VK5AJL Home page.Project index.Information index.

CIRCUIT BASICS - IMPEDANCE
R/L/C/RL/RC/RLC CIRCUITS

This site has taken some shortcuts to try to keep it simple. This site is about radio not mathematics. Complex numbers have been avoided as much as possible.

CONVENTIONS - IMPEDANCE REPRESENTATION

The formula for capacitive reactance is often stated as Xc = 1 / ω C. This is the magnitude only. On this site (and some others) its is stated as Xc = - 1 / ω C. The impedance of a capacitor is -1 / j ω c where j = √-1 but reactance and impedance are two different things.

RESISTORS

There is either a lot to be said about resistors or not much at all. It does help understand other subjects though. This is only a very brief treatment.

INDUCTORS AND INDUCTIVE REACTANCE

Resistance is a special case of impedance. Perfect reactive components exhibit no resistance but can exhibit high impedance. This page describes how and why in relation to inductance and inductive reactance.

CAPACITORS AND CAPACITIVE REACTANCE

Perfect reactive components exhibit no resistance but can exhibit high impedance. This page describes how and why in relation to capacitors and capacitive reactance.

SERIES AND PARALLEL RESISTANCE - REACTANCE

What happens when resistance is added to the mix? Inductance and capacitance are vector mirror images of each other so this page concentrates mainly on inductance but the exact same absolute relationships exist for capacitors.

RESISTANCE - REACTANCE - IMPEDANCE - A MORE ACCURATE DESCRIPTION

Combining resistance with capacitance and inductance is more complicated. This page uses examples to show how RLC needs a more complicated description.

RLC - PARALLEL AND SERIES RESONANCE - SHORT INTRODUCTION

What is the difference between "driven" and "natural" resonance and why does this occur? This is an extension of the previous page with more detail.

Top of page
All text and images on this site are Copyright to John Langsford (vk5ajl).
You may provide links on other sites or use the information and pictures for your own personal use.
You may use the text or images for redisplay or quotation provided you acknowledge the source ie. vk5ajl.com.
I think that's pretty fair, don't you?