May 1996
CID
A SHORT COURSE IN TERMINOLOGY
STAR*TEcH
Journal
Gootlldea!
Douglas "Enzo" McCallum
Shiawassee Technical Services
Lansing, Michigan
VERBAL SHORT
''Fix up a nice looking
Curs
Though we carry a box full of
tools around with us, there are
other tools we use to get the job
done. One of these other tools is
the terminology of the industry.
Part numbers can become words.
If I have my head buried in a pin-
ball and ask you for a "23-850,"
you likely would get me a sole-
noid coil without my explaining.
I don't need to ask for a "40 pin
DIP microprocessor integrated
circuit type Z-80" when anyone
this business knows what "Z-
80" means. When a fuse burns
open, we call it "blown," though
if we found one in the tool box
with broken glass but electrically
intact we would not say "blown."
Why? Because the word actually
means something. It means that
excess current flowed through
the fuse until it "blew."
-n
DEFINITIONS
For a collection of electronic
parts to do anything useful they
must be wired in a "circuit." That
word isn't arbitrary. Current
flows from a source such as one
end of a battery or a generator.
This current then flows through
the components involved and
then returns to the other end of
a.he battery or generator. The cur-
• rent has now come full circle,
thus completing a "circuit." (It's
from Latin. A circus is so named
because it takes place in a ring
or circle.) Any given circuit is a
specific arrangement of compo-
nents, a specific path for current.
One type of failure in a circuit is
unwanted current flow between
two points due to a failed part or
two parts touching together. In
this situation the current doesn't
flow all the way through the cir-
cuit as it should, instead it makes
a "short" circuit. That is "short"
as in not the complete length.
WITH MEANING
I have taken the long way
around, but my point is this: The
word "short" actually means
something. You shouldn't use the
word to refer to an "open" or an
intermittent connection, or as a
generic word meaning any old
electrical problem. It might be
0 K for a truck driver to use the
word when he has a bad connec-
tor to his trailer lights, but we are
technicians and should know bet-
ter.
A "short" or "short circuit" means
only one thing. It means an un-
wanted path for current. If that
is not what you have, don't call it
a short. An "intermittent open"
is not a "short."
Now if only I could stop saying
"bulb" when I mean "lamp."
older jukebox and make
it avai/,able for rental to
upscale stores as part of
window disp/,ays.
Doesn't even have to
,,
wor, k .
Douglas 'Enzo' McCallum
Shiawassee Technical Services
~ Got::::~
::~;gan
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