What are diodes, transistors, rectifiers, transformers, etc?
These are other kinds of circuit elements. A diode is a device that has a constant small potential drop across it; it also allows current to flow only in one direction. A rectifier uses diodes to turn an oscillating current (that goes back and forth in direction, also known as alternating current or “AC”) into a constant current that just flows in one direction (“DC”). A transistor is a device with numerous uses; in our HVPS case it turns a small current into a big current. A transformer turns a small voltage into a big one. We’ll be seeing explicitly how this works later in the course (Chapter 29 of the text)- to understand it, first we need to understand magnetic fields as well as electric fields. Much of this will make more sense later, when you are more familiar with various aspects of circuits. We’re getting there… please hang in there! I’m still confused about dielectrics… I wanted to give you just enough information to do your pset problem, i.e. that a dielectric materia
