Electrical Fundamentals Make Them Come Alive For Students

Many laboratory experiments we ask students to perform in electrical fundamentals laboratory classes are unnecessarily unexciting. Such tasks as determining the current through R7 of a ladder network with eight resistors (does a first-semester student really care about R7, or its current?), or verifying Kirchhoff's Voltage Law in a circuit with only resistors, are all too often devoid of interest to the average student. Nothing in the experiment makes noise, or gives off light, or moves. This paper describes three innovative experiments (constructing a thin-film resistor, constructing a capacitor using a piece of window glass and aluminum foil, and a practical DC constant current source) for a first course in electrical fundamentals which give the student the intended knowledge and practical experience, and, the author feels, have stimulated students' interest in and understanding of the topics they cover.