Chapter 2: AC and RF Foundations #
Ohm’s law handles a resistor in one step: divide the voltage by the resistance to find the current. Capacitors and inductors are less cooperative. Their behavior depends on frequency and on how quickly voltage or current is changing, so voltage and current can fall out of step.
With a few formulas and a calculator, you’ll put numbers to that behavior: a circuit’s impedance and phase angle, where it resonates and how sharply, and the point where a real part stops acting like the value on its label. Those numbers decide whether a filter, matching network, or antenna does its job.
Work the examples on a scientific calculator, ideally the one you’ll use on exam day. You’ll need square roots, , powers of ten, and inverse tangent.