Electrical and electronic engineering may sound like two names for the same thing but are actually two complete different occupations. Both of these involve moving electricity through an electric circuit to allow devices and machinery to work, but that about the only similarity between them.

The main difference between and electrical  circuit and an electronic circuit is that an electrical circuit does not have decision making capability and an electronic circuit does. Electrical circuits simply power a machine with electricity  to make that particular machine work. On the other hand an electronic circuit can interpret and instruction or command and perform an operation to suit that command.

In almost all present day appliances a combination of electrical and electronic circuitry harmoniously come together to perform the desired operations we get from these appliances. Lets take an oven for example, an electric circuit is used to give power via and socket and on/off whilst an electronic circuit is used to determine the specific heat which is required as well as the time which the oven will stay on and the type of function you want the oven to produce (i.e. grill, bake, etc.).

Another difference would be the difference in scale. Electronic components are much smaller and require smaller amounts of power. Some of these components are no more than a few atoms wide. Electrical components usually are built to suit a larger scale and require higher levels of power. Scale is not the only thing that are different electronic circuits operate with Direct Current (DC) while electrical circuits operate with Alternating Current (AC).

The difference in scale can easily be described by this example. A computer have far more electronic components while factories and power plants have more electrical components.

A link between these two types of circuits exists. It is provided by what  we call transistors. These are essentially switches, but instead of being operated manual like a light switch it is controlled by small current from an electronic circuit. This allows us to operate large machines with the use of many tiny electronic components This process makes using household and industrial products much safer and much more energy efficient.