PHYS-305: Electronics and Circuit Analysis I

An introductory survey of the behavior of electrical circuits. Review of current, voltage, and passive circuit elements (resistors, capacitors, and inductors). Kirchhoff's Laws, network theorems, and basic network analysis. General characteristics of amplifiers and electronic instrumentation. Introduction to operational amplifiers and active elements (transistors). Laplace transform analysis of transient (switching) response, and complex phasor analysis of sinusoidal steady-state response. Three hours lecture and one two-hour laboratory per week, in which students build and test circuits and learn how to use typical circuit simulation software (PSPICE).