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 "electric" vs. "electronic"?This question has been answered · 41 replies I've reviewed Webster & American Heritage & think I've got a good grip on the definitions of "electric" and of "electronic", but am not clear on when it is appropriate to use one or the other. Is my computer electric, electronic or both? What about a light bulb, a flashlight, my digital watch or my brain? Approved answer (verified by Mister Micawber) Your computer works with electricity, but formally speaking it's an electronic apparatus. A digital watch is also electronic although it works with electricity supplied from a small battery. A light bulb and a flashlight, which is pretty much the same thing, are electric appliances. Believe or not, your brain is electric.  Electronic is used to refer to equipment, such as television sets, computers, etc., in which the current is controlled by transistors, valves, and similar components and also to the components themselves. Electrical is used in a more general sense, often to refer to the use of electricity as a whole as opposed to other forms of energy: electrical engineering; an electrical appliance. Electric, in many cases used interchangeably with electrical, is often restricted to the description of particular devices or to concepts relating to the flow of current: electric fire; electric charge. Hope this helps! ...and Happy New Year! Full Member221 ALL REPLIES Here's what I think; your computer, radio, TV, etc are electronic devices. Those electronic devices need to use electric current. New Member26 Electric means what is supplied electricity and electronic means what will running by electricity I am from Bangladesh. thanks Khorshed New Member06 Electric runs off some sort of electricity. Per answers.com, Electronic means: The use of electricity in intelligence-bearing devices, such as radios, TVs, instruments, computers and telecommunications. Electricity used as raw power for heat, light and motors is considered electrical, not electronic. Although coined earlier, "Electronics" magazine (1930) popularized the term. The magazine subheading read "Electron Tubes - Their Radio, Audio, Visio and Industrial Applications." The term was derived from the electron (vacuum) tube." Edited to fix formatting. Anon, do you realize you are answering a question that was last posted to three and a half years ago? We're always happy to welcome new people, but finding a more recent post, in which the person is likely to still be around to benefit from your response, is probably a better use of your talents. Veteran Member28,970    Despite the fact that others have not added comments to this thread for years, they may indeed benefit from the discussion thread - even a new update to an old thread. I needed to know the difference between electrical and electronic, and the most recent entry helped. From a professional point of view, electric - refers to something realted to "Alternating Current" or "AC" for short. In the US, it's 120 volt AC which is what comes out from your wall socket. Electric appliances are all around our house: Iron, toaster, can opener, hair dryer , TV 's and table lamps etc... The term electronic refers to gadgets or something utilizing "direct current" or "DC" for short. Electronic products are calcuators, laptops, Ipods, cellulars phones, MP3, Digital camera etc... All these products require DC level voltages ranging from 24 volts to 5 volts at the DC power supply. For example, the modular power converter for your cell phone is called a power supply which convert the 120 v- ac to around 5 v -DC. AC -alternating current cycles between positive 60 v-ac to negative 60 v- ac at the rate of 60 cycles per second. The +60 and the -60 vac is called the peak to peak sine wave voltage. If you would look at any electronic product lable in the US, it will say " 120 v-ac 60 herzt". That's the electrical requirement for the US. In Europe, it's 220/ 240 v-ac. Electronic products must have the AC power as input source which is reticfied through a bridge reticfier before the AC is converted to some level of DC (direct current). All the rechargeable batteries are devices that store the converted AC to CD power so that portables like laptop and palm pilot can operate on the go. That's basically the nutshell about electric and electronic. Senior Member3,816 Hi, there's no "standard" definition of the difference between electric and electronic circuits or devices. I can only tell you the most popular one, the one you'll find in most books about electronics. In brief: - An electric circuit does not contain active components. Electronic circuits contain active components. Active components are the ones that appear to generate power. The most common active components are transistors. According to that definition, your PC has transistors and is an electronic device, a light bulb does not have any transistors and is an electric device. You have to remember that that definition is NOT accepted by everyone, but it's the most common. As I said, there is no official distinction, and there is no need to find one either. I, for example, don't usually distinguish between electric and electronic according to the above definition. I have a personal one Show more
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