Electronics science or art

Explain to whom? Are you being paid to do this? No? Why bother?

Perhaps of interesting note, science is pretty well defined, but art? not so much.

Even with your 'broad brush' question can't help but try to answer, Buckminster Fuller said that he could tell if his work was 'correct' because when he got done and it looked good, it was correct. Now THERE is art in science.

Ok, in a snippet, the technology part is science. The functional part is art.

When electronics is done 'right' it is a true work of art, a beauty to behold.

Electronics is simply a TECHNOLOGY.

The term came into wide use about the time of WW2 to encompass the then very new technologies of radio, radar, TV and computers - all based on vacuum tubes / valves.

Obviously you have no idea what "art" is either.

Maybe try Google and Wiki.

... Phil

The part where you're describing how a circuit or system works is science.

The part where you're making a circuit or system to solve a human problem is art.

This is how I see it: Electronics is applied science. The approach used in applying the science may be viewed as an art. And the art may be good or bad, clumsy or elegant.

Done right, it's more art than science.

Rock musicians use lights and amps and speakers, but that doesn't make them scientists.

Troubleshooting is also a science, because there's a right answer out there, and we can all agree when it's found--the circuit starts working.

Design is an art, because there are lots of different ways to do just about everything in electronics, and how it turns out depends a great deal on the expertise and even the personality of the designer.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

It's quite simple really, the science is how it works and the art is what you can do with it.

Now you have those that can spit out science all day long but can't do a damn thing with it.

Then you have those that can make things (art) and may not fully understand the science, but it does not matter, they understand enough in their own way to make work the way they want.

Then you have those that can do both, watch out for that group, they're usually grumpy and eccentric.

Jamie

I like that last part. :-)

Nice, I was going to say that art has lots of nice colors, which translates to:

The schematic is science, the pcb is art.

(Not really true since there is art in the schematic too.)

George H.

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I like that too. I'm always looking for the right word to describe trouble shooting a new design.* (Something you think should work, but doesn't on the first cut.) I sit there, brain flailing around, is it a bad solder joi nt, some issue with an IC that I missed in the spec sheet, or a fundamental mistake on my part? Searching for "the problem" at all levels of the desi gn.

George H.

First year electronics student?

Debugging and prototyping are the usual ways of describing it, but sometimes "late stage design" is more accurate. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

"Optimization" >:-} ...Jim Thompson

Ouch. That's too honest, though.

The science part is figuring out how the circuit works. The art part is constructing a circuit board and assembly so it looks impressive.

-Bill

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Well, HIB Beveridge makes the case that science itself is mostly an art. See his (recently reprinted!) book "The Art of Scientific Investigation.

So, is electronics design a science that is an art? Or, if electronics design involves a single "correct-answer design" produced by software ...then ask whether or not Science is an Electronics!

The chemical composition of paint is science. How a brush and canvas is constructed and composed of is science. What you do with them is art.