The Illustrated Dictionary of Electronics Front 4/9/01 4:38 PM Page i This page intentionally left blank. The Illustrated Dictionary of Electronics Eighth Edition Stan Gibilisco Editor-in-Chief McGraw-Hill New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto Front 4/9/01 4:38 PM Page iii Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress Information in this book has been obtained by the publisher from sources believed to be reliable. However, neither the publisher nor the authors guarantee the accuracy or complete- ness of any information published herein. Neither the publisher nor the authors shall be responsible for any errors, omissions, or damages arising out of use of this information. This work is pub- lished with the understanding that the publisher and authors are supplying information but are not attempting to render pro- fessional services in any way, shape or form. If such services are required, the assistance of an appropriate professional should be sought. This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper containing a minimum of 50 percent recycled de-inked fiber. abc McGraw-Hill Copyright © 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a data base or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 AGM/AGM 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 P/N 0-07-137237-7 ISBN 0-07-137236-9 The sponsoring editor for this book was Scott Grillo, and the production supervisor was Pamela Pelton. It was set in Bookman by Techbooks. Printed and bound by Quebecor/Martinsburg. McGraw-Hill books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. For more information, please write to the Director of Special Sales, McGraw-Hill, Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2298. Or contact your local bookstore Front 4/12/01 4:38 PM Page iv To Tony, Tim, and Samuel from Uncle Stan Front 4/9/01 4:38 PM Page v This page intentionally left blank. Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Dictionary 1 Appendix A Schematic Symbols 773 Appendix B Tables and Data 787 Front 4/9/01 4:38 PM Page vii Copyright 2001 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use This page intentionally left blank. Preface The Illustrated Dictionary of Electronics—8th Edition has been revised, clarified, and up- dated, reflecting technological advances of recent years. New definitions have been added in the fields of wireless technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Every effort has been made to be concise and accurate, without “talking down” to the reader. Many definitions contain cross references (indicated in ALL CAPITALS); these provide recommended additional information or allow comparison with related terms. Expressions of special significance are printed in italics. Electronics abbreviations are included in the text; the full terms are stated as definitions. While an effort has been made to avoid superfluous mathematics, equations are some- times necessary to completely and effectively define a term. Mathematics beyond the high- school level has not been used. Appendix A contains the standard symbols used in electrical and electronic diagrams. These symbols are used in illustrations throughout this dictionary. Appendix B contains the following data tables: 1. Conversion between electrical systems 2. Greek alphabet 3. Mathematical functions and operations 4. Prefix multipliers 5. Resistor color code Suggestions for future editions are welcome. Stan Gibilisco Editor-in-Chief Front 4/9/01 4:38 PM Page ix Copyright 2001 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click Here for Terms of Use [...]... the observed deflection, the torque of the suspension fiber of the movable coil, and the coil dimensions absolute measurement of voltage Measurement of a voltage directly in terms of defining quantities 1 CALORIMETRIC method: A currentcarrying coil immersed in water raises the temperature of the water The difference of potential that forces the current through the coil then is determined in terms of. .. signal in the first transducer sets up sound waves that travel through the interior of the crystal; the piezoelectric reaction of the crystal to sound vibrations sets up an output voltage in the second transducer The delay is caused by the time required for the acoustic energy to travel the length of the crystal bar acoustic depth finder A direct-reading device for determining the depth of a body of water,... direction of a source of electromagnetic energy, on account of the motion of the source and/or the detecting apparatus 3 A small displacement in the apparent positions of the stars from month to month on account of the earth’s orbital motion ABETS Acronym for airborne beacon electronic test set (NASA) abfarad The unit of capacitance in the cgs electromagnetic system One abfarad equals 109 farads and is the. .. absolute measurement of current Measurement of a current directly in terms of defining quantities 1 TANGENT GALVANOMETER method: Current is proportional to the tangent of the angle of deflection of the needle of this instrument Deflection depends on torque, resulting from the magnetic field produced by current in the galvanometer coil acting against the horizontal component of the earth’s magnetic... signal of the transducer Also called active arm active lines In a U.S television picture, the lines (approximately 488) that make up the picture The remaining 37 of the 525 available lines are blanked and are called INACTIVE LINES active material 1 In a storage cell, the chemical material in the plates that provides the electrical action of the cell, as distinguished from the supporting material of the. .. consists of several wires, each quarter-wave resonant with a loading coil, and all connected together at the apex of a tower The antenna is fed between the ground and the base of one of the wires Alford antenna A loop antenna, in a square configuration, with the corners bent toward the center to lower the impedance at the current nodes 19 algebraic adder In computer operations, an adder that provides the. .. efficiency The ratio Xx/Xs, where Xx is the output of a given device, and Xs is the output of an ideal device of the same kind under the same operating conditions absolute encoder system A system that permits the encoding of any function (linear, nonlinear, continuous, step, and so on) and supplies a nonambiguous output absolute error The difference indicated by the approximate value of a quantity minus the. .. CHANNEL adjacent channel The channel (frequency band) immediately above or below the channel of interest adjacent-channel attenuation The reciprocal of the selectivity ratio of a radio receiver The selectivity ratio is the ratio of the sensitivity of a receiver (tuned to a given channel) to its sensitivity in an adjacent channel or on a specified number of channels removed from the original adjacent-channel... terms of the unidirectional steadystate pressure exerted at a boundary as a result of absorption or reflection of the wave acoustic reactance Unit, ACOUSTIC OHM The imaginary-number component of ACOUSTIC IMPEDANCE It can take the form of ACOUSTIC CAPACITANCE or ACOUSTIC INDUCTANCE acoustic reflectivity The ratio Fr/Fi, where Fr is the rate of flow of sound energy reflected from a surface and Fi is the. .. and causes the execution of a specific operation absolute magnitude For a complex number quantity, the vector sum of the real and imaginary components (i.e., the square root of the sum of the squares of those components) Also see ABSOLUTE VALUE and IMPEDANCE absolute maximum rating The highest value a quantity can have before malfunction or damage occurs absolute maximum supply voltage The highest . The Illustrated Dictionary of Electronics Front 4/9/01 4:38 PM Page i This page intentionally left blank. The Illustrated Dictionary of Electronics. small error in the determination of the direction of a source of electromagnetic energy, on account of the motion of the source and/or the detecting apparatus.