My bad.  On page 101 of Mr. Mimms' book where he talks about diode circuits he does use the term "ripple".  

And what is a ripple?  Funny how things move in full circle.  A ripple is simply an AC signal superimposed onto DC.  The VERY thing I was asking people for help understanding on this list in the past year.  (-:  

-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Lindy Mayfield
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 20:10
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: RE: [EE] Will phone charger work as a 5v DC power supply?

A diode blocks AC and allows DC to pass.  By using the correct combination of diodes you can convert an AC current into a DC current.  (Pages 45-46 of The Art of Electronics, 2nd Ed., Page 47 of Forrest Mimms' Getting Started in Electronics.)  This diode circuit is called a full-wave rectifier.  The output of this looks like a bunch of speed bumps next to each other.  Forrest calls this a "pulsating voltage" (page 36) while Horowitz & Hill call it a "ripple" (Page 46).  



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