Basic Electronics

                                                                    Basic Electronics

Direct Current or D.C. as it is more commonly called, is a form of electrical current or voltage that flows around an electrical circuit in one direction only, making it a “Uni-directional” supply.

Generally, both DC currents and voltages are produced by power supplies, batteries, dynamos and solar cells to name a few. A DC voltage or current has a fixed magnitude (amplitude) and a definite direction associated with it. For example, +12V represents 12 volts in the positive direction, or -5V represents 5 volts in the negative direction.

We also know that DC power supplies do not change their value with regards to time, they are a constant value flowing in a continuous steady state direction. In other words, DC maintains the same value for all times and a constant uni-directional DC supply never changes or becomes negative unless its connections are physically reversed. An example of a simple DC or direct current circuit is shown below.