Electrical Fundamentals

Structure and distribution of electrical charges within atoms, molecules, ions and compounds; the molecular structure of conductors, semiconductors and insulators.

Static electricity and the distribution of electrostatic charges; the laws of attraction and repulsion; units of charge and Coulomb's law; conduction in solids, liquids, gases and a vacuum.

Potential difference, electromotive force, voltage, current, resistance, conductance, charge, conventional current flow and electron flow.

Production of electricity by light, heat, friction, pressure, chemical action and magnetism.

Construction and chemical action of primary and secondary cells; cells in series and parallel; internal resistance and its effect on terminal voltage.

Ohm's law, Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws; the significance of internal resistance; series, parallel and series-parallel networks.

Resistance and the factors affecting it; specific resistance; the resistor colour code; conductance; positive and negative temperature coefficients; resistors in series and parallel; the Wheatstone bridge.

Power, work and energy (kinetic and potential); dissipation of power by a resistor; the power formula and the maximum power transfer theorem.

Operation and function of a capacitor; factors affecting capacitance; capacitor types, colour coding and ratings; capacitors in series and parallel; the RC time constant.

Theory of magnetism; properties of a magnet; magnetic field around a conductor and the right-hand grip rule; magnetomotive force, flux, flux density and permeability; the hysteresis loop; eddy currents and lamination.

Faraday's law and Lenz's law; self and mutual inductance; factors affecting the inductance of a coil; the L-R time constant and energy stored in a magnetic field.

The motor effect F = BIL and Fleming's rules; construction and operation of DC generators and motors; the commutator; armature reaction; back-EMF; series, shunt and compound machines.

Sinusoidal waveforms — period, frequency, phase and amplitude; instantaneous, average, root mean square, peak and peak-to-peak values; triangular and square waveforms.

Phase relationships of voltage and current in R, C and L circuits, in parallel, series and series-parallel; power dissipation; impedance, phase angle, power factor and current calculations; true, apparent and reactive power.

Transformer construction and principles of operation; transformer losses and methods of overcoming them; action under load and no-load conditions; power transfer, efficiency, polarity markings and autotransformers.

Operation, application and uses of low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and band-stop filters.

Rotation of a loop in a magnetic field and the waveform produced; operation and construction of revolving-armature and revolving-field alternators; single-phase, two-phase and three-phase alternators; star and delta connections; frequency, phase and power calculations.

Construction, principles of operation and characteristics of synchronous and induction AC motors, both single and polyphase; methods of speed control and direction of rotation; methods of producing a rotating field.

Timed EASA-style papers stratified across all 18 sub-sections — Cat A 20 questions in 25 minutes, Cat B1/B2 52 questions in 65 minutes, 75% to pass.