Electronics Angle Quiz
September 1967 Popular Electronics

September 1967 Popular Electronics Table of Contents Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics. See articles from Popular Electronics, published October 1954 - April 1985. All copyrights are hereby acknowledged.

Dang, I swapped two answers and scored an 80%. Haste makes waste, as the saying goes. Don't rush through this 1967 Popular Electronics "Electronic Angle Quiz" like I did and you'll probably ace it with the greatest of ease - especially if you have been in the electronics realm at least since the 1980s. Generation X'ers can have a two-question handicap (might never have seen real-life example of drawing "A" or "E") and Millennials (might never have seen drawing "A," "B," "D," or "H") get a four-question handicap.

Electronic Angle Quiz

By Robert P. Balin

Electronics technicians use the term "angle" in a variety of fashions: it can describe the area of coverage, the shape of a mechanical component, or denote the phase relationship between voltage and current in an a.c. circuit. For example, you may have heard of the "firing angle" of a thyratron, or the "conduction angle" of a vacuum tube. To test your knowledge of electronic "angles," try matching the angles depicted in drawings A through J with the descriptive terms below (1-10).

1   Azimuth Angle ___

2   Critical Angle ___

3   Cutting Angle ___

4   Deflection Angle ___

5   Dispersion Angle ___

6   Dwell Angle ___

7   Phase Angle ___

8   Refraction Angle ___

9   Shadow Angle ___

10 Tracking Angle ___

See answers below.

Quizzes from vintage electronics magazines such as Popular Electronics, Electronics-World, QST, and Radio News were published over the years - some really simple and others not so simple. Robert P. Balin created most of the quizzes for Popular Electronics. This is a listing of all I have posted thus far.

Angle Quiz Answers

1 - H) The Azimuth Angle of a tape recorder is the angle between the running axis of the tape and the gap in the recording head.

2 - F) The Critical Angle of a transmitted radio signal is the minimum angle which the wavefront, as it enters the ionosphere, can make with a line extending to the center of the earth, and still be reflected back to earth.

3 - I) The Cutting Angle of a recording stylus is the angle between the longitudinal axis of the stylus and a line perpendicular to the plane of the disc.

4 - G) The Deflection Angle of a cathode-ray tube is the angle swept by the maximum peak-to-peak deflection of the beam.

5 - D) The Dispersion Angle of a speaker defines the limits of sound radiation possible from a given cone design.

6 - A) The Dwell Angle of an automobile distributor cam and point assembly is the number of degrees through which the cam rotates while the ignition points are closed.

7 - J) The Phase Angle of an alternating current is the number of electrical degrees by which the current leads or lags the applied voltage in an a.c. circuit.

8 - C) The Refraction Angle is the angle which a light ray traveling through two different mediums makes with a line perpendicular to the interface of the mediums.

9 - E) The Shadow Angle of an electron ray (tuning eye) tube defines the target area (shaded) present under minimum signal conditions.

10 - B) The Tracking Angle of a phono-graph is the angle between the longi-tudinal axis of the cartridge and a tangent to the needle groove.

Posted August 17, 2018