The Hydraulic Analogy: A Detriment to Electronics Education

Many introductory electronics textbooks use the hydraulic analogy to explain circuits, comparing electric current to water flow and batteries to pumps. However, the author argues this analogy is deeply flawed, especially when explaining semiconductor components like JFETs and MOSFETs. The analogy fails to accurately represent their characteristic curves, ultimately hindering learning. The author advocates abandoning this inaccurate analogy and instead learning electronics from more fundamental principles.