I don't like electrical symbols any more than mathematical equations
I don't like electrical symbols any more than mathematical equations. They're hard to remember, non-intuitive, and when first learning electronics, contribute more confusion than clarity. In the tube discussion I am writing it will be necessary to describe the triode in relation to the circuit it is wired to. A triode an amplifier or radio does not make, it is a collection of components that gives us our equipment.
As Dante writes to me, "There is nothing magical about vacuum tubes or transistors in general. They have no unique properties that allow them to take a small signal and amplify it's amplitude and/or power. They are part of an entire process that involves a low power input circuit controlling a higher power output circuit. A common analogy for an amplifier is to think of it as a black box with two input leads and two output leads. It doesn't matter what is inside. For now."
For now. But we need to explain the triode to state why it was so important. Only the transistor was a greater development than an electron tube. And these two devices, the tube and the transistor, were the most important inventions in the history of the telephone system. Describe we must. In my upcoming articles I will try to supply pictorial diagrams and not just electrical symbols.
Look also at the diagram below these first two graphics. Exploded diagrams are used often to portray mechanical things, like cars. And model cars. Why not electrical circuits?
