Ok, so you too think that there are no nonlinear resistors. They are just one-ports. In my view, using set theory
One port < Resistor U Capacitor U Inductor U Memristor U Any circuits composed of the connection of the previous four
And then I specialize each sunset into linear and nonlinear. So to me (and to Chua, Desoer and Kuh) nonlinear resistors are a specialization of one ports, like linear resistors from which they are disjoint.
But let's switch for a second to inductors: what do you call a coil with a ferrite core? A one port (but not an inductor)? Because I guess inductor only means linear inductor, right?
I call it a non-linear coil. Under reasonable limited conditions, it exhibits inductance. In Spice, it can be modeled as a one-port that includes hysteresis.
Of course there are one-ports, encased in plastic, that can be characterized as non-linear resistors (with non-linear V vs. I equations), but extending that nomenclature to semiconductor devices is useless sophistry.
What are the physical units of this "rectification"?
I use resistance and it is expressed in ohms. I can tell you exactly how many ohms a silicon diode 1N4148 exhibits at a given voltage or current.
Enough nonsense—back to the original question.
I have two similar-size cylinders with axial leads.
One is an RN65D metal-film resistor.
Testing it, I see that it obeys Ohm’s law quite well, but has small parasitic inductance and capacitance, along with a slight self-heating and temperature co-efficient.
Ignoring the minor deviations from the Platonic ideal, I confirm the common opinion that it be called “resistor”.
The other is labeled 1N4007.
Initial measurements show it is not close to Ohmic, especially with respect to polarity reversal.
Testing it, I see that it conforms well to Shockley’s equation for a semiconductor diode (including temperature effects) with small parasitic series resistance (in the package), along with non-linear junction capacitance and charge storage.
Again, following your advice to ignore secondary effects, I confirm its proper name as “diode”.
Calling it a “resistor” would only be confusing.
I sense an opportunity to bring this daft thread to a close.
What exactly is your equivalent circuit for a diode (such as the 1N4148, you mentioned)?
Let's put it in a black box, and let an independent observer, see if they can tell your equivalent circuit, from another black box, containing a real diode.
Inspiration for this post, came from here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/circuit-theory
There the cats whiskers when compared to many other illuminating devices
Now, take your black boxes out of the fridge. Put the diodes D1 and D2, and the resistors R1 and R2 inside a black box each. Shuffle them around. And tell me: without looking inside the black boxes and without resorting to second order effects (like temperature dependence, or changing the other circuital parameters to change the operating points) can you tell me which are the diodes and which are the resistors, by simply measuring voltages, currents and powers?
Ok, this is the VI characteristic of a 1N4148 diode in LTSpice (default temperature) - sorry I went on simulating and picked 1n4148 instead of 1n4007. But it's immaterial.
non linear system has linear approximation around a small operating point....
STOP THE PRESSES!
... oh wait, that's the underlying principle of how spice AC analysis works.
Ok, this is the VI characteristic of a 1N4148 diode in LTSpice (default temperature) - sorry I went on simulating and picked 1n4148 instead of 1n4007. But it's immaterial.
You can do the same thing for an inductor.
Resistor < Linear resistor U Nonlinear resistor
Nonlinear resistor < incandescent lamps U diodes U ...
So, you can still call it a diode, recognize that it is a nonlinear resistor and, as such, that it belongs to the more general set of resistors.
Does this make any sense to you?
QuoteWhat you are trying to say is that a diode exhibits the effect of "electrical resistance" or "resistivity".
This effect is not particularly special and just describes that the device can consume electrical power and turn it into something else,The point I make is that this is ALL a diode does.
Huge resistance when reverse biased, small resistance when forward biased. This is not a side effect. It is what it does (if we neglect secondary effects due to parasitics in real devices).
It does not store energy in the electric field.
It does not store energy in the magnetic field.
It does not do whatever sorcery a memristor does.
It just oppose a resistance that takes power out of the circuit.
non linear system has linear approximation around a small operating point....
STOP THE PRESSES!
... oh wait, that's the underlying principle of how spice AC analysis works.
Small signal analysis has nothing to do with what we are discussing here.
The resistance I talk about is the static resistance, not the dynamic or incremental resistance of small signal analysis.
Try again.
So, we are now seeing the diode as a voltage dependent resistor. Let's see... what is the resistance 400mV? Let's zoom in:
[MASSIVE IMAGE]
I'd say it's about 23.2 kohm.
Let's see what is the resistance at, I don't know, 660 mV (about 5mA of diode current). We can compute it by hand of course, but on the graph we see it is 132 ohm.
[MASSIVE IMAGE]
Now, let's see if we can make something with these values...
[snipping conversational fluff]
Ok, exact same results, if we neglect a bit of rounding error in reading and setting the values.
Now, take your black boxes out of the fridge. Put the diodes D1 and D2, and the resistors R1 and R2 inside a black box each. Shuffle them around. And tell me: without looking inside the black boxes and without resorting to second order effects (like temperature dependence, or changing the other circuital parameters to change the operating points) can you tell me which are the diodes and which are the resistors, by simply measuring voltages, currents and powers?
A LED is not a resistor.
This is a resistor which can emit light: