Mechanical circuits: electronics without electricity

Summary by Krater

Steve Mould explores spintronics, a mechanical analogy of electric circuits using chains, gears, and pulleys, demonstrating how mechanical components mimic resistors, capacitors, diodes, and inductors.

From the video

Answers: How do mechanical circuits demonstrate electrical circuit principles?

• spintronics
• mechanical analogs of electronic circuits
• resistors and capacitors in mechanical form
• diodes and inductors in mechanical circuits

What it concludes

• Energy in an electric circuit is carried by the electric and magnetic fields hugging the wires rather than the electrons pushing against each other.
• Spintronics components are by default closed circuits, maintaining their charge when disconnected from a power source.
• Connecting a capacitor and a resistor in series causes the smaller resistor to spin faster and draw greater current in parallel configurations.
• Inductors resist the buildup of current initially but resist the reduction of current once established, acting like a circuit break for high-frequency signals.
• Connecting two charged capacitors in parallel results in the final energy being half the initial energy stored in the first capacitor due to energy loss.
• Full-bridge rectifiers can be built using spintronics with just two diodes because changing the direction of current flow is easily done by changing chain routing.