Cathleen Shamieh - Getting Started with Electronics: Build Electronic Circuits!

GETTING STARTED WITH ELECTRONICS

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John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

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Copyright 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947892
ISBN 978-1-119-31380-9 (pbk); 978-1-119-31382-3 (epdf); 978-1-119-31381-6 (epub)

1. Table of Contents

GREETINGS, FUTURE ENGINEERS!

Welcome to Getting Started with Electronics the book that gives you a jump-start into the exciting world of electronics.

Electronics is all about controlling electrical current which you may know better as electricity flowing in a complete path called a circuit. All electronic devices are made up of circuits, and every circuit contains a power supply, a path, and one or more parts (known as electronic components) to control current flow.

Getting Started with Electronics walks you through six electronics projects you can build and show off to your family and friends. Each project includes a list of the parts you need, step-by-step circuit-building instructions, and loads of colorful illustrations to guide you.

By completing all the projects in this book, you will

• Discover how to build a complete circuit
• Build circuits on a breadboard
• Light an LED without frying it
• Switch electrical current between paths
• Control sound using light
• Use an integrated circuit (IC) to control lights and sound
• Pull a radio signal out of thin air and listen to it

After reading this book, youll have enough knowledge and experience to join Apple as a circuit designer for the next-generation iPhone.

Just kidding! (You didnt really believe me, did you?)

Okay, so I cant promise that this book will get you a job in electronics, but I will promise that youll have fun building circuits and that youll learn a bit about electronics along the way.

In writing this book, I made a few assumptions about you and other readers:

• You dont know much if anything about electronics.
• Youre interested in fun circuits that are easy to build.
• You have some money to spend on supplies and tools. With some smart shopping, $20 will get you most of what you need and $70 to $100 will cover everything.
• Youre able to place an online order for electronic components and get to a store or two (with help from an adult).
• You will carefully follow the safety tips in this book.

The tip icon flags time-saving shortcuts and other information that can make your circuit-building job easier.

This icon alerts you to important ideas or facts that you should keep in mind while building your electronics projects.

When you build electronic circuits, youre bound to run into situations that call for extreme caution. The warning icon reminds you to take extra care to avoid injury or prevent damage to your components or circuits.

Nobodys perfect, least of all me. In the event that someone (whether it be me, an editor, or a reader) discovers an error (or two or more) in this book, I will provide updates at www.dummies.com . Search for Getting Started with Electronics and then open the Download tab on this book's dedicated page.

Getting Started with Electronics isnt like a typical novel that you read from start to finish. Its more like a book of short stories or, in this case, projects. Its perfectly fine to pick a project that interests you and build it even if you havent built the earlier projects in the book.

But if you choose to jump into a later project first, youd be smart to read lists everything you need to build the projects in the book and walks you step-by-step through the shopping process to ensure that its as easy, quick, and inexpensive as possible.