Electrical vs Electronic

Electrical and Electronic, what’s the difference?

Did you know there’s a difference between electrical and electronic engineering? Electrical devices convert electrical energy into another form of energy like light or sound. Electronic devices control the flow of electrons for performing a task like amplification or calculations. The comparison chart below illustrates other differences between electrical and electronic devices.

Electricity and electrons are of course interrelated with each other. Electricity is the flow of electrons and electronics is the technique of controlling the electrons to perform a specific task. In principle though, both use electrical energy for the purpose of doing work.

Comparison Chart

Electrical Device Definition

Devices converting electrical energy or current into other forms of energy are known as electrical devices. Using metal for conduction, electrical devices work mainly on alternating current (AC). Power consumption is typically high.

A fan converts electrical current to rotational energy, a lightbulb converts current to light and a heater converts current to heat etc.

Electronic Device Definition

Controlling the flow of electrons to perform a function is the purpose of an electronic device. The word electronic refers to understanding the behaviour of electrons under the effect of an electrical field. Electronic components mainly fall into two classifications; active and passive.

Common components in an electronic system comprise resistors, capacitors, inductors, and semiconductors. Resistors oppose the flow of current and capacitors store electrical energy in an electric field. Inductors also store energy but in a magnetic field. Semiconductors are both a conductor and an insulator and how they behave can change with electric field, magnetic field, or flow of charges. Semiconductors are extremely useful as an on/off switch in computers.