BeagleBone For Dummies

Chapter 5

Designing Circuits

In This Chapter

Getting to know electricity

Knowing the mathematical relationships for controlling electronic components

Working with circuit diagrams, color coding, and datasheets

This chapter gets you up to speed regarding the most basic principles of electricity so that you can understand what is happening on the circuits you build to interact with your BeagleBone. It introduces you to the fundamentals of electricity. We explain new techniques, rules, and/or new circuit components and their respective symbols throughout the remainder of the book where those concepts are most appropriate.

The study of the phenomena that deal with electricity is complex and vast. Deep down, things such as your phone, your computer, and your BeagleBone are nothing but a great deal of electric components manipulating electricity. You don’t need to understand how these components work to use those devices. Because you’ll make electronic circuits of your own that use the BeagleBone as support, however, you should understand some basic principles of electricity.

Introducing Electricity

Ah, electricity. Most people know what it is but have no idea what it really is. It’s ...