Visual Circuits

Electronic circuits can get complex in a hurry. Over the years I've searched for ways to show the dynamics of circuits, but have never been very happy with my attempts. Here is another attempt. See link below to a Java applet I wrote to do it (very simple so far).

Moving dots (representing electrons) show the flow of current. The speed and direction of motion corresponds to the current magnitude and direction. Color of background shows voltage, with darkest red highest positive voltage, fading to light red down to white for zero voltage, then going to light blue for negative voltage, dark blue for most negative. Voltages are with reference to ground point shown on the schematic.

Pictures of magnifying glasses placed at schematic circuit lines are to convey that we are looking at "close-up views" while all the schematic elements show the components such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, and so on.

This type of observation of circuit behavior is meant to supplement the more detailed (but more fragmented) oscilloscope plots of voltage vs time and current vs time for specific points in a circuit. If we can use our great ability to assimilate visual information in this type of observation, perhaps we can more quickly develop a strong mental picture of how op amps, zener diodes, mosfets, etc work together in circuits.