Electricity for Dummies

[garythenuke]

Does anyone have a resource that makes electricity easy and understandable? I am trying to work with my two boys on basic electrical theory and wiring and I just cannot get my points across. I think is it because I do not have a firm enough mastery of the subject myself...

So if anyone has something they can recommend, or has something burning a hole in their bookshelf or video library that they want to unload cheap I would love to hear what anyone has to say.

Thanks a ton.
Gary

[enlpck]

Are you concerned with electrical system wiring, like wiring a house or a shop?

Or are you concerned with electronics?

Or general electrical theory (what is an electron? what is current? etc)

[garythenuke]

Probably numbers one and three. I'm okay with electrons. But when I try to explain the differences between AC and DC and how they affect welding (actually I'm not sure exactly why myself...) or why 110 has three wires or 220 has four and why a 220 motor runs easier than a 110 I get all twisted up. Then how you can get a 110 extension and a 220 extension from the same cord and I just go into shock.. No pun intended.

Transformers and tap changers and wye windings... Wye, I don't know wye!! They're more efficient for some danged reason!!! Then we have current and amps and volts and generator theory with vars in and vars out and did I mention

One of my many problems is that I've heard all the words and phrases over the years but they are a jumbled mess upstairs.

[cnywelder]

I would reccommend this book for a general edcuation on basic electronics.
It was one of the first things I read on electricity when I was a kid and is pretty accessbile for anyone.

Amazon

Amazon

[gizzardgutz]

You didn't put their ages in your post, but I'm assuming that if your trying to get them interested in electricity they're of age to learn the basics. Radio Shack had a learning kit I almost bought for myself around Christmas time (maybe year round too??) with the ability to build various projects while learning the basics of electricty & electronics. There were two, and if memory serves, they were in the neighborhood of $50. for one & $80. for the better one. Might be worth looking into. A fun project goes a long way at an impressionable age. Good luck!

[awright]

Coincidentally my stepson just told me that the Mims book was being closed out at a discount at his local Radio Shack store.

awright

[garythenuke]

Thanks again fellas. My boys are 12 and 14. I'll take a look at Radio Shack as well as Home Depot over the weekend.

[specter]

Did a google search:

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&sear...dummies&page=1

[garythenuke]

Thanks Specter,
I did several google searches myself. I was hoping for some personal insight from folks here who have actual experience with these books or resources.

[specter]

Well wish I could help but most I know how about itis wiring a couple of things. Or calling my cnc shop tech who is also a licenced electrician.

[MoonRise]

You can also look on Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_current

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternating_current

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_current

If you are trying to get a reference book or text book kind of source, take your boys to the local library and ask the librarian to show/help you search for your reference. Then go read it.

Now about your AC versus DC welding, and the 110 with three wires and 220 with four wires, you are at least partially confusing yourself.

First, electricity is a wide topic which can vary from the sub-atomic particle level to the 'macro' level where we more commonly use or interact with it.

There is an important electrical relationship called Ohm's Law.

E = I x R

Or for the whippersnappers, V = I x R

Where E (or V) is voltage (in volts)
I is current (in amps or amperes)
and R is resistance (in ohms)

As an analogy using water flowing in a pipe instead of electricity in a wire, voltage is equivalent to the water pressure and current is how much water is flowing in the pipe. Resistance is resistance.

So the more pressure (voltage) you have available, the more flow (current) you have for any given resistance. All else being equal. Increase the resistance and for the given pressure/voltage the current drops down, etc, etc.

Back to electricity. Voltage is what makes current flow, and current is the flow of electrons.

Next, housewold wiring. You just need two wires (or conductors) for electricity and it doesn't matter if it's AC or DC. The two wires are a way for the electrons to come into and go out of your circuit/device/whatever. Think of a plain AA battery (which more correctly is actually a cell, since a battery is a collection of cells ) which has just two connection points, a (+) and a (-). If you connect something, say a small light bulb, to the two terminals (or two wires coming from the two terminals) you have made a way for the electrons to flow from the battery to and through the bulb and then back to the battery. You made a circuit!

Then why does your typical household outlet have three prongs/slots/wires? The third one is the GROUND wire. It is a safety device to (hopefully) give the electricity an easy path (circuit) back through the wires instead of through something else (like your body) in case something goes wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity

What about your 220 volt stuff, you ask? Well, it's more correct to call it 240V stuff and the other household voltage is more correctly called 120V and not 110V.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_phase

note: I've left out and/or glossed over some things for simplicity's sake.

[garythenuke]

I always forget about Wikipedia. I never know whether to trust the info there as it is not "peer reviewed".

Confusing myself is what I do best.

Thanks again.
Gary Ohm

[Billdacat]

In the olden days we had tube and transistor radios/TV’s. I spent many a day taking apart old radios and fooling around with the plethora of cool parts. New stuff is so miniaturized you can’t handle any components without a robot; it is basically plug and play. New electronic engineers are trained using computer simulation to bread-board experiments; no real hands on anymore. Times have really changed.

Find an old printer, or anything with low voltage motors and gizmos. Let the kids take it apart and experiment with the stuff they find in it. Pick up a multi-meter for some additional fun when your not blowing thing up.

Above all have fun...

[obewan]

I would try the public library too, but Radio Shak would have the books that are easiest for your kids to understand.

As for 3 phase theory, I do not know of any easy explainations. When I studied it in college, it was my hardest class in a 4 yr BS Welding Engineering Technology degree program. I barely scraped by with a C. The problem is all the vectors. There is a lot of very advanced trig involved, and it gets into complex algebra. You know the stuff with i and square roots of negative numbers and all that stuff. In other words, they give you different transformer designs, and you have to figure out the power consumptions using vectors!

[garythenuke]

Originally Posted by obewan

... You know the stuff with i and square roots of negative numbers and all that stuff. ... they give you different transformer designs, and you have to figure out the power consumptions using vectors!

Yeah, that's awesome..... I'll let someone else break that news to the boys. I'm still trying to be the "good guy" now and again.

[Bob Warner]

Let the kids watch this video or better yet, watch it and then help them build it.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/200...generator.html

When I get some other projects out the door I will be building the wind generator. There are also PDF plans that can be downloaded for free from the site here:
http://cachefly.oreilly.com/make/television/wind.pdf

Browse this site http://makezine.com for a lot of very interesting things for the kids (and adults) to learn. I love this show. Unfortunately there are not any electrical stuff up now except the generator but you just have to check back as they change the videos.

There are also written documents (this is after all a magazine) also such as

Electrolysis, the science behind it
http://antique-engines.com/electrol-details.asp

and

The Chemistry of Cleaning Rusted Iron by Electrolysis
http://web.archive.org/web/200709201...lanation.phtml

See this link? http://makezine.com/16/
If you change the 16 to another number (like 01 or 09 or 13) you will get a whole new page of articles. Page 17 is the newest one, there is no 18 YET.



Good old PBS delivers the goods.

[wb4rt]

You should look at the Boy Scout's pamplet for the Electricity Merit Badge. It's been a few years since I opened one, but we used to have a good time with my scouts doing the learning and projects in it. You can order on-line or get at a local scout service center.

[farmersamm]

This is a two volume set. Basic, and Advanced. It's pretty simple, and limited to house wiring. Some of the stuff may be outdated as far as code. There's guys on here that would know. But it's a pretty good basic series.

I HATE ELECTRICAL STUFF

[mjmiller1824]

Uglys guide is a brilliant resource for most home and industrial wiring applications. The Backstage hand book has a nice electrical section too including drawings of all the different plug types and their ratings (amps, volts, nema number ect). Either can be picked up online. And for cheap books Half.com is what got me through college.

[dr stan]

Here's an electrial diagrams web site I've found useful

http://www.make-my-own-house.com/dia...al-wiring.html

[garythenuke]

Excelletn suggestions again fellas. I really do appreciate everyone's points of view.
Thank You.

[specter]

You welcome I hope your son has the answers to his questions

[Teddco]

Try finding a copy of "Electricity Made Simple" by Henry Jacobowitz, published by Doubleday & Company, NY, NY, copyrighted 1959. It goes from rubbing a dead cat on a rubber rod all the way to 3 phase AC.

[Oldiron2]

Gary, if you have any Used-Book stores in your area, stop by and see what they have. Take some time to look through a bunch and pick one or two that make sense to you, have the subjects you want but don't go deeper into the math than you need right now.

Generally, the older ones are laid out better than the newer, IMO.
BTW, People in town used to donate books to the "Friends of the Library" whose members kept what they thought could be sold by the group for a pittance, and they threw the others away; nothing ever ended up in the Library. I heard about this, started sorting through the rejects, keeping the best and tossed the rest, for the 'friends' who weren't up to the physical aspects, and soon had more good stuff than I had room for. I think I gave most of the basic electricity/motor design/... away to some friends, but will try to check.

[garythenuke]

More wonderful ideas fellas. This is terrific. I will check the library and see what they have. Right now pretty much any math will be too much. I need to keep it fun.