives on hold while he  nished another book. www.it-ebooks.info Publisher’s Acknowledgements We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Commissioning, Editorial, and Media Development Project Editor: Steve Edwards Content Editor: Jo Theedom Commissioning Editor: Nicole Hermitage Assistant Editor: Jennifer Prytherch Development Editor: Andy Finch Copy Editor: Anne O’Rorke Technical Editor: Roger Dettmer Proofreader: Kelly Cattermole Production Manager: Daniel Mersey Cover Photos: © Tombaky/Fotolia Cartoons: Ed McLachlan Composition Services Project Coordinator: Lynsey Stanford Layout and Graphics: Carrie A. Cesavice, JoyceHaughey, Melissa K. Jester, MarkPinto, Christine Williams Proofreaders: Melissa Cossell, Rebecca Denoncour Indexer: Ty Koontz Special Help Brand Reviewer: Rev Mengle www.it-ebooks.info [...]... information laid out in top-ten list format Chapter 15 offers pointers to help you expand your electronics horizons Here, you can find information on all-inclusive project kits and circuit simulation software, suggestions for additional testing tools and tips on how to get great deals on electronics supplies www.it-ebooks.info 5 6 Electronics For Dummies When you’re ready to shop for all things electronic, ... book, you’ll realise that electronics isn’t as complicated as you may have thought And we want to arm you with the knowledge and confidence you need to go deeper into the exciting world of electronics www.it-ebooks.info 2 Electronics For Dummies Why Electronics? Electronics is everywhere You find electronics in your phones, audio and video systems, and kitchen appliances Electronic systems control... comes first in electronics It’s so important, in fact, that we devote a major section of Chapter 9 to it – and continually refer you to this section If you’re brand new to electronics, please be sure to read this section thoroughly Don’t skip over it, even if you think you’re the safest person on earth www.it-ebooks.info 3 4 Electronics For Dummies Even if you’ve dabbled in electronics before, we still... radio-controlled cars, electronics know-how may enable you to improve the performance of your car and win the next championship Knowing more about electronics can really enhance your hobbies Last but not least, electronics is fun Finding out about and messing with electronics is its own reward www.it-ebooks.info Introduction Foolish Assumptions This book assumes that you’re curious about electronics, but... turn to Chapter 16 for a list of the top electronics suppliers in the UK and abroad Icons Used in This Book We can’t place dozens of Post-it notes in each and every copy of Electronics For Dummies, so we use icons to draw your attention to critical information Tips alert you to information that can really save you time, headaches or money (or all three!) If you use our tips, your electronics experience... perform arithmetic operations, so you use electronic calculators and computers to perform computations With the abacus, beads were used to represent numbers and calculations were performed by manipulating those beads In computing systems, different electrical signals are used to represent numbers, letters and other information, and computations are performed by manipulating those patterns using electronic. .. Organised Electronics For Dummies is organised so that you can quickly find, read and understand the information that you want Also, if you have some experience with electronics, or want to deepen your knowledge of one particular topic, you can skip around and focus on the chapters that interest you The chapters in this book are divided into parts to help you zero in on the information that you’re looking for. .. Effects 325 Arranging the LEDs 325 Chasing down the parts 327 Making an Electronic Die 327 www.it-ebooks.info xvii xviii Electronics For Dummies Part IV: The Part of Tens 329 Chapter 15: Ten Exciting Electronics Extras 331 Trying Out Ready-Made Electronics Kits 331 Varying Your Voltage 332 Counting Up Those Megahertz ... Sources for Electronics Parts 341 Buying British: Suppliers within the UK 341 Maplin 341 RS Components 342 Farnell 342 RSH Electronics 342 Bitsbox 343 ESR Electronic Components 343 Ordering from across the Pond 343 Digikey 343 All Electronics 344 B.G Micro 344 Mouser Electronics... explain exactly what electronics is, what it can (and does) do for you and how all sorts of electronic things work But don’t worry We don’t bore you with long essays involving physics and mathematics We use analogies and down-to-earth examples to make understanding electronics easy – fun, even And while you’re enjoying yourself, you’re discovering how electronic components work and combine forces to make . Dickon Ross Editor-in-Chief, Electronics & Technology Magazine Cathleen Shamieh Gordon McComb Electronics experts Learn to: • Get to grips with electronics theory • Start working with. Q4 Q6 +10 4 R4 R1 R2 R3 R6 S1 S2 9V Schematic for an electronic die Open the book and find: • What electronics involves • Ways to harness electricity • How electronic components really work • Advice. such as electronic compasses, infrared detectors and electronic dice • Stock up – find out which parts you need for every project and where to get them in the UK and overseas UK Edition Electronics Ross Shamieh McComb spine