I've tried several times to understand the vocabulary and concepts of electricity - basic things like volts, amps, resistance - but I'm not having much success with self-led study. Can anyone recommend any good videos, books, courses, etc.? Thank you.
Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
1–10 of 184 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#2I got a lot from the articles on amasci.com by Bill Beaty. He's done a lot of experimenting, reading, and thinking about this stuff and how to explain it. And is a gifted communicator.
Articles on Electricity http://amasci.com/ele-edu.html
Great essays on understanding electricity, current, voltage, capacitors, transistors, batteries, static electricity etc etc, and popular misconceptions.
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#3a kite and a key
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#4There's a ton of content on YouTube that covers this topic.
For example I did a search for ohm's law class 11 and that search finds pages of introductory videos on that topic.
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#5I personally learned a lot from sparkfun's tutorials. The format is pretty digestible, there are some good videos, and it links out to a few other good resources as well.
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#6Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#7Hmm. What level do you want to start from, and do you want to start from a practical/experimentalist viewpoint or go straight to the mathematical models?
How comfortable are you with "lies for children" oversimplifications of things that are extremely complicated but mostly irrelevant except in edge cases? (This phrase sounds perjorative but isn't, most of the time you don't need the complicated version and it actively impairs understanding what's going on. But it can be the only way to properly answer some questions like "what is electricity?")
I've occasionally considered writing my own, based on answering questions at electronics stackexchange, e.g. https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/245610/is-vo... / https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/272694/how-d... ; probably I would target explaining how the electron is a big source of "lies to children", and mostly an irrelevant distraction for beginner/intermediate work.
If you want a large book, The Art Of Electronics is the undisputed classic.
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#8Øyvind Nydal Dahl has lots of good resources on his website and mailing list.
https://www.build-electronic-circuits.com/category/basic-ele...
His mailing list is high quality but also high volume
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#9[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What are some good resources to learn how electricity works?
#10Hmm. What level do you want to start from, and do you want to start from a practical/experimentalist viewpoint or go straight to the mathematical models? How comfortable are you with "lies for children" oversimplifications of things that are extremely complicated but mostly irrelevant except in edge cases? (This phrase sounds perjorative but isn't, most of the time you don't need the complicated version and it active…
I just want to weigh in and say that fantastic as _The Art of Electronics_ is, it is _not_ geared for learning about electricity and electric circuits. The first 13-ish pages (3rd edition) deals with electricity and then quickly moves on to signals, electronics and everything else needed to _develop_ electronic systems.