, Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier
30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400
Burlington, MA 01803, USA
Linacre House, Jordan Hill
Oxford OX2 8DP, UK
Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights
Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333,
e-mail: . You may also complete your request online
via the Elsevier homepage (www.elsevier.com), by selecting “Customer Support”
and then “Obtaining Permissions.”
Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier prints its
books on acid-free paper whenever possible.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ashby, Darren.
Electrical engineering 101 : everything you should have learned in school . . .
but probably didn’t / Darren Ashby.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-85617-506-7 (alk. paper)
1. Electric engineering. I. Title.
TK146.A75 2009
621.3—dc22
2008045182
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-85617-506-7
For information on all Newnes publications
visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com.
08 09 10 11 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Canada
01_Y506_Prelims.indd iv 10/21/2008 12:20:55 PM
, Preface
THE FIRST WORD
Wow, the success of the original edition of Electrical Engineering 101 has been
amazing. I have had fans from all over the world comment on it and how the
book has helped them. The response has been all I ever hoped for—so much
so that I get a chance to add to it and make an even better version.
Of course, these days you don’t just get a second edition, you get a better edi-
tion. This time through, you will get more insight into the topics (maybe a few
new topics too), a hardcover with color diagrams, and hopefully a few more
chuckles1 that mostly only we nerdy types will understand.
If you want to know what this book is all about, here is my original preface:
The intent of this book is to cover the basics that I believe have been
either left out of your education or forgotten over time. Hopefully it will vii
become one of those well-worn texts that you drop on the desk of the
new guy when he asks you a question. There is something for every
student, engineer, manager, and teacher in electrical engineering. My
mantra is, “It ain’t all that hard!” Years ago I had a counselor in college
tell me proudly that they flunked out over half the students who started
the engineering program. Needing to stay on her good side, I didn’t
say much at the time. I always wondered, though. If you fail so many
students, isn’t that really a failure to teach the subject well? I say “It ain’t
all that hard” to emphasize that even a hick with bad grammar like me can
understand the world of electrical engineering. This means you can too!
I take a different stance than that counselor of years ago, asserting that
everyone who wants to can understand this subject. I believe that way
more than 50% of the people who read this book will get something out
of it. It would be nice to show the statistics to that counselor some day;
she was encouraging me to drop out when she made her comment. So
good luck, read on, and prove me right: It ain’t all that hard!
1
Just a hint, most of the chuckles are in the footnotes, and if you like those, check out the
glossary too!
, viii Preface
Well, that about says it all. If you do decide to give this book a chance, I want
to say thank you, and I hope it brings you success in all you do!
OVERVIEW
For Engineers
Granted, there are many good teachers out there and you might have gotten
the basics, but time and too many “status reports” have dulled the finish on
your basic knowledge set. If you are like me, you have found a few really good
books that you often pull off the shelf in a time of need. They usually have a
well-written, easy-to-understand explanation of the particular topic you need
to apply. I hope this will be one of those books for you.
You might also be a fish out of water, an ME thrown into the world of electri-
cal engineering, and you would really like a basic understanding to work with
the EEs around you. If you get a really good understanding of these principles,
I guarantee you will surprise at least some of the “sparkies” (as I like to call
them) with your intuitive insights into problems at hand.
For Students
I don’t mean to knock the collegiate educational system, but it seems to me
that too often we can pass a class in school with the “assimilate and regurgi-
tate” method. You know what I mean: Go to class, soak up all the things the
teacher wants you to know, take the test, say the right things at the right time,
and leave the class without an ounce of applicable knowledge. I think many
students are forced into this mode when teachers do not take the time to lay
the groundwork for the subject they are covering. Students are so hard-pressed
to simply keep up that they do not feel the light bulb go on over their heads or
say, “Aha, now I get it!” The reality is, if you leave the class with a fundamental
understanding of the topic and you know that topic by heart, you will be emi-
nently more successful applying that basic knowledge than anything from the
end of the syllabus for that class.
For Managers
The job of the engineering manager2 really should have more to it than is
depicted by the pointy-haired boss you see in Dilbert cartoons. One thing many
2
Suggested alternate title for this book from reader Travis Hayes: EE for Dummies and Those
They Manage. I liked it, but I figured the pointy-haired types wouldn’t get it.
30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400
Burlington, MA 01803, USA
Linacre House, Jordan Hill
Oxford OX2 8DP, UK
Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights
Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333,
e-mail: . You may also complete your request online
via the Elsevier homepage (www.elsevier.com), by selecting “Customer Support”
and then “Obtaining Permissions.”
Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier prints its
books on acid-free paper whenever possible.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ashby, Darren.
Electrical engineering 101 : everything you should have learned in school . . .
but probably didn’t / Darren Ashby.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-85617-506-7 (alk. paper)
1. Electric engineering. I. Title.
TK146.A75 2009
621.3—dc22
2008045182
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-85617-506-7
For information on all Newnes publications
visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com.
08 09 10 11 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in Canada
01_Y506_Prelims.indd iv 10/21/2008 12:20:55 PM
, Preface
THE FIRST WORD
Wow, the success of the original edition of Electrical Engineering 101 has been
amazing. I have had fans from all over the world comment on it and how the
book has helped them. The response has been all I ever hoped for—so much
so that I get a chance to add to it and make an even better version.
Of course, these days you don’t just get a second edition, you get a better edi-
tion. This time through, you will get more insight into the topics (maybe a few
new topics too), a hardcover with color diagrams, and hopefully a few more
chuckles1 that mostly only we nerdy types will understand.
If you want to know what this book is all about, here is my original preface:
The intent of this book is to cover the basics that I believe have been
either left out of your education or forgotten over time. Hopefully it will vii
become one of those well-worn texts that you drop on the desk of the
new guy when he asks you a question. There is something for every
student, engineer, manager, and teacher in electrical engineering. My
mantra is, “It ain’t all that hard!” Years ago I had a counselor in college
tell me proudly that they flunked out over half the students who started
the engineering program. Needing to stay on her good side, I didn’t
say much at the time. I always wondered, though. If you fail so many
students, isn’t that really a failure to teach the subject well? I say “It ain’t
all that hard” to emphasize that even a hick with bad grammar like me can
understand the world of electrical engineering. This means you can too!
I take a different stance than that counselor of years ago, asserting that
everyone who wants to can understand this subject. I believe that way
more than 50% of the people who read this book will get something out
of it. It would be nice to show the statistics to that counselor some day;
she was encouraging me to drop out when she made her comment. So
good luck, read on, and prove me right: It ain’t all that hard!
1
Just a hint, most of the chuckles are in the footnotes, and if you like those, check out the
glossary too!
, viii Preface
Well, that about says it all. If you do decide to give this book a chance, I want
to say thank you, and I hope it brings you success in all you do!
OVERVIEW
For Engineers
Granted, there are many good teachers out there and you might have gotten
the basics, but time and too many “status reports” have dulled the finish on
your basic knowledge set. If you are like me, you have found a few really good
books that you often pull off the shelf in a time of need. They usually have a
well-written, easy-to-understand explanation of the particular topic you need
to apply. I hope this will be one of those books for you.
You might also be a fish out of water, an ME thrown into the world of electri-
cal engineering, and you would really like a basic understanding to work with
the EEs around you. If you get a really good understanding of these principles,
I guarantee you will surprise at least some of the “sparkies” (as I like to call
them) with your intuitive insights into problems at hand.
For Students
I don’t mean to knock the collegiate educational system, but it seems to me
that too often we can pass a class in school with the “assimilate and regurgi-
tate” method. You know what I mean: Go to class, soak up all the things the
teacher wants you to know, take the test, say the right things at the right time,
and leave the class without an ounce of applicable knowledge. I think many
students are forced into this mode when teachers do not take the time to lay
the groundwork for the subject they are covering. Students are so hard-pressed
to simply keep up that they do not feel the light bulb go on over their heads or
say, “Aha, now I get it!” The reality is, if you leave the class with a fundamental
understanding of the topic and you know that topic by heart, you will be emi-
nently more successful applying that basic knowledge than anything from the
end of the syllabus for that class.
For Managers
The job of the engineering manager2 really should have more to it than is
depicted by the pointy-haired boss you see in Dilbert cartoons. One thing many
2
Suggested alternate title for this book from reader Travis Hayes: EE for Dummies and Those
They Manage. I liked it, but I figured the pointy-haired types wouldn’t get it.
