INTRODUCTION
Computer is an electronic equipment that works on electricity. Every component of a
computer needs electrical power to run and this power can come from a wall outlet in the
form of alternating current or from a battery in the form of direct current. Internal
components of a computer receive the power from the internal powersupply known as SMPS
(switched mode power supply).A computer installation technician must understand the basic
principles of electrical and electronics and also be aware of the computer fundamentals, its
internal components, and working.
This Unit explains the basic concept of electricity and energy foundation, electrical quantities—
current, voltage, and resistance; the electronic components — active and passive, integrated
circuits (IC), and semiconductor memory. Further, the Unit also describes the basic
components of a computer system, hardware and software, functional units of a computer,
primary and secondary memory of a computer, different types of computers along with their
capacity. Various input and output devices are usedto enter the data in the computer as well as
to produce output. The variety of input and output devices, their functionality and
connectivity to the computer system are also discussed in this Unit.
Electricity has an important place in modern society. In the current age, most of the
electronic devices work on electricity. Computer is also an electronic device which works
mainly on electricity. The peripheral devices attached to the computer also work on
electricity. It is necessary to provide proper and continuous power to the electronics
equipment to work properly. For this purpose, the surge protector and uninterrupted power
supply (UPS) are used, which also work on electricity. Hence, electricity has an important
place in the world of computing and computer. In this Chapter, you will understand the basic
concept of electricity, electrical quantities, and various electronic components.
ELECTRICITY
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and flow
of electric charge. It has a wide range of well-known effects, such as lightning, static
electricity, electromagnetic induction, and electrical current.
ENERGY FOUNDATION
Electric charge is a fundamental physical property of matter. The forms of matter are—solid,
liquid, and gaseswhich are made up of atoms. Atoms are the fundamental building blocks of
all molecules. The centre of an atom is called the nucleus. Atoms consist of three subatomic
particles — protons, electrons, and neutrons. Electrons spin around the nucleus in shells, at
a great distance from the nucleus. Protons carry a positive (+) charge, electrons carry a
negative (-) charge, neutrons are neutral and have no net charge. One coulomb of charge is
equalto 61018 (6,250,000,000,000,000,000) electrons.
Protons are found in the center of the atom, with a charge
of +1 and a mass of 1 atomic mass unit, which is
approximately equal to 1.66×10. Electrons are found in the
periphery of the atom and have a charge of -1. They are
much smaller than protons and their mass is 1/1836 amu.
The steady flow of electrons is called current. Current is
what flows through electrical wires and powers electronics
items, from light bulbs to televisions.
The positively charged protons attract negatively charged
electrons, hence holding the atomic structure as shown in
Figure 1.1.
Neutron (No
Conductors and Insulators charge)
The materials can be categorised as insulators or conductors Protron (+ve
based on its physical property known as resistivity. In an charge)
insulator, the electric charge does not flow freely from one
Electron
atom to another due to high resistivity. In a conductor, the (-ve charge)
electric charge flows freely from one atom to another due to Fig. 1.1: Atomic structure
low resistivity. This flow of charge is electric current.
–
– + + – +
+
–
Fig. 1.2: Atoms in a wire, showing electrons travelling from one atom toanother
atom
Conductors
The material in which the electrons are loosely held can move
very easily. These are called conductors. Metals like copper,
aluminium, and steel are good conductorsof electricity.
Insulators
The materials which hold their electrons very tightly do not
allow the movement of the electrons through them very well. Fig. 1.3: Conductor andinsulator in a
These are called insulators. Rubber, plastic,cloth, glass, and dry wire
air are good insulators and have very high resistance.
The conductors are used to carry electrical current through
wires. Insulators are commonly used as coating for the wires as
shown in Figure 1.3. This wire consists of a core of copper (a
conductor) and a coating of polyethylene (an insulator). The
copper allows current to flow through the wire, while the
polyethylene resists the flow of the current.
Electrical Quantities
Current, voltage, and resistance are the three basic building
i blocks of electrical and electronics. They are called electrical
+
V R quantities.
– Voltage
This is the potential difference between two points. It isalso the
Fig. 1.4: A simple electric
circuit made up of a voltage amount of work required to move one coulombcharge from one
source and a resistor point to another point. Mathematically it can be written as
Current = flow of charge V=W/Q where, ‘V’ is the voltage, ‘W’ is the work in joule, ‘Q’ is
the charge in coulomb.
Value of voltage is measured in volt or joules per coulomb.
Symbolic representation of voltage is ‘V’ or ‘v’.
Electric Current
This is the movement of electric charge through a conductive
Fig. 1.5: Flow of charge medium. In equation form, electric current ‘I’ is defined to be
through a cross section ‘A’
I=ΔQ/ΔT where, ‘Q’ is the amount of
Current Conductor charge passing through a given area in time ‘T’. TheSI unit
for current is the ampere (A), named after the
French physicist André-Marie Ampère (1775 – 1836).
Voltage V Since, I=ΔQ/ΔT, we see that an ampere is one coulomb per
second, 1 A=1 C/s.
V The flow of electricity requires a conductive medium for
Fig. 1.6: Flow of electrons in the
conductor the flow of charge known as a conductor. The material’s ability
to conduct charge is called electrical conductance. The SI unit
for conductance is siemens (S).
Resistance
It resists the flow of electrons and hence electric current in the
circuit. Conceptually, the resistance controls the flow of
electric current. An object or medium that has high electrical
resistance is called a resistor. The
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resistance is represented by the symbol ‘R’. The SI unit of
electrical resistance is ohm (Ω). Figure 1.7(a) and (b) show the (a)
resistor and its symbol.
To understand how to measure current and voltage in a
circuit, you must also have a general understanding of how a
circuit works and how its electrical measurements are related.
An electrical circuit is a type of network that has a
closed loop, which provides a return path for the current. A (b)
simple circuit consists of a voltage source and a resistor.
According to Ohm’s law, the electrical current ‘I’, or Fig. 1.7: (a) Resistor,
(b) Resistor symbol
movement of charge, that flows through most substances is
directly proportional to the voltage ‘V’ applied to it. The
electric property that impedes current is called resistance ‘R’.
Collisions of moving charges with atoms and molecules in a
substance transfers the energy to the substance and limits the
current. Resistance is inversely proportional to current.
Ohm’s law cantherefore be written as follows: I=V/R where ‘I’
is the current through the conductor in amperes, ‘V’ is the
potential difference measured across the conductor in volts,
and ‘R’ is the resistance of the conductor in ohms (Ω). More
specifically, Ohm’s law states that ‘R’ in this relation is
constant, independent of the current. Using this equation, we
can calculate the current, voltage, or resistance in a given
circuit.
For example, if we had a 1.5 V battery that wasconnected in
a closed circuit to a light bulb with a resistance of 5 Ω, what is
the current flowing through the circuit? To solve this problem,
we would just substitute the given values into Ohm’s law: I =
1.5V/5Ω; I = 0.3 amperes. If we know the current and the
resistance, we can rearrange the Ohm’s law equation and solve
forvoltage ‘V’ where V=IR
Components — Active and Passive
An electronic circuit is composed of various components.
Electronic components usually have two or more leads, which
can be fitted into the PCB to form a working electric
Fig. 1.8: Different types of
components used in electricaland
electronics
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circuit. Electronic components are mainly classified into two
classes — active and passive components.
Active components
They produce energy in the form of voltage or current. These
components require an external source for their operation.
An active component has an analog electronic filter with the
ability to amplify a signal or produce a power gain. Examples
of active components are — diode, transistors, as shown in
Figure 1.9(a).
Passive components
These do not produce energy in the form of voltage or current.
Fig. 1.9: (a) Active components They do not require external energy to operate. They cannot
generate energy of their own and depend on the power
provided from the AC circuit. Examples of passive components
are resistors, capacitors, inductors, sensors, and transducers
as shown in Figure 1.9(b).
Active components
The basic material used to manufacture active components
Fig. 1.9: (b) Passive components is a semiconductor. Let us first understand the basics of
semiconductors.
Semiconductor
These are materials whose conductivity is between that of
conductors and insulators. Electronic devices are made up
of semiconductor material. In semiconductor industry, silicon
and germanium are used. Semiconductors are of two types,
which are as follows:
Intrinsic (pure)
It is the pure form of semiconductor. The ‘pure’ word here
represents that this semiconductor does not contain any other
impurity atom.
Extrinsic (impure)
It is an impure form of semiconductor. When impurity
atoms are added in the pure (intrinsic) form of semiconductor,
then that semiconductor is known as extrinsic semiconductor.
The extrinsic semiconductors are also known as impure
semiconductors.
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P-type semiconductor: When pentavalent impurity atom is
added, an extrinsic semiconductor is formed which isknown as
P-type semiconductor.
N-type semiconductor: When trivalent impurity atom is added,
an extrinsic semiconductor is formed which is known as N-
type semiconductor.
Diode
It is an electronic device which allows current to flow easily in
circuit. The most common form of diode is P-N junction (a)
diode, which is formed when two semiconductors, that is, P-
type semiconductor and N-type semiconductor are combined
P N
to form a new component which is known as diode. The
diode andits symbol are shown in Figure 1.10 (a) and (b). The Anode Cathode
silver ring in a diode represents the cathode.
Diode passes current only in one direction, therefore it is
also known as unidirectional. The P-side is called anode and
(b)
the N-side is called cathode. When the anodeand cathode of a P-
Fig. 1.10: (a) Diode (b) Diode
N junction diode are connected to external voltage source, symbol
such that, the positive end of a battery is connected to the
anode and negative end of the battery is connected to the
cathode, diode is said to be forward biased or we can say that
diode will act asa close switch (it will be turned ‘on’). In a
forward biased condition, diode will pass the
current through it.
When the P-side of the diode is connected to
the negative terminal of the battery and N-side
of the diode is connected to the positive terminal
of the battery, diode is said to be reverse biased
(a)
or we can say that diode will act as an open
switch (it will be turned ‘off’). In a reverse
biased condition, diode will not pass the
current through it.
Diode can be connected in forward bias and
(b)
reverse bias as shown in Figure1.11(a)
and (b).
There are various types
such
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Fig. 1.11: (a) Diode connected in forward bias,
(b) Diode connected in reverse bias
as avalanche diode, crystal diode, light emitting diode(LED),
photodiode, varactor diode, and zener diode.
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