1.  INTRODUCTION

You are at the best, free online "Basic Electronics Course". Just read the brief blocks of text, view the videos, and check out some of the screened internet links. This is the easiest, fastest way to learn basic electronics. No sign-up requirements and it is free. The menu table above provides easy access to many interesting electronics topics. You can enhance, expand and speed your learning by purchasing some of the book selections mentioned below. Take your time and enjoy.

Everyone today is exposed to electronic devices in one way or another.  The computer revolution is a good example.  Everyone can benefit from additional knowledge of electronics.  Even a quick scanning of this page will help.  A study of electronics starts with electricity, magnetism and basic electronics.  This includes Ohm's law and other basic principles of electricity.  Obtain and study various books on electronics  - this is really a must as each author will explain things in a little different way to help you grasp the concepts.

All the internet links to other web sites found on 101science.com were screened to provide you with the BEST the internet has to offer on each subject.  This will save you many hours of searching for good educational material.  This site is for everyone from the beginner to expert electrical engineering professional.  There is something here for every level of expertise in the world of electronics.  If you just need information on one specific area, use the table above to navigate to the information you need.  If you need more instruction - read on.

Maybe you already know some basic electronics and want to  test yourself to see exactly how much you do know.

2.  BASIC ELECTRICITY

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM BASICS - It all starts with the electrons moving around atoms. Electricity is the movement of electrical charge from one place to another.  Electric charges do not exist without their associated electric and magnetic fields. This module will introduce you to many of the basic concepts involved with electricity and magnetism.  

MATTER  - Matter is physically everything that exists that we can touch and feel.  Matter consists of atoms. Now we will introduce you to the structure of atoms, talk about electrons and static charge, moving charges, voltage, resistance, and current. You  will learn about the properties of magnets and how magnets are used to produce electric current and vice versa. All matter can be classified as being either a pure substance or a mixture.  Matter can exist as either a solid, liquid, or a gas and can change among these three states of matter.  In electronics the most important matter are conductive metals, non-conductive insulators, and

ELECTRICAL CHARGE - Any object or particle is or can become electrically charged.  Nobody completely understands what this charge consists of but we do know a lot about how it reacts and behaves.  The smallest known charge of electricity is the charge associated with an electron.  This charge has been called a "negative" charge.  An atoms nucleus has a positive charge.  These two un-like charges attract one another.  Like charges oppose one another.  If you had 6,250,000,000,000,000,000 electrons in a box you would have what has been named; one coulomb of charge.  An easier way of thinking about a large number like that is called "powers of ten" and it would look like this 6.25 x 10^18 electrons.  It is simply a way to let you know to move the decimal point to the right 18 places.  When electrical charges are at rest, meaning they are not moving, we call that static electricity.  If charges are in motion we then have a flow of charge called electrical current.  We have given the force that causes this current a name called "electromotive force" and it is measured by a unit called a volt (V).  The unit of measurement of the current (I) or movement of the charge is called an ampere.  The resistance, or opposition, to current flow is called an ohm (R).

ELECTRICAL FIELDS- Around a charge is an electric field.  With every electric field there is a magnetic field.  While we can't see these fields, or yet know exactly what they consist of, we can measure them with instruments and tell a great deal about their behavior.  We can then use this knowledge to our benefit.  The design and construction of electric motors, computers, radios, televisions, stereos, and many other electrical and electronic devices depend upon a knowledge of these basic principles of electricity.  As you can see we have given names to these phenomenon to make it easier for us to study and use.  We could have called them Dick, Jane and Mary but instead we named them for the scientists that discovered or first studied them; Volt, Ampere, and Ohm.  Mr. Volt, Mr. Ampere, and Mr. Ohm spent many years of their lives studying electricity.  They were not alone however as many other scientist were studying and learning more about electricity as well.

WATTS - POWER - What is a watt?  A watt is the International System unit of power equal to one joule per second.  A joule is a unit of electrical energy equal to the work done when a current of one ampere passes through a resistance of one ohm for one second. The symbol used for a watt is "P" for power.  Power in watts is found by multiplying a circuits current (I) times its voltage (V).   You will learn more about power in watts in the ohms law section below.

If you don't have a clue as to what electrical current and voltage are - read on.  We will cover that shortly.

Moving electric charges are the heart of basic electronics.  Knowing what moving charges are and how various electronic components affect the moving charges is the foundation of basic electronics.  View the videos and continue on down the page.  These are the basic building blocks of understanding "Basic Electronics".


3.  BASIC ELECTRONICS

Now that you have a general background in electricity and moving charges you can move on to learning more about basic electronics.  Electronics puts a knowledge of electricity to useful work.  Electronics applies electrical current flow of electrical charges to circuits to accomplish specific tasks.  Amplifiers can be constructed from glass "tubes" containing metal elements, or more commonly today with solid state diodes, transistors, or integrated circuits.   An amplifier is simply a device or circuit that takes a small signal input and controls a larger current as it output.  The input signal voltage is small and the output voltage is larger - amplified.  A circuit containing wire conductors, resistors, capacitors, inductors and amplifiers can be configured in many ways to build various electronic circuits like oscillators, digital logic circuits, computer circuits, television and video circuits and much more.  An oscillator by the way is just an amplifier with some of the output fed back into the input.  Sounds like a perpetual motion machine but it isn't as the amplifiers power supply is providing the additional energy that is lost in the circuit and keeps the circulation, i.e. oscillations going.

Basic electronics is all about electrical components and the circuits consisting of those components .  Common components are resistors, capacitors, inductors, transistors, and integrated circuits.  You will find each of these components described in detail in the following numbered sections.  The components are interconnect with conductors, either physical wires or printed circuits.  The components make up linear analog amplifiers, oscillators, and filters as examples.  They also can be configured to create digital logic circuits such as memories, gates, arithmetic units, and central processing units.  So you will find basic electronics in every computer, mp3 player, radio, TV and may other appliances in your home, car, or on your body.  Each circuit has a job. Components are interconnected to perform a specific task.  First learn about each individual component and how it works then learn about how to interconnect them to make useful end products. Continue your study by reading the numbered sections to follow.

Live blogged: The UK's new energy future

Read how Chris Huhne set out the government's plan for cutting the UK's carbon emissions, while keeping the lights on, at a price people can afford. Plus: all the reaction


The sun is setting on the UK's liberalised electricity market, with government interventions to ensure sufficient low-carbon energy will be generated to meet targets for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

This live blog has now ended. You jump straight to my sum up, if you like, or just read through in chronological order.

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2.54pm: At 3.30pm today, the UK's secretary of state for energy and climate change, Chris Huhne, is going to set out how he thinks the nation can meet the three "Cs" of energy in the 21st century: carbon, cost and continuity of supply. The challenge, in other words, is to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that stoke global warming, while keeping the lights on at a price people can afford. It's the biggest reform in quarter of a century, and will reverse the free market set up by Margaret Thatcher, which has failed to invest for the future.

In my preview, I wrote that the government decided long ago that new nuclear power stations are crucial to meeting the "trilemma" of the 3 Cs, and all sides of the debate agree this is the central aim of the complex measures set out in the white paper. The details are pretty technical – contracts for difference and so on – but this piece walks you through the labyrinth.

The key questions to be answered are, I think:

• What will it cost energy customers? The UK's creaking energy infrastructure and global fuel prices mean that energy prices are going up whether it's coal, gas, oil, nuclear or renewables. But the higher the cost, the more hard-pressed consumers will object, making it less likely future ministers will stick to the plans.

• Are there incentives for energy efficiency? Crucial, as reducing demand is very often cheaper than increasing supply, to cutting waste will help keep bills down.

• Is there help for new entrants to the market? The UK's big six supply 99% of the energy. Huhne has promised to help break this up, but how? Again it is important for cost: more competition means lower prices.

• Which of the UK's big six energy companies is happy? This will tell you which electricity generation technologies got the best deal. EDF back nuclear, SSE back renewables.

• Is there any obligation to build renewables? If not, gas looks an easier, cheaper alternative.

I'll post some thoughts from elsewhere in the run up to Huhne's speech in the House of Commons. But please let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or via Twitter. I am @dpcarrington.

Kingdom Community Wind Project, USA

The Kingdom Community Wind project is a 63MW wind farm to be built in Lowell, Orleans County, Vermont, US. The project is being jointly developed by Green Mountain Power Corporation (GMP) and Vermont Electric Co-op (VEC) under a partnership formed in October 2009. The estimated investment in the project is $150m.

GMP will own the wind farm and VEC will receive the power generated. The arrangement is part of VEC's strategy to partner with companies interested in building facilities that will supply power to its customers. Reed & Reed is the contractor for the project.


Vermont state regulators approved the project in June 2011. Construction is expected to commence in August 2011. The project is scheduled for completion in December 2012.
 p>The new wind farm is expected to reduce pollution in the region by displacing 75,000t of carbon dioxide emissions annually. The project will also lower electricity prices for customers. It is expected to generate nearly $40m in federal production tax credits, which will help in reducing the amount customers pay for the power they use. The power generated will meet the requirements of 20,000 households.


The project is expected to provide an economic boost to the region with the creation of new jobs. It is also expected to generate facilities tax and property tax payments. The payments will be diverted to the state education fund and also to the Good Neighbour Fund, which supports five neighbouring communities.
Site

The Lowell Mountain Range has been chosen as the site for the construction of the wind farm. A three-mile portion of the mountain range will be used for constructing the wind farm. The site is a working timber farm with elevations in the area ranging from 2,200ft to 2,600ft. The area features strong and persistent winds in the west north-west direction making it an ideal location for building the wind farm.

An environmental assessment study was conducted at the site in 2008 by Vermont Environmental Research Associates. The study did not identify any serious impact on the region due to the wind farm.
Plant details

The wind farm will have 21 wind turbines erected across 2000 acres. The site will be accessible through an exclusive road along Route 100 of Lowell.

In June 2011, GMP selected Vestas to provide wind turbines for the project. Vestas will provide its V112 3MW turbines, which are expected to reduce the power generation costs from the estimated 10.3 cents per kWh to 9.2 cents per kWh.

The turbines are 400ft tall and have a rotor diameter of 367ft. The blades are 179ft long. The turbines feature various noise modes that can be used to meet specific noise level restrictions.
Grid network

Three transmission lines will be used to transfer electricity generated by the wind farm to the grid network. Two 34.5kV transmission lines run along Route 58 and Route 100 of Lowell. Another 46kV transmission line passes from Lowell to Irasburg. These lines will transmit power from the wind farm to two existing substations owned by VEC and Central Vermont Public Service Corporation. The close proximity of the transmission network will further reduce the cost of the project.
Power market

The project will reduce the need to import power to fulfil the electricity demand in the region. Power imports form 70% of VEC's operating expenses. With the construction of the new wind farm, VEC expects to secure low-cost and reliable power for the region. The project will also satisfy 6-8% of the generation needs of GMP and 4% of the generation needs of VEC.