Cool tesla coil that was brought in one day
Class Review
By: Jacob Dennon March 31st, 2023
This class was way harder than expected. Actually, it wasn't that hard: it took less effort than physics 5C. It's just that I thought the class was going to be a cakewalk since it was listed as an entry-level general education course. The title itself "Modern Technology and How it Works" makes it seem like the class you only go to once a week and still pass with an A. I'm sure others thought it was going to be easy as well, considering the absurd curve of the class. To pass the class you only needed 30%; to get a B you needed 52%. It's crazy to me that people outside of electrical engineering are supposed to take this course, although it's less crazy considering the curve. At times, this class was harder than physics 5C, which is wild because physics is the class typically associated with all-nighter study sessions. The class was like a history and circuitry course combined. We learned about technology from Edison to gates. The class introduced us to circuit analysis, going further than physics 5C with circuits like pass filters, LC circuits, rectifier circuits, AC power phase circuits, step-up circuits, and integrated circuits. I would recommend taking this class after Physics 5C and in conjunction with ECE 101.
You can tell this course is geared toward freshman/ sophomore students by the way it is structured. It's meant to give prospective electrical engineers an overview of the subject, as well as provide the knowledge necessary for any interested hobbyists. The difficulty of the course arises from the amount of material covered. It's not so much that the material is challenging but that there is a lot of it. The midterm and the final aren't too bad and as stated before, the curve is more than generous. There is a term paper that is meant to give non-electrical engineering students a fighting chance for an A. The term paper, worth 20% of your grade, is a historical and technical overview of any technology of your choosing. With this in mind, anybody willing to put in the effort should be able to pass with a B.
For each lecture, we had a cool electrical demonstration to look forward to. Professor Pedrotti brought in cool contraptions every lecture, some of the contraptions included: a tesla coil, a levitation device, silicone crystals, and a lot of cool circuits. Although it was a small part of the lecture, it helped to break up the monotony of history and electric circuits. I wish more professors would incorporate demonstrations like this in their classes. What's even cooler was that Prof. Pedrotti encouraged us to come up after the lecture and fiddle with the stuff he brought in. Super cool.
This class was a good experience, I made some friends, learned some stuff, and didn't fail. That's about all you can ask for.