To understand electronics, it is helpful to have a bit of knowledge and understanding about physics. The language of physics is primarily mathematics but also english. Therefore the student is encouraged to learn algebra, geometry, logic, and calculus in addition to the vocabulary of science (physics) and electronics. Vocabulary is at the root of understanding regarding any subject, and many terms used in these tutorials will be assumed to be already known and understood.
Among my favorite books is General Chemistry written by the late Linus Pauling. Dr. Pauling begins with a most excellent overview of physics. While chemistry may seem like an unrelated subject, it is not. Both sciences have a great deal in common and are bound together by a basic understanding of atoms and electrons.
With an understanding of this general knowledge we may begin to examine the components of electronic circuits and their interaction. Proceeding without this assunption of understanding, I will try to provide links within the text for further information.
You might note the time stamp here. The site is just now coming on line.
It may take some time to log my notes and such. I have a few links at the moment, and I am begining to write this tutorial's creation log. (This Blog.) In the near future I will continue writing this tutorial with an introduction to ohms law, and resistors. This should include the concepts of doing theoretical calculations, making a schematic diagram, and the more practical aspects such as determining the value of a resistor (etc.) by inspection, component selection, and packaging and testing.
These same concepts will be expanded upon with the addition of capacitance and inductance in the following tutorials to conclude with fundamentals. This will include trigonometry. as a precept to understanding waves and impedence. I use this free calculator a lot, so here is a link to download it (click on the picture) and the folks who provide it. This may help you with the math, and you might take some time getting used to a calculator which uses RPN (Reverse Polish Notation.)
Thanks to: www.syntrillium.com
The site now has an official domain name and new home: learntronics.0catch.com. Still working on a few of the early illustrations using VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language.) Have added several links to other related and useful sites.
Email the webmaster; F. Davies