Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components

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Apart from their more popular ones like Eloquent Javascript and Automate The Boring Stuff, i have discovered several nice gems in their catalogue which they keep small and of really high quality.

Aside from the impressive precision of these components (though there are exceptions, a particularly poorly made coax cable is roasted by the authors) the photography is really notable for bringing out glorious color in these components - sometimes included for manufacturing reasons, sometimes an artifact of the materials themselves - but normally not seen by human eyes at all, safely enclosed in plastic, ceramic, or metal boxes. This book is a work of art in its own right, offering readers a close-up look at the intricate details of various circuit boards and components, including a detailed cross-section of popular electronic components. At the core of this capacitor is a porous pellet of tantalum metal. The pellet is made from tantalum powder and sintered, or compressed at a high temperature, into a dense, spongelike solid. Stunningly beautiful . . . While the component images stand alone as works of art, authors Schlaepfer and Oskay pair the pictures with clear and informative text that adds to the reader’s knowledge of the circuitry they are looking at. This book is sure to be a staple in many makers, educators, and engineers libraries.” As we have already mentioned we cannot see the Electrical circuits, but they are present in many elements and/or devices that depend on electricity to function. With these books of electrical circuits in PDF format you will have the opportunity to start the path of knowing extensively this subject that is studied in various careers and trades.Inductors are fundamental electronic components that store energy in the form of a magnetic field. They’re used, for example, in some types of power supplies to convert between voltages by alternately storing and releasing energy. This energy-efficient design helps maximize the battery life of cellphones and other portable electronics.

It takes 15 rotations of an adjustment screw to move a 15-turn trimmer potentiometer from one end of its resistive range to the other. Circuits that need to be adjusted with fine resolution control use this type of trimmer pot instead of the single-turn variety. A lovely book about electrical and electronic components that will delight those who have ever wondered what the insides of them look like. Lots of photographs showing the details of the components can be found in the book, along with descriptions of what they are made out of. However, despite this oversight, I mark this book as highly recommended and a resource for anyone interested in the inner beauty of electronic components. This book is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in electronics, computer technology, or circuits. Electrical circuits are represented schematically and it is a very relevant step in the creation process, since it is the basis and must be well done. This representation is done on paper or by means of a computer program.Big fan of Windell Oskay and his stuff. I wandered into Evil Mad Scientists Laboratories many years ago (in Sunnyvale, as I recall) and I believe I met him but it was a decade ago.... Eric Schlaepfer was trying to fix a broken piece of test equipment when he came across the cause of the problem—a troubled tantalum capacitor. The component had somehow shorted out, and he wanted to know why. So he polished it down for a look inside. He never found the source of the short, but he and his collaborator, Windell H. Oskay, discovered something even better: a breathtaking hidden world inside electronics. What followed were hours and hours of polishing, cleaning, and photography that resulted in Open Circuits: The Inner Beauty of Electronic Components (No Starch Press, 2022), an excerpt of which follows. As the authors write, everything about these components is deliberately designed to meet specific technical needs, but that design leads to “accidental beauty: the emergent aesthetics of things you were never expected to see.” The only downside to this book is the omission of mechanical keyboards, which is a missed opportunity for those (like me) who are interested in learning about the inner workings of these devices - specifically I would have loved to see a switch cross-section. While it will definitely be a ‘geek coffee table book’ for me, I would very much have appreciated it when I was 12 years old and first getting into electronics.” This is the coolest book I’ve seen in years. Fascinating look inside hundreds of circuits, switches, and mechanical electronic devices that I’ve never seen before.”

The components of the electrical circuit are: the generator (produces and maintains the electrical current, they can be batteries or alternators), the conductors (where the electrical current is transferred from one element to another), the receivers (transform the electrical energy into another type of energy), the control elements (the switches, for example) and the protection elements. We can define electrical circuits as the connection that exists between two or more components that create a closed path or route through which electric current flows. Its fundamental purpose is to make the current perform its useful work, for example: to light a light bulb (luminous energy), to start an engine (mechanical energy) or a stove (thermal energy). The authors have done an outstanding job in etching and cleaning up the components, allowing readers to see the intricate details of each component in high-quality photos. Stunningly beautiful . . . While the component images stand alone as works of art, authors Schlaepfer and Oskay pair the pictures with clear and informative text that adds to the reader's knowledge of the circuitry they are looking at. This book is sure to be a staple in many makers, educators, and engineers libraries."One of the standout features of this book is the quality of the photography, which showcases the beauty and inner workings of electronic components with incredible detail and clarity. This ended up on my radar while I was looking for nonfiction with a good combination of visuals and info. I don't actually know much about electronic components, so I was somewhat reluctant to take the plunge and get this, but then I spotted it on sale and snatched it up, and I'm glad I did. Whether you're a builder or user of electronics, the cross-section images and detailed information on modern and legacy components will give you a new appreciation for the inner workings of these devices.

There are a lot of explanations of inner mechanics of elements i used, but never fully understood the exact principles of their work. Capacitors are fundamental electronic components that store energy in the form of static electricity. They’re used in countless ways, including for bulk energy storage, to smooth out electronic signals, and as computer memory cells. The simplest capacitor consists of two parallel metal plates with a gap between them, but capacitors can take many forms so long as there are two conductive surfaces, called electrodes, separated by an insulator. I thought this would be "just a picture book", not that that would be bad, But I want to contrast that then with what is actually in this book. All the gorgeous photos of cut and deconstructed components are accompanied by a few concise paragraphs explaining what they are, how they work, and often why they may be the way they are. Although everything was beautiful and more interesting than I expected, my favorite chapter was probably the electromechanics one. My inner child appreciated the peek inside various switches, learning how they work, and why they feel so satisfying to flip. Still, every chapter had something I enjoyed, and I definitely have a new appreciation for my smartphone. I've just finished the early-access PDF, but will try to follow up when the print edition arrives.)Even without these risks, the photography itself posed a technical challenge. "One of the basic limitations that you can run into with macro photography is the limited depth of field – only a very narrow slice of the view is in focus at any given time," Windell explains. What an awesome book! A rare breed of technical content that is appreciable by experts and novices alike.” Overall, highly recommended if anything about this book piques your interest even the slightest bit. The small wires nearer the center are “high impedance” turns of magnet wire. These windings carry a higher voltage but a lower current. They’re protected by several layers of tape, a copper-foil electrostatic shield, and more tape. Inductors typically consist of a coil of insulated wire wrapped around a core of magnetic material like iron or ferrite, a ceramic filled with iron oxide. Current flowing around the core produces a magnetic field that acts as a sort of flywheel for current, smoothing out changes in the current as it flows through the inductor.