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Quick questions on The bipolar transistor explained: O-Level Electronics Electronic Components
4short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What are the three terminals?Show answer
A bipolar junction transistor has three leads:
What is current control?Show answer
The key behaviour is that a small base current controls a much larger collector current . The transistor does not create energy; it acts as a valve, letting the supply push a large current through the collector and emitter in response to the small base current. This is why a transistor can let a low-power circuit (a sensor, a logic gate) control a high-power load (a motor, a lamp).
What is current gain?Show answer
The ratio of collector current to base current is the current gain, given the symbol (or ):
What is the transistor as a switch?Show answer
Used as a switch, the transistor has two states:
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