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Breaking the Hex: Understanding Hexadecimal Numbers

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Just as understanding binary numbers is important, so is understanding hexadecimal or hex numbers. Before we go into any detail about hexadecimal numbers, I strongly suggest you read the post on binary numbers.

In it, you’ll learn why binary numbers are used in digital systems. This will help you understand why hex numbers also often appear in digital systems. You’ll also get a quick review of the decimal system (and number systems in general). Finally, you’ll learn how to read binary, which will help you understand how to translate from binary to hex.

As I said before, if you’re new to digital electronics, it’s a must read.

And if you’re not so new it’s a good review.

Let’s break the hex and learn about hexadecimal numbers!

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Another Powerful Post: A Primer on Electric Power Part 2

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Last time, we went over some basics concerning electric power. Things like power vs energy, the generalized power law (power at DC and resistive AC circuits), and an intro to reactive power appear in the previous post.

If you missed it, please read it before you read this one. Here it is: One Powerful Post: A Primer on Electric Power Part 1.

Let’s kick things off by going over some electric power related terms and concepts dealing with reactive circuits.

For now, we won’t really differentiate between reactive circuits that are primarily inductive (RL), capacitive (RC) or both (RLC). We’ll delve into more detail on that stuff in another post.

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Types of Capacitors: Pros, Cons, & Applications

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Next to the resistor, the capacitor is one of the most common electronic components out there. And, like resistors, there are many different types of capacitors with each one having its pros, cons, and applications that it’s good for.

A while ago, I published a post about several common resistor types you’re likely to run into.

This post will be similar in that we’ll take a quick look at the common types of capacitors. Topics like the theory behind capacitors or deciphering their markings will appear in future posts.

The post will give a quick over-view of some of the applications for each type of capacitor [Read more…] about Types of Capacitors: Pros, Cons, & Applications

AC vs DC: What’s the Difference?

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One the most basic things an electronics enthusiast should know is the difference between AC vs DC.

No, we’re not talking about a hard rock band, we’re talking AC vs DC with regards to electricity.

Some of you may already know this. Even if you’ve been dabbling in electronics for a while and think you have this figured out, I highly recommend reading this whole post as there are some things that may surprise you.

One of the easiest ways to explain the differences between AC vs DC is to treat each one separately and delve into some details about each.

Toward that end, we’ll start with DC first because it’s a bit simpler to explain and most of your creations will use it.

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A Bit of Fun with Binary Number Basics

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Understanding binary numbers is important. All things digital involve circuits and systems in which there are only two possible states. Two voltage levels represent these states; a HIGH and a LOW. In other words, digital devices communicate this way. For a quick review on what it means to be digital, check out the post Analog vs Digital: What’s the Difference?

Binary information that digital systems work with appear as waveforms that represent a sequence of bits. As an example, see the figure below which relates the 1’s and 0’s to voltage levels on the waveform A. As we can see, a 1 is a HIGH and a 0 is a LOW. [Read more…] about A Bit of Fun with Binary Number Basics