\(10.5\) volts is the minimum allowable discharge voltage for a standard 12 volt lead acid battery to retain maximum cell life.

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Discharging below this level can cause changes in the chemical nature of the cell which are irreversible, which can damage or destroy the cell.

For more info see Wikipedia: Lead-acid battery

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High discharge current is an advantage of the low internal resistance of nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries. This makes them great to use in portable electronic devices and tools which require high current flow.

For more info see Wikipedia: Nickle-cadmium (NiCd) batteries

High Discharge Rate Lithium Polymer Battery 5C

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\(0.3\) Volts is the approximate junction threshold voltage of a germanium diode.

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This threshold is the voltage over which the diode can conduct significant current. Different materials have different junction threshold voltages, so the value for each diode is determined by the properties of the material(s) used in its construction.

For example, a diode made of silicon has a junction threshold voltage of about \(0.7\) Volts.

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Silly Hint:

G for Germanium is about \(\frac{3}{10}\) (\(0.3\) V) of the way through the alphabet while S for Silicon is about \(\frac{7}{10}\) (\(0.7\) V) of the way through the alphabet.

Silly Hint: the 3rd Reich started in Germany

For more info see Wikipedia: Diode

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An advantage of electrolytic capacitors is that they have high capacitance for given volume.

These capacitors are often used in power supplies for AC voltage filtering.

They are polarized and must be placed in the circuit in the proper orientation, as reverse-voltages can cause catastrophic (explosive) failure. Bad electrolytic caps can swell and leak the electrolyte out the vent grooves notched in the top, appearing as a crusty substance. Also the electrolytic capacitors may have large variations in capacitance due to their method of manufacture.

For more info see: Electrolytic capacitors

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The approximate junction threshold voltage of a conventional silicon diode is \(0.7\) volts.

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This threshold voltage is the voltage where the diode can start to conduct the greater part of the current. The material a diode is made from is a significant factor in what the threshold voltage will be. For example, the germanium diode has a junction threshold of about \(0.3\) volts.

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Silly Hint:

S for Silicon, S for Seven. Also, the letter S is about \(\frac{7}{10}\) (0.7 volts) of the way through the alphabet. (As opposed to Germanium where G is about .3 the through)

Silicon has (7) letters***

For more info see Wikipedia: Diode

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One reason not to use wire-wound resistors in an RF circuit is that the resistor's inductance could make the circuit performance unpredictable.

The construction of a wire wound resistor is VERY similar to that of an inductor. So in situations where extra inductance may be an issue (such as RF circuits), they are not a good component choice.

Silly Hint: Something that is Unpredictable is usually something you do NOT choose.

For more info see Wikipedia: Wire-wound resistors

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The stable operation points for a bipolar transistor used as a switch in a logic circuit are its saturation and cut-off regions. The saturation region acts as a good "full on" switch position, whereas the cut-off region acts as a good "full off" switch position.

For more info see wikipedia: Bipolar junction transistor

HINT: Famous Painter Van Gogh was BIPOLAR. He used SATURATED colors and he CUT OFF his ear.

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Ceramic capacitors have the advantage over other types of capacitors in they provide good function at comparatively low cost.

Silly hint: Ceramic Capacitors are Cheap

For more info see: ceramic capacitors

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A MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) is constructed so that the gate is separated from the channel with a thin insulating layer.

Why? Because the electromagnetic "field" in the name needs a dead end at the gate. The field is created when positive or negative charges accumulate on the gate electrode. The field pushes or pulls the electrons and holes within the nearby N-type and P-type materials, which opens or shuts the channel between gate and source as desired for the circuit under construction.

The pile-up of charges only works because there is nowhere for them to go (open circuit). The gate must be insulated from the rest of the transistor. If there was a short circuit, the charges would follow the path of least resistance, no charges would build up, and the "field effect" wouldn't work correctly.

For more info see Wikipedia: MOSFET

Silly hints:

• The correct answer has the key word "Channel."
• This is kind of a "gotcha" question, so you can think "GATe"+"CHAnnel" for "GAT-CHA."

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The control grid is the element of a triode vacuum tube used to regulate the flow of electrons between cathode and plate.

For more info see Wikipedia: Control grid

Hint: to “regulate” is to “Control” or remember that a triode tube has a control grid.

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Inductors have what is called a “Parasitic element” to them. Almost any electrical component you can think of has parasitic elements. Even the leads of a resistor have a parasitic behavior to them. The parasitic element for inductors is capacitance.

An inductor has a low distributed capacitance between terminal electrodes or the turns of a wire-wound conductor, and its inductance with such distributed capacitance resonates at a certain frequency. This frequency is called the SRF Self-Resonant Frequency, and the inductor does not function as an inductor beyond the self-resonant frequency.

When selecting an inductor for high-frequency circuits and modules, it is not enough to simply consider the required inductance. You need to take into account that the self-resonant frequency must be sufficiently higher than the usage frequency.

Capacitors are created by having metal objects in close proximity to each other, usually with a di-electric component separating them. Inductors are just a large amount of metal wire wrapped around a base. The wires interact with each other, creating a usually negligible capacitive effect, but an effect at that. If the inductor is sitting on a ground plane, the coil will even have a capacitive effect between the wires and the ground plane it is sitting upon.

To combat this, manufacturers will make their inductors with an SRF one decade above the intended frequency range (10x the frequency).

Once the inductor hits the point of its SRF, the inductive component drops to basically zero. What’s left is essentially a capacitor.

Hint: Pushing an inductor too far makes it a capacitor (the opposite)

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Parasitic Element

In electrical networks, a parasitic element is a circuit element (resistance, inductance, or capacitance) that is possessed by an electrical component but which it is not desirable for it to have for its intended purpose. For instance, a resistor is designed to possess resistance, but will also possess unwanted parasitic capacitance.

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The screen grid insulates/isolates the control grid from the plate which helps counteract the Miller effect by reducing the grid-to-plate capacitance.

Hint: SCREEN it to reduce it.

For more info see Wikipedia: Vacuum tube

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