Electrical Engineering Science

This volume covers the ground usually included in the Electrical Science syllabus of the Second-Tear National Certificate course. The actual syllabuses of various Technical Institutions vary considerably, but modern tendency is towards introducing more alternating- current work into this course. In the past, it has been common practice to postpone the study of alternating currents to the Third-Tear course in order that the students may have acquired a knowledge of the calculus. The result has been that they have not had sufficient time to assimilate the new conceptions involved in a.c. theory and much of the latter is hidden behind mathematical jargon that the student can hardly comprehend at that stage. It is far more instructive to use curves and graphical constructions for most of the elementary a.c. work; and the time interval between the second- and third-year courses assists the process of assimilation. Furthermore, a.c. apparatus and machines are becoming increasingly important. It is therefore recommended that a quarter to a third of the Second-Tear course should be devoted to the study of alternating currents ; and it is believed that the subject matter of Chapters I-IX forms a satisfactory basis for such a course.