About Electricity

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About Computers and Electricity (Page 1 of 2)

What you should know before attempting to repair or build your own PC.

Electrical energy properties are measured in various ways.
These pages are here to help in the understanding of this topic as it relates
to computer repair and assembly.
Always hire trained and certified professionals to work on electrical devices.

My tiny little blog: I hope this article helps to spark your interest in electricity, our planet needs someone to unlock not only the secret, but a practical working application of Zero Point Energy!

Volt The volt is defined as the potential difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power.

Amp The ampere, in practice often shortened to amp, (symbol: A) is a unit of electric current, or amount of electric charge per second.

Ohm The ohm (symbol: Ω) is the SI unit of electrical impedance or, in the direct current case, electrical resistance, named after Georg Ohm.

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one joule of energy per second.

AC and DC

Alternating Current (AC) cycles back and forth and is an efficient method for transmission of electricity
Direct Current (DC) travels in one direction. DC is required by most electronic devices like your computers
Rectifier: device that converts alternating current to direct current
Transformer: a device that changes the ratio of current to voltage

Hot, Neutral and Ground

Hot line carries AC from power station
Neutral line completes circuit
Ground is for out-of-control electricity
Short circuit: Uncontrolled electricity flows from hot line to neutral line or from hot line to ground
Fuse: Designed to prevent too much current flowing through circuit.

Normally hot contacts neutral to make a closed circuit in the controlled environment of an electrical device such as a lamp. An out of control contact is called a short, and the flow of electricity is then diverted to the ground.

Use a receptacle tester to verify that hot, neutral and ground are wired correctly, it is always best to hire a professional electrician if found to be defective.

Copper Telephone lines can be reversed as well, causing modem connections to be very slow or not to connect at all.

Common Electronic Components

Transistor: gate or switch for electrical signal that can amplify flow of electricity
Capacitor: can hold electrical charge and smooth the uneven flow of electricity
Diode: allows electricity to flow in one direction; can be used to convert AC to DC
Resistor: limits amount of current that can flow through it

Protecting Your Computer

Static Electricity

Electrostatics is the branch of physics that deals with the phenomena arising from what seem to be stationary electric charges. This includes phenomena as simple as the attraction of plastic wrap to your hand after you remove it from a package to apparently spontaneous explosion of grain silos, to damage of electronic components during manufacturing, to the operation of photocopiers

Some Control devices & methods for the PC's protection

Ground bracelet or static strap Ground mats
A ground mat or grounding mat is a flat, flexible pad used for working on electrostatic sensitive devices. It is generally made of a conductive plastic or metal mesh covered substrate which is electrically attached to ground. This helps discharge any static which a worker has built up, as well as any static on tools or exposed components laid on the mat. It is used most commonly in computer repair
Static shielding bags for computer components>>>>>
Always touch the computer case or PC Power Supply (PSU) before you touch an internal computer component. >>>>>>>

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