Everyday Electronics
Take the mystery out of the circuit boards, batteries, and gadgets around you. Learn how current flows, use a multimeter to diagnose real hardware, and spot the most common physical reasons electronics fail.
Like Duolingo, but for Everyday Electronics. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 12 levels across 2 sections, about 24 minutes end to end, roughly 5 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Getting Hands-On with Current and Decoding and Fixing Real Devices. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Everyday Electronics
- Electricity must travel in a continuous, closed loop from power all the way back to ground to flow
- A load like a lamp will not light if disconnected from either terminal of the power source
- In small electronics, 'ground' refers to the return terminal (usually negative) of the power supply, not physical dirt
- Voltage is the force or pressure that pushes charges through a circuit
- Current measures how much electrical charge actually moves past a point per second
- A high-voltage battery can supply strong push, but current only flows when a complete path exists
- A path connecting power directly to ground without a load creates a short circuit
- Short circuits allow near-infinite current to flow, generating rapid heat that can melt insulation, spark, or rupture batteries
- Testing power requires a measuring tool or a proper resistive load, never a bare bypass wire
- LEDs offer very little internal resistance once turned on and will draw destructive amounts of current
- A current-limiting resistor restricts the flow to a safe level (typically 10–20 milliamps)
- Polarized components have distinct positive (anode) and negative (cathode) leads
- LEDs and electrolytic capacitors fail to operate or can be permanently damaged if installed backwards
- Basic resistors, mechanical switches, and plain wires work identically regardless of which end connects to power
- Continuity mode sends a tiny test current from the meter to check for an unbroken electrical path, beeping when the circuit is complete
- Circuits must be completely powered off before testing continuity, or the external voltage can damage the meter or give false readings
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Everyday Electronics the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
Ye wire a small lamp to a battery's positive side, but leave the other side unhooked. What happens?
Get it right to open this lesson and 11 more in the app.
Where Everyday Electronics takes you
- 1
Getting Hands-On with Current
- Powering Your First Circuit Safely
- Seeing the Circuit with a Multimeter
- 2
Decoding and Fixing Real Devices
- The Core Components that Control Flow
- Reading Boards and Spotting Faults
2 sections · 4 units · 12 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
Tomo is in ChatGPT
Tomo is also a ChatGPT plugin: the same playable courses, built and played inside your chat.
Add Tomo to ChatGPT- What to ask
- “Make me a Tomo course on black holes.” “Turn this chat into a Tomo course.”
- What you get
- Quick questions with instant feedback, hearts and stars, ready to play in about a minute.
- Where it goes
- No sign-up to start. Connect your Tomo account and your streak carries on in the app.
You pick the voice
Everyday Electronics is taught in the Pirate style: arr, learning be an adventure!. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Technology on Tomo
Hands-On Electricity
Learn how electricity moves through circuits and how to measure it with confidence. From basic closed loops to multimeter diagnostics and power safety, build a clear working understanding of electrical systems.
How Electric Circuits Work
Learn to steer electricity to power lights, buzzers, and everyday hardware. Discover how voltage pushes charge, why resistors prevent burnouts, and how to route power using series and parallel layouts.
Hands-On Electronics
Build, control, and troubleshoot real physical circuits without frying components. Move from lighting your first LED safely to switching power with transistors and hunting down dead connections with a multimeter.
Hands-On Electronics
Demystify how everyday gadgets work by building and understanding circuits from the ground up. Learn to direct electrical currents, wire components safely, and read circuit behaviors.
How Electrical Circuits Work
Demystify electricity by building, measuring, and troubleshooting real circuits. Learn how voltage, current, and resistance interact to power everyday devices safely.
Everyday Electronics in Action
Discover how everyday gadgets really work by tracing the path of electricity through loops, resistors, capacitors, and switches. Build a practical mental model of basic circuits using real-world examples.
Start Everyday Electronics today.
Download Tomo, search Everyday Electronics, and play your first lesson in under a minute.