What is a diode? A diode is a component made from a semiconducting material such as silicon.
Diodes have the unique
property of only allowing diode and its symbol current to pass through them in one direction.
The arrowhead on the symbol
shows the direction of current flow.
Some diodes emit light when they
conduct electricity. These are called Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).
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Investigating diodes
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VI graph for a diode
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Conduction in metals For materials to conduct electricity, they must be able to transfer a charge when a potential difference is applied across them. metal ions: fixed positive charge Metals conduct electricity due to delocalized electrons. These electrons are not bound to a single atom, and act as a source of mobile negative charge. Despite this free charge, metals have a net neutral charge. As free electrons are released from the metal atoms, the atoms are left with a balancing positive charge. electrons: mobile negative charge
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Conduction in semiconductors Some semiconductors also contain a pool of delocalized electrons which allow current to flow.
However, semiconductors can also contain groups of
atoms with an unusually low number of electrons. Such regions contain holes.
Holes are positively charged, and are able to flow through a
semiconductor, just like delocalized electrons. Similarly, their formation leaves an opposing fixed charge behind.
Semiconducting materials can be artificially modified to
adjust their conductive properties, adding extra holes or electrons to their structure.
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How diodes work
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Diodes summary
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10 of 35 Boardworks Ltd 2009 Types of current Current can be either: Direct current (DC): In a direct current the electrons flow in one direction around a circuit. The voltage remains constant, producing a flat line on an oscilloscope. Alternating current (AC): In an alternating current the direction of electron flow around a circuit is continuously switching. The voltage oscillates between negative and positive, producing a waveform.
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From AC to DC AC is used to carry electrical energy around the country as: Its voltage is easy to change using transformers. It requires a simple generator.
Most modern appliances in our home
now use microchips. Most microchips require DC with a near constant voltage to function.
This means we must convert AC from the mains, to DC in
order to use our appliances.
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Rectification There are two major steps required to convert an AC signal to a DC signal: The current must be made to flow in a constant direction. The variations in voltage must be removed. Rectification is the process which makes an AC signal flow in a constant direction.
The signal produced is imperfect DC, as its voltage still varies.
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Half wave rectification
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Full-wave rectification By using a combination of four diodes, called a bridge rectifier, an AC signal can be fully rectified.
input output
This output signal always has a positive voltage, meaning
that, unlike half-wave rectification, no energy is lost.
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Bridge rectifier how does it work?
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Rectification summary
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18 of 35 Boardworks Ltd 2009 What is a capacitor? A capacitor is a component that capacitor stores charge. symbol
The amount of charge a capacitor is
able to store, or its capacitance, is measured in farads (F) or microfarads (F).
Capacitors contain two metal plates
with an insulator. The larger the plates, the larger the capacitance.
The charge stored on a capacitors
plates can be discharged into a circuit, maintaining a current for a short time.
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How does a capacitor charge? When a discharged capacitor is connected to a circuit, it will begin to charge.
The high potential electrons forced electrons forced
difference across the onto plate from plate circuit forces electrons onto one plate, and pulls them from the other.
This increases the
potential difference across the capacitor.
The capacitor is fully charged when it has the same potential
difference as the battery.
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Charging a capacitor
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How does a capacitor discharge? When a conductor is Electrons flow from the negative connected across a charged plate to the positive plate. capacitor, it will discharge.
Its high potential difference
forces electrons from one plate to the other.
This decreases the potential
difference across the capacitor, and causes a current to flow, The current lights the bulb. lighting the bulb.
The bulb will only light for a few seconds as the capacitor does not store a great deal of charge.
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Discharging a capacitor
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Uses for capacitors Capacitors are used in defibrillators to store electric charge. Initially the capacitor is charged from a power source. There is no power to the paddles. Once the paddles are positioned on the patients chest, the circuit between the paddles and capacitor is completed. The capacitor can now release the charge in a very short space of time, via the patients heart. This results in a large current which can restart the heart.
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Capacitor summary
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26 of 35 Boardworks Ltd 2009 Perfect DC Rectification allows the production of a DC signal from an AC input. However, the DC is imperfect, as it still has a great level of variation in its voltage.
Microchips require a perfect DC supply of around 5 V.
A rectified signal is not good enough to
continuously run a chip in a circuit, due to these voltage fluctuations.
In order to run most modern
devices, this fluctuation in voltage must be removed.
This process is called smoothing.
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Smoothing Smoothing turns the bumpy rectified signal into a smooth, near-perfect direct current, which can be used by microchips. A capacitor is used to smooth the signal.
9V
0V
input: rectified output: smoothed
How do you think a capacitor does this?
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How do capacitors smooth signals?
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Converting AC to DC The combination of a bridge rectifier and a capacitor can convert a mains AC signal to a near-perfect DC signal.
load
The electricity entering this circuit will normally pass through
a transformer first. This will bring its voltage down to a more appropriate level to run appliances containing microchips.