Thread: Electronics Class that I am taking (related questions)

Originally Posted by Guitarfreak

I just came to a realization... I think. I read where it insinuated that the 'Ground' part of the circuit was the return circuit, and all this time I thought that it was a point of no electrical conductance. Like in the instance of a Volume Pot on a guitar, I thought that 'grounding out' the signal meant that that portion of the outgoing signal hits an infinite load and is therefore barred from reaching later points in the circuit. But in actuality it is just returning prematurely back to the pickups?

Uhhh... no

Grounding out, or shorting out is a path of least resistance to the return, and therefore no voltage is passed into the circuit.

P.S. Bigtree, I really think that there should be an Electronics forum on this site, like right under the Music Computers forum or something. I always thought that there should be.

While an electronics forum might sound like a good thing, I'm afraid it could carry with it a bit more liability on the admin's than would probably be prudent.

Not just from the educational standpoint, but also from the probable copyright infringement standpoint, from training materials needing to be exchanged.

Basics of ohms law:

I=V/R

I= Current
V=Voltage
R=Resistance

In electrical circuits, Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference or voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them. (From wiki)

e.g. if R equals a value of zero (short) then the voltage is equal to Zero and thus current is maximum.

There are essentially 3 philosophical ways to look at electricity... They all accept resistance as the opposition to current, however, there are differences in describing voltage and current;

1) Electron flow is the definition of current. Current moves from negative to positive. This is the way I was taught, and is the ONLY way to describe how a vacuum tube works.
2) Hole Flow is where voltage transfers from positive to negative and the open shells of atoms move the valence value electrons from positive to negative. (Which is BS, IMHO)
3) Voltage Flow is similar to Hole flow AND Electron Flow, except that these poor sods think that electron flow is from positive (ground) to negative (B+).

Again, you go back to actually viewing an electron cloud being boiled on a cathode (Negative) of a vacuum tube, and watch an electron beam stream off to a B+ and the current flow is from negative to positive. No other definition in electronics allows for the fact that vacuum tubes work.

So, to say that anything is seeking ground is technically incorrect by what I was taught. Ground is just a reference of 0V or earth potential. (OK, this is gonna sound double speak)...

Everything is seeking equallibrium, or neutral. Neutral does NOT necessarily mean 0V or earth ground. It actually means a neutral reference to a source of +.

Originally Posted by djmukilteo

Wow every time I short or "ground out" the hot to ground I get this big huge flash!

Yup... and no energy passed forward to the rest of the circuit, did it?

I did and I do.... when a short occurs, does the energy stop at the point of the path of least resistance or does the energy just keep going on in some other path?