in this video we're gonna focus on BJT

transistors and how they act as

electronic switches but let's start with

the basics

so this is the symbol of an NPN

transistor my drawing is not perfect but

will make the best of it this is the

base here we have the collector and that

is the emitter of the NPN transistor

beta describes the ratio between the

collector current and the base current

so if we send a small current of let's

say 1 milliamp to the base of the NPN

transistor by the way this is the flow

of conventional current electron flow is

in the other direction now let's say

that beta is a hundred then the

collector current will be a hundred

times greater than the base current and

this is how the transistor acts as a

switch when a small current is applied

to the base of the transistor a larger

current can flow from the collector to

the emitter of the transistor so you

could use a small current to activate a

circuit with a logic right now the

emitter current is the sum of the base

current and the collector current so

it's 1 plus 100 it's going to be 101

milliamps now let's work on an example

problem so you can see this in action so

first we're going to draw a chemical

battery and then we're gonna have a

switch we'll call that switch s1 this is

the positive terminal of the battery and

a shorter side is the negative terminal

of the battery and let's use a 6 volt

battery and then we're gonna add a

current limiting resistor which we'll

call our 1 and we'll give r1 a value of

10 kilo ohms

we're going to connect our one to the

base of the transistor so here we have

the base the collector and the emitter

and then we're going to attach a

resistor actually first let's put a

light-emitting diode and we're going to

use a green light emitting diode and

then let's add a resistor here which

we'll call r2 so r2 we're going to give

it a value of 1k or one Cologne and

let's put a multimeter across the

collector and the emitter so what will

be the voltage that the multimeter reads

in this circuit feel free to pause the

video and calculate the voltage we're

going to set the emitter to ground now

in this circuit conventional current

will flow once the switch is closed it

will flow through r1 through the base of

the transistor to the emitter and then

back to the battery that small current

will be used to activate a larger

current that will flow through the LED

through the collector and then to the

emitter and then back to the battery and

so that's another way in which a BJT

transistor can act as an electronic

switch you could use a switch to control

a small current flow into the base of

the transistor which will activate a

larger current flow into the collector

of the transistor but let's calculate

the voltage at Point C in order to do

that we need to calculate the currents

flown in each branch now before we solve

this let's increase our one

to 500 kilohms let me write this over

here so that's going to be a much better

value and beta let's say that beta for

the transistor is 200 so with this

information go ahead and calculate the

base and collector currents as well as

the voltage that the multimeter will

read in order to do this we need to be

familiar with something called kerkoff's

of voltage law which states that the sum

of the voltages in a closed loop must

add a zero so we're going to do is we're

going to set the ground to a potential

of zero volts traveling in this

direction the battery provides energy to

the circuit so it's going to increase

the voltage going in that direction so

the voltage or rather the electric

potential at this point will be 6 volts

and once the switch is closed the

electric potential here will also be 6

volts now the voltage across the base

and the emitter of the NPN transistor

that's going to be 0.6 volts it can vary

between point six and point seven volts

but to keep things simple we're going to

go with point six volts so the base is

point 6 volts higher than the emitter so

this is point six so now that we know

the electric potentials across r1 we can

calculate the current flowing through it

keep in mind conventional current flows

from a high potential towards a low

potential and we could use Ohm's law V

is equal to IR you rearranged in that

equation will help us to calculate the

current the current flowing in a

resistor is equal to the voltage across

the resistor divided by the resistance

of the resistor now the voltage across R

1 is the electric potential difference

between those two points we can call

this point a and then the other point B

so the voltage is going to be 6 minus

point 6 so we have a voltage of 5

point 4 volts across r1 and r1 is 500

kilo ohms now when you divide the

voltage in volts by the resistance in

ohms you get the current in amps but

when you divide volts by kilo ohms this

will give you the current in milliamps

so five point four divided by five

hundred will give us a current of point

zero one zero eight milliamps so now

that we know the base current IB how can

we use this to calculate I see what

would you say once you know the base

current you could use beta to calculate

the collector current keep in mind the

collector current is equal to beta times

the base current so it's going to be 200

times point zero one zero eight so the

current that is flowing through r2

through the LED and to the collector

that is the collector current that is

equal to let's put it here to point

sixteen milliamps it's just beta times

the base current so now that we know the

collector current we can calculate the

voltages around r2 and the LED so

anywhere along this line the electric

potential will be six now that we know

the current flowing through r2 we can

calculate the potential on the other

side so let's call this point D and

point e the voltage across a resistor is

equal to the current flowing through it

times the resistance and the voltage is

basically the potential difference so

it's going to be the potential

difference at Point D minus the

potential difference at Point E and

that's going to equal IR rearranging the

equation ve

is going to equal VD plus actually minus

IR VD is higher than ve because current

will always flow from a high potential

to a low potential so to get ve when you

subtract VD by IR so the potential at D

is 6 the current flowing through the

through r2 is 2.16 milliamps times the

resistance of 1 Cologne

so 1 milliamp times 1 kilo ohm equals 1

volt so 1 kilo ohm times two point 16

milliamps is 2 point 16 volts 6 minus 2

point 16 volts gives us a potential of 3

point 8 4 volts at Point E now in order

to calculate the potential at Point C we

need to know what the voltage drop

across the green LED is what would you

say the voltage drop is the voltage drop

of a typical green LED is around 2 to 2

point 4 volts so 2 point 2 would be a

nice average so the potential at C is

going to be lower than a potential at E

because the LED is absorbing energy from

the circuit and so it's going to cause a

drop in the voltage as you go from E to

C M plus the current is flowing in that

direction so 3 point 8 4 minus 2 point 2

gives us a potential at Point C of 1

point 6 4 volts so if you were to

connect the multimeter between the

collector and the emitter you would read

a voltage of something around 1 point 6

volts so that's also VCE the collector

emitter voltage it's approximately 1

point 6 4 votes so now you know how to

solve a simple transistor circuit and

now you see how a transistor can be used

as an electronic switch we could use a

small current to drive a larger current

in another circuit and that's how most

transistors work as switches now

transistors can also act as inverters

let me illustrate

so first let's draw a circuit

on the left we have the input and on the

right we have the output so let's say

this is r1 and this is r2 so r1 we're

gonna give it a value of 50 kilo ohms

and r2 that's going to be one cologne

now let's say the voltage here is nine

volts so we're going to apply a pulse

let's say the pulse has a voltage of

five volts so let's also make a table

that describes the voltages at the input

and the voltage at the output when the

voltage at the input is 5 volts what is

the voltage at the output and when the

voltage at the input is zero volts was

the voltage at the output so let's

understand what's happening when we

apply an input voltage of 5 volts

current is going to flow through r1

through the base of the transistor and

to the emitter and that is going to

activate the transistor on the other

side so current will begin to flow from

the collector to the emitter and so what

happens is let's use a 10 kilo ohm

resistor instead of a 50 kilo meter

because we want to drive the transistor

to saturation and so when that happens

VCE will be approximately zero volts it

might be like Oh point zero one or point

one volts but for all practical purposes

is going to be close to zero but when

you have a significant amount of current

flowing through the base you can

basically drive a large current through

the collector and VCE can approach zero

when this transistor goes into

saturation a typical beta value for an

NPN transistor can vary between 100 and

300 and notice the ratio

between r1 and r2 and that it's it's 10

so beta is not going to be anywhere near

100 for this particular circuit if you

were to calculate the relative currents

and so when are when the ratio between

r1 and r2 is much less than beta it will

be very easy to drive the transistor to

saturation which means when that current

the base current flows to this part of

the transistor VCE is going to go to

zero and so the output would have read

zero

so what you need to take away from this

is this when the input is 5 volts and if

the current that's flown to the base is

large enough to drive the transistor to

saturation the output voltage will be

zero volts now when the input is zero

there's not going to be any current

flowing to the base of the transistor so

if there's no current then there's not

going to be any current flowing due the

collector and the emitter of the

transistor which means that there's no

current flowing through r2 if there is

no current flowing through r2 there's no

voltage drop so the voltage at Point C

will be the same as the voltage of the

source it's going to be nine volts

because there's no current flowing

through r2 so that's the output will be

whatever the collector supply voltage is

VCC so notice how the transistor can

serve as an inverter when the input is

high the output is low and when the

input is low the output is high so you

can rewrite the table like this when the

input is low the output is high and when

the output when the input is high the

output is low and so that's a basic

inverter circuit so that's how you could

use the NPN transistor as an inverter

for digital circuits so that's basically

it for this video now you know how to

use the BJT transistor as an electronic

switch and also how to use it as an

inverter now for those of you whom want

more videos on electronics science

projects and other interesting stuff

feel free to take a look at the videos

that I'm going to post in the

description section below thanks for

watching