C Battery
It is an electric battery which is used for supplying a constant voltage bias to a control electrode of a vacuum tube.

C Supply
Also known as "C Power Supply." It is a source of power, such as battery, which is used for supplying a constant voltage bias to a control electrode of a vacuum tube.

Cable
It is group of two or more insulated wires. Cathode
It is the negative terminal electrode of a device. Cathode Ray
It is flow of electrons which is emanated from a cathode in a vacuum tube and is focused into a narrow beam.

Cathode Ray Tube (CRT)
It is a vacuum tube which produces display data in visual form. The tube when energized by electron beam generated inside the tube emits light. It has a heated cathode and grids at the neck of it, making up a type of "gun." Electrons accelerate from the gun toward the front surface of the tube, a screen, producing a beam. The back of the screen is coated with phosphors so that it light up when struck by the electron beam. The best example is picture tube of a TV set or computer terminal.

Cat Whisker
It is a name given to any wire which is used for making contact with a semiconductor.

C-bias
See "Grid Bias."

CCD
Short of "Charge Coupled Device." It is a semiconductor chip with a grid of light-sensitive elements. It is used to convert light images into an electrical signals as in a television camera.

CCTV
Stands for Closed Circuit Television. It is a television system where signals are not publicly distributed but all components are directly linked via cables or other direct means. It is usually used for surveillance.

Cell
It is one unit of battery which generates a DC voltage by the conversion of chemical or solar energy into electrical energy.

Charge
It is the quantity of electric energy.

Chip
Also known as "Microchip." It is a very small slice of semiconducting material, usually square, on which a transistor or an entire IC is formed. It is cut from a large wafer of the same material.

Circuit
It is a component or group of components interconnected; powered by a source of voltage and configured according to the specified rules. It performs a specific or a predetermined general task.

Clipper
It is a device which provides output only for an input either above or below a certain critical value.

Closed Circuit
It is a circuit which have a complete path for current flow.

Coil
It is a term used for long insulated wire wound around a core made of laminated iron or steel, a ferrite or powder iron, or a non-ferrous material like ceramic aluminum, or plastic. The non-ferrous core is known as "air core" as it is non-magnetic in nature.

Cold Cathode
A cathode, in an electron tube or lamp, which emits electrons without having to be heated.

Collector
It is an electrode in a vacuum tube or a transistor which collects electrons, ions, or holes.

Compander
In a communications path, when a combination and compressor is used at both end so that the compressor reduces the volume of a signal and expander restores it.

Companding
It is a process where the dynamic range of a signal is compressed for recording purposes and next it is expanded to its original value for reproduction or playback.

Comparator
It is a circuit which compares two signals, reading of duplicate information stored in a computer, and then providing with an indication of agreement or disagreement between the two.

Compatible
A device, signal or other related things which is capable of being used with the equipment in a system without any modification or conversion.

Compressor
It is a transducer producing an output range of voltages with smaller ratio than the range of the input signal.

Conductor
It is a device made of metal and allows electrical current to flow through it with zero resistance.

Control electrode
It is an electrode used to vary the output of a transistor or vacuum tube when a varying signal is applied.

cps
Cycles per second.

Crookes Tube
It is a type of cathode-ray tube.

Current
Also known as electron flow since it is the flow of electrons through a conductor. It is measured in amperes.