Monday, September 21, 2009

What is the difference between electric and electronic?

Electric: dealing with the concept of running through electricity. Electric is more of the overall workings of how instruments run rather than what they are considered, and it is what is to be identified when talking about the conducting of power through a device. Example: if a fire starts from wires, it is an electric/electrical fire. It is most importantly necessary for anything electric to normally run through wires.

Electronic: the action of a device running through electricity. An example of this is a television, a device that runs on electricity but is electronic. A cell phone or iPod are also electronic, but operate on a different electric component. Products that are electronic can most importantly be running wirelessly.

Electric refers to the source of power, and electronic refers to the action of that device running one electricity. Though this is the case, we don't tend to think about either word when using them, as there is sometimes a grey area between the two words and their meanings/definitions. Think about a light bulb... grey area appears here as a light bulb is electric because it runs on electricity but it is not electronic.

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