Electronics All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6

Working with Transistors

IN THIS CHAPTER

Learning about the miracle device of electronics

Comprehending the basic operation of a transistor

Surveying the many different types of transistors

Using a transistor as an amplifier

Using a transistor as a switch

Building some simple transistor circuits

I was born just a few years after the beginning of the transistor age. As a young boy, I sometimes took the back off of our old black-and-white television set (when my parents weren’t home) and marveled at the neat electronic stuff inside. Besides the huge picture tube, the most interesting gadgets in there were the little glass tubes the size of my thumb. As I remember it, there were hundreds of them, each one glowing with a comfortable warm orangish glow.

By the time I was old enough to start studying electronics, that old TV set was replaced by a new color set that wasn’t nearly ...