Glossary of Basic Electrical and Electronic Terms

A

ampere

Basic unit of current: 1 ampere = 1 A = 1 coulomb/second.

angular frequency

Rate of change of phase. Measured in radians per second: ? = 2 ?f.

anode

The negative terminal

attenuation

Decrease in voltage or current (also implies power reduction).

C

capacitor

Device used to store charge and energy. The capacity of a capacitor is called the capacitance. Capacitance C, charge Q, and voltage V are related by the equation Q = CV.

cathode

The positive terminal

cathode-ray tube

A large vacuum tube in which the electron beam can be steered to create a visible pattern on a phosphorescent screen.

charge

A fundamental property of some elementary particles. Electrons have charge ?1 e, and protons and holes have charge +1 e, where e = 1 .602 10 ^?19 coulombs.

common

Voltage reference point (0 V). Also called ground.

compliance

(usually of a current source): Range over which circuit performance is stable.

coulomb

Unit of charge: 1 coulomb = 6 .241 10 ¹⁸ e, where e is the charge of the electron.

current

Rate at which charge flows. Defined as the amount of charge that passes through a given surface (such as the cross-section of a wire) per unit time. A convenient analogy is the rate at which water flows...