Unit of electrical power
required to do work at the rate
of one joule per second. One
watt of power is expended when
one ampere of direct current
flows through a resistance of
one ohm. In an AC circuit, true
power is the product of
effective volts and effective
amperes, multiplied by the power
factor.
wattage rating
Maximum power a device can
safely handle continuously.
watt-hour
Unit of electrical work,
equal to a power of one watt
being absorbed for one hour.
wattmeter
Instrument used to measure
electric power in watts.
wave
Electric, electromagnetic,
acoustic, mechanical or other
form whose physical activity
rises and falls or advances and
retreats periodically as it
travels through some medium.
waveform
Shape of a wave.
waveguide
Rectangular or circular pipe
used to guide electromagnetic
waves at micro frequencies.
wavelength
(l) Distance between two points
of corresponding phase and is
equal to waveform velocity
divided by frequency.
weber
(Wb) Unit of magnetic flux. One
weber is the amount of flux that
when linked with a single turn
of wire for an interval of one
second will induce an
electromotive force of one volt.
wien-bridge oscillator
Oscillator that uses an RC
low-pass filter and an RC
high-pass filter to set the
frequncy of oscillations.
wet cell
Secondary cell using a liquid as
an electrolyte.
wetting
Term used in soldering to
describe the condition that
occurs when the metals being
soldered are hot enough to melt
the solder so it flowes over the
surface.
wheatstone bridge
Four arm bridge circuit used to
measure resistance, inductance
or capacitance.
wideband amplifier
Also called "broadband
amplifier." Amplifier with a
flat response over a wide range
of frequencies.
winding
One or more turns of a conductor
wound in the form of a coil.
wire
Single solid or stranded group
of conductors having a low
resistance to current flow. Used
to make connections between
circuits or points in a circuit.
wire gauge
American wire gauge (AWG) is a
system of numerical designations
of wire diameters.
wireless
Term describing radio
communication that requires no
wired between two communicating
points.
wirewound resistor
Resistor in which the resistive
element is a length of high
resistance wire or ribbon
usually nichrome wound onto an
insulating form.
wire wrapping
Method of making a connection by
wrapping wire around a
rectangular pin.
woofer
Large loudspeaker designed
primarily to reproduce low
frequency audio signals.
work
Work is done any time energy is
transformed from one type to
another. The amount of work done
is dependent on the amount of
energy transformed.
