ME 120

• Summary sheets
• Practice problems
• Basic Electricity and DC circuits -- Notes
• Using Multimeters and Breadboards
• Basic Electricity and DC circuits Video Lectures
• Sample circuits

• DC circuits in a nutshell (two page summary)

• An in-class worksheet on Schematic models of simple battery circuits provides hands-on practice to concepts
• An in-class worksheet to verify Kirchoff's voltage law
• Simplifying circuits: DC circuit practice problems and DC circuit practice problems with solutions
• Practice problems to compute V, I and P for each component of simple circuits.

Reading

• Read this: Introduction to DC Circuits (PDF) notes provide the core reading for the ME 120 modules on DC circuits.
• To get a background on electricity from basic physics and chemistry, readBasic electricity, Ohms Law (PDF).

Lecture Slides

• Power dissipation, resistors in series, in parallel: PDF
• Kirchoff's Current and Voltage Laws: PDF
• Voltage dividers and Potentiometers: PDF

Example problems

• Example of incandescent bulbs in series and parallel
• Example problem and solution for series and parallel combinations of resistors
• Derive an equation for resistance of a photoresistor as a function of illumination

• A Breadboard primer (PDF)
• In-class example on using a multimeter and a breadboard Slides in PDF
• SparkFun Multimeter Tutorial
• Adafruit Multimeter Tutorial

Videos:

• iFixit YouTube video on how to use a multimeter
• Digikey YouTube video on how to use a multimeter
• Colin's lab YouTube video on solderless breadboards and soldering perfboards

(8:00)

(8:00)

(6:45)

Derivation of voltage divider output formula:

YouTube video

How to use a Multimeter: PDF

(13:00)

Using a multimeter to measure potentiometer resistance and voltage output

YouTube video

• PDF with instructions on how to built a circuit to power an LED.