Contents at a Glance

1. Chapter 1: Welcome to Electronics
   1. What Is Electricity?
   2. But Really, What Is Electricity?
   3. What Is Electronics?
   4. What Can You Do with Electronics?
   5. Looking inside Electronic Devices
2. Chapter 2: Understanding Electricity
   1. Pondering the Wonder of Electricity
   2. Looking for Electricity
   3. Peering Inside Atoms
   4. Examining the Elements
   5. Minding Your Charges
   6. Conductors and Insulators
   7. Understanding Current
   8. Understanding Voltage
   9. Comparing Direct and Alternating Current
   10. Understanding Power
3. Chapter 3: Creating Your Mad-Scientist Lab
   1. Setting Up Your Mad-Scientist Lab
   2. Equipping Your Mad-Scientist Lab
   3. Stocking up on Basic Electronic Components
   4. One Last Thing
4. Chapter 4: Staying Safe
   1. Facing the Realities of Electrical Dangers
   2. Other Ways to Stay Safe
   3. Keeping Safety Equipment on Hand
   4. Protecting Your Stuff from Static Discharges
5. Chapter 5: Reading Schematic Diagrams
   1. Introducing a Simple Schematic Diagram
   2. Laying Out a Circuit
   3. To Connect or Not to Connect
   4. Looking at Commonly Used Symbols
   5. Simplifying Ground and Power Connections
   6. Labeling Components in a Schematic Diagram
   7. Representing Integrated Circuits in a Schematic Diagram
6. Chapter 6: Building Projects
   1. Looking at the Process of Building an Electronic Project
   2. Envisioning Your Project
   3. Designing Your Circuit
   4. Prototyping Your Circuit on a Solderless Breadboard
   5. Constructing Your Circuit on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
   6. Finding an Enclosure for Your Circuit
7. Chapter 7: The Secrets of Successful Soldering
   1. Understanding How Solder Works
   2. Procuring What You Need to Solder
   3. Preparing to Solder
   4. Soldering a Solid Solder Joint
   5. Checking Your Work
   6. Desoldering
8. Chapter 8: Measuring Circuits with a Multimeter
   1. Looking at Multimeters
   2. What a Multimeter Measures
   3. Using Your Multimeter
9. Chapter 9: Catching Waves with an Oscilloscope
   1. Understanding Oscilloscopes
   2. Examining Waveforms
   3. Calibrating an Oscilloscope
   4. Displaying Signals