Electronics All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 4

Working with Inductors

IN THIS CHAPTER

Examining the mystery of induction

Learning what reactance is

Learning how to combine inductors in series and parallel

Seeing how inductors are used in electronic circuits

I have a lot of books about electronics on my bookshelf, covering a wide range of topics. Some of them are new; some are a few decades old. My favorite of them all is a called A Course in Electrical Engineering, by Chester L. Dawes. It was written in 1920, when electronics was in its infancy. Radio was brand new. Vacuum tubes were just catching on. The transistor wouldn’t be invented for another quarter of a century.

You’d think that an electrical engineering book written in this era would be completely obsolete. But it’s amazing how much of this book is still accurate. For example, Ohm’s law hasn’t changed since 1920. Dawes’s explanation of Ohm’s law is as good as any I’ve ever read.

What fascinates me most about this old book is the way it starts. Chapter 1 is titled “Magnetism and Magnets,” and it begins like this:

Magnets and magnetism are involved in the operation ...