Electrical

Welcome to the most frustrating part of any vehicle, electrical. Before you start to pull your hair out over the mess of wires that you are staring at, take a deep breath and step away for a few minutes. If you do not want to read about basic electrical concepts then feel free to enjoy the rest of the site, this WILL POSSIBLY BE  BORING, FRUSTRATING AND CONFUSING.

Lets start from the beginning with a few terms that are good to know. The first thing to cover is the atom. An atom's shape is similar to a small solar system. The center of the system is called the nucleus. Surrounding the nucleus are circulating particulars called electrons. The electrons and the make-up of the nucleus determine how atoms will bond together to form different materials (wood, glass, metal, plastic, ect).

Now how does all of this have anything to do with electricity? Those electrons that are circulating in the atoms outermost orbit play an important role in electricity. When the outermost electrons leave their orbit and join the electrons of another atom, they create a chain reaction. This orbit jumping, or the flow of electrons is called, you guessed it, electricity.

Now why do some materials conduct electricity and some don't? The answer is simple. Back to the subject of electrons. When an atom has three electrons or fewer in the outermost orbit, it is easy for them to produce a flow making the material a conductor. On the other hand, when there are five or more electrons in the outermost orbit, the leap frog effect is not as easy. This lack of flow makes any material with this number of electrons an insulator. There is an in-between. an atom with four electrons makes up a semi-conductor.

Under certain conditions an electron can be dislodged causing the semi-conducting material to become a conductor. This ability is used to create control valves for circuits such as diodes and transistors.