Prof. Dr. Thorsten Jungmann (last updated 2026-10-06)
The English edition is being translated step by step; the German original is available at wattsinside.de.
How do you get a clear view 🤓 of electrical engineering?
If you want to understand an electrical system – a torch, for example, or the control unit of a heat pump – there are two different approaches that take you there: the practical approach and the theoretical approach. I recommend both in combination!
1 Discovering electrical engineering
1.1 Practical approach 👨🏼🔧🪛
Unscrew the device, look inside, take everything apart and explore!
- What is inside? Which parts is the device made up of?
- What are the parts made up of? How does each of them work? And how do they work together?
- Which technical processes take place (mostly invisibly) and thus make the device work?
⛔️ Of course, it is best to leave this to a professional, because without the appropriate training it can become dangerous! ⚡️
‘Watts Inside?!’ on YouTube (in German)
1.2 Theoretical approach 🧑🏻🎓📖
Engage, with motivation, with the right questions and topics in order to understand, explain and predict the structure and function of the system.
- Which scientific phenomena underlie the function of the system?
- Which quantities play a role in the function of electrical components, parts and their interaction in systems?
- Which models represent the properties of the system, so that relevant quantities can be calculated and its behaviour can be simulated?
That is exactly what studying at university is all about!
ILIAS courses for my students (in German)
1.3 Theory and practice belong together 🔗
The two approaches complement each other and, working together, give you a clear view of electrical and electronic systems. While the practical approach provides hands-on experience and concrete insights into how things work, the theoretical approach supplies the necessary background knowledge, the scientific methods and the mathematical models for a deeper understanding. That is why I use both approaches, and I invite you to follow both paths with me.
In the 🎬 videos on my YouTube channel ‘Watts inside?! – Elektrotechnik entdecken.’ I explore with you the properties and the inner workings of electrical devices in the simplest way imaginable: I take them apart into their individual pieces and, while doing so, philosophize about their functions, individually and in combination.
In the 📃 script published here, I introduce you to the fundamentals of electrical engineering from a theoretical perspective. I make the underlying scientific phenomena tangible for you, give you the necessary building blocks of knowledge and show you which models and methods you can use to carry out calculations and simulations.
In the long term, the combination of both perspectives is intended to enable you to solve engineering problems effectively and to develop, bring to market and optimize technically and economically attractive innovations. In the short term, passing the examinations in the corresponding modules of your degree programme is, of course, also one of the goals.
2 The scripts are not normal 📚
My scripts are not normal scripts. Neither the writing style nor my didactic approach – that is, the way in which I introduce and explain electrical engineering to you here – is normal in the sense of what is predominantly found in the field of electrical engineering. I do it the way I consider effective, and I would also like to explain briefly why:
2.1 Structure
The script is divided into six sections:
- In the lessons, I guide you through the content, give examples and suggest exercises.
- The exercises belong to the lessons. Here you can find out whether you have understood the content and can apply it. A certain similarity between the exercises and the examination questions cannot be denied.
- The section on prior knowledge shows you what you need to bring with you from school in order to follow the lessons without difficulty.
- I use certain components and devices (German: Bauelemente und Geräte) to explain electrical engineering. For each of these components or devices, you will find an explanatory text here on its functions, its internal structure and its use cases in teaching and practice.
- For every electrical quantity (German: elektrotechnische Größe) that I use in this script, there is an explanatory text with quantity symbol and unit, examples and relationships to other quantities.
- Many historical people have contributed decisively to the fact that we can understand electrical engineering today the way we understand it. For the names that appear in this script, you will find a short information text here on the respective person and their contribution to electrical engineering research.
2.2 Writing style
I write this script the way I would tell it in the lecture hall. This not only makes writing easier for me; the texts should also be easier to read and understand than if I strove for the dry and supposedly scientific-sounding style that can be found in many a script and in numerous textbooks.
Looked at the other way round, I am sharing the script for my lectures with you here. So, independently of the lecture, you can look up what it will be about or what it was about. The scripts therefore serve both for preparation and for follow-up.
This also gives you deeper insights into my didactic concept, and you will understand what I had in mind when I designed the courses the way I designed them. That may be interesting above all from the perspective of engineering education, but it can also simply contribute to a better understanding and perhaps give you additional motivation to keep at it when things get confusing and strenuous.
Mistakes happen
I do take great care to get everything right, but my work is not perfect. Mistakes can occur when writing these scripts. Should you find any, I am grateful for a note.
2.3 Way of explaining
With the scripts, I follow the motto: ‘Understanding electrical engineering the easy way.’
We deliberately start at a fairly low level with a simple electric circuit that you are guaranteed to know from your school days: a battery, a switch, an incandescent bulb and some wire replicate the classic torch that I already mentioned above. A lot can already be explained with these four simple components and the not very complex on–off circuit. As we go on, a few more components are of course added. And the explanations also reach an appropriate academic level, but remain simple and understandable in their language.
To make sure that the explanations are understandable for you even if physics lessons at school went nowhere for you and you have so far been utterly unable to picture anything when you hear the word electricity, I also explain the behaviour of current, i.e. of moving electrons ⊖, again and again by analogy with water, i.e. moving drops of water. To academically socialized electrical engineers this may seem trivial, and it is. But in this way I also bring electrical engineering closer to those who quite deliberately – ‘for reasons’ – decided against a degree in electrical engineering.
3 The scripts match the lectures 🧑🏼🏫
The scripts published here tie in with my lectures. I am happy to make them available here not only to my students but to everyone who is interested.
3.1 All mine – including the strengths and mistakes! 🔏
The texts, figures and tables in this script are my intellectual property, as is the didactic concept. Imitating is of course allowed, and I am pleased when my didactic practice finds imitators. But please always name me as the author and refer to this website as the source.
Apart from the rules of good scientific practice, German copyright law of course also applies. The texts, figures and tables in this script are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced or otherwise used outside your studies without my consent.
I am of course pleased to receive enquiries of this kind, above all praise and constructive criticism. Feel free to send me an email about it.
I hope you enjoy the journey through the fundamentals of electrical engineering.
Yours, Thorsten Jungmann
More about me: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thorsten Jungmann
Script ‘Fundamentals of electrical engineering’ (EE1) 📃
⏭️ Start here: EE1-00 Overview 🔗
Lessons EE1-00 to EE1-04 and their exercises are online; EE1-05 to EE1-10 will follow.
Script ‘AC circuit analysis’ (EE2) 📃
In preparation.
Script ‘Digital Electronics’ (DET) 📃
Under construction 🚧
This part of the site is currently under construction. The material for the module is added step by step: lessons, exercises and slides follow one after the other.
⏭️ Start here: Lesson DET-01 🔗
Please note that the pages may change continuously. Therefore, always use the current online version.