"electric" vs. "electronic"

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Maple

#399328 Wed, 01 Aug 07 07:31 PM

Electronic is the adj. form of electron.

See the words of the same category and with the same suffix below:

electron

proton

neutron

and also photon

-on means such kind of micro particles. So electronic emphasizes the particle attributes; while electric emphasizes the currency attributes.

(Well, I guess. Big Smile [:D] )

Maple

Joined on Tue, Jul 11 2006

An ESL student in China

Contributing Member (1,110)

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Goodman

#399355 Wed, 01 Aug 07 09:24 PM

Maple wrote:

Electronic is the adj. form of electron.

See the words of the same category and with the same suffix below:

electron

proton

neutron

and also photon

-on means such kind of micro particles. So electronic emphasizes the particle attributes; while electric emphasizes the currency attributes.

(Well, I guess.)

Maple,

I think you have just invented a new branch of science! Big Smile [:D]

Trust me, I do this for a living. Just remember this. When something is referred to be Electric, it means it plugs straight to the wall, and it has the potential to kill when the hot side of the 120v somehow is touched by a human either directly or through a conductor like water or metalic material. Electronics requires DC to operate and all consumer electronics have AC to DC conversion circuits inside which change the 120 v AC to 24 volt DC. If further DC voltage reduction is needed, specific DC voltage regulator can be added to the circuit as they are required.

Goodman

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005

Calif. USA

Senior Member (3,244)

The name says it all!

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Maple

#399373 Wed, 01 Aug 07 11:45 PM

Goodman wrote:

Maple,

I think you have just invented a new branch of science!

I'm considering to apply a patent for it. Embarrassed [:$] Big Smile [:D]

Goodman wrote:

.......When something is referred to be Electric, it means it plugs straight to the wall, and it has the potential to kill when the hot side of the 120v somehow is touched by a human either directly or through a conductor like water or metalic material. Electronics requires DC to operate and all consumer electronics have AC to DC conversion circuits inside which change the 120 v AC to 24 volt DC. If further DC voltage reduction is needed, specific DC voltage regulator can be added to the circuit as they are required.

Thanks for sharing your professional knowledge. Smile [:)] Yes [Y] Beer [B]

Maple

Kooyeen

#399396 Thu, 02 Aug 07 01:32 AM

Goodman wrote:
Trust me, I do this for a living. Just remember this. When something is referred to be Electric, it means it plugs straight to the wall, and it has the potential to kill when the hot side of the 120v somehow is touched by a human either directly or through a conductor like water or metalic material. Electronics requires DC to operate and all consumer electronics have AC to DC conversion circuits inside which change the 120 v AC to 24 volt DC. If further DC voltage reduction is needed, specific DC voltage regulator can be added to the circuit as they are required.

Hi,
I've never heard of that distinction. Where did you learn that definition? According to that definition, a 9V battery with two wires that is connected to a light bulb should be an electronic circuit... I don't think many people would consider that an electronic circuit. Hmmm...

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (4,062)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Goodman

#399637 Thu, 02 Aug 07 05:22 PM

Kooyeen wrote:
Goodman wrote:

Trust me, I do this for a living. Just remember this. When something is referred to be Electric, it means it plugs straight to the wall, and it has the potential to kill when the hot side of the 120v somehow is touched by a human either directly or through a conductor like water or metalic material. Electronics requires DC to operate and all consumer electronics have AC to DC conversion circuits inside which change the 120 v AC to 24 volt DC. If further DC voltage reduction is needed, specific DC voltage regulator can be added to the circuit as they are required.
Hi,
I've never heard of that distinction. Where did you learn that definition? According to that definition, a 9V battery with two wires that is connected to a light bulb should be an electronic circuit... I don't think many people would consider that an electronic circuit. Hmmm...

_Kooyeen,

_{I can see you have an inquisitively challenging mind. That's good! In any case, I would not have made the comments if I don't know the subject.}

_{A 9 volt battery is not a circuit but when connected to a flashlight bulb, it's a simple electronic circuit. DC power can be rechargeables, battery cells or rectified from AC. and it allows the portable electronics to operate. Your portable DVD player is a good example. When you are in your car, you would either run it with your cigarette lighter or the battery pack with the unit which are DC. For a DVD player, to work, it needs is a laser to read the imbeded signals from the DVD, DSP circuit for audio and video signals, a sound amplifier, Digital Video processor to control the clarity and color of the picture, volume controls for the Dolby Digital Sound, motor control for the spin motor etc. All these are all electronic circuit that require DC power.}

_{My explanation may not meet the definition of the dictionaries you have looked up, but I can comfortably say that most people with some electronic discipline will tend to agree with it. In simple terms, electronics are made of various active and passive components. Passive conponents are capacitors, inductors, diodes etc. Active components are Integrated Circuits and transistors. According to the functions the electronic engineers have in mind, a special circuit is designed with a mixture of active and passive components. Without too much theory, active components circuit (i.e. Operational Amplifier or any digital circuit) will smoke and burn if they are connected t0 straight AC. Therefore, the AC needs to be rectified to a DC level so that the active components can work with it.}

Goodman

Kooyeen

#399646 Thu, 02 Aug 07 05:56 PM

Goodman wrote:

_{A 9 volt battery is not a circuit but when connected to a flashlight bulb, it's a simple electronic circuit.}

_{My explanation may not meet the definition of the dictionaries you have looked up, but I can comfortably say that most people with some electronic discipline will tend to agree with it.}

Hi Goodman,
well, I just said that sounded weird to me, I've never heard of the distinction beween electric and electronic based on the distinction between AC and DC. For example, I've never hard of a simple circuit made up of a battery, two wires, and a bulb referred to as "electronic". That's why I asked you where you learned that distinction... The definition I gave is just based on what I remember being the most common one (the one most people would accept as standard, even though some don't agree completely, like me). But this is a forum to learn English, so this thread might well be off topic. In the end, the distinction between electric and electronic is not an important one, and it's not a clear distinction either. Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Learn English

Anonymous

#444895 Wed, 21 Nov 07 06:39 PM

I deal with electronics (surgical robots) for a living too, and have always used, and heard used, "electronic" exclusively for devices with active components (e.g. transistors). I don't think it is well accepted to call a flashlight an electronic device. TVs and Radios are electronic devices.

Anonymous

#467200 Mon, 21 Jan 08 11:47 PM

Electronic was used with electrical circuits having vaccum tubes (electron emission) and now with electrical circuits employing transistors. Also, electronic is associated with electrical communications. Electric is generally associated wit electrical power. A computer is termed a communication device.

Anonymous

#495014 Mon, 31 Mar 08 06:36 PM

I've worked with electrical and electronic components for 25 years and teach electronics at the college level, my current answer when asked this question is that electronics tends to manipulate a signal or information (analog like a radio signal, digital like computer data) and electrical actually does something physical, like turn a motor, or power a light. The problem is when you get to things like LED indicators, they could be electronic in that they are indicating information (landing gear down and locked, or not), or they could be providing illumination.

So you computer is electrical in nature at the power supply transformer, and cooling fan, but electronic as it powers the motherboard. The cooling fan on your CPU is probably powered by 12VDC, but uses low amperage, I would not go out of my way to specify it as electrical over electronic though.

Another breakpoint is the working voltage, where 50 volts and below is considered to be a 'safe' (not in all cases by any means) voltage.

But these are my personal guidlines

Anonymous

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