Okay, so here's email 1 of 8 in our short electronics series.
Together we're going to build a blinking light circuit. First on paper, then later on your desk. While you'll slowly pick up these ideas - which means you're already on the path to electronics mastery....
Here's the first picture of the circuit we're going to build. This is how it looks before we get started:
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Okay, so not all that appetizing! We've got a battery, basically.
It's all dull and grey at the moment - but we're going to brighten it up as we gradually build it into a working circuit.
By the time we've finished, you'll not only have a very nice-looking circuit - you'll actually understand what you just created!
So.
Let's start at the beginning - and at the beginning, we want to define some commonly used words.
Such as:
What on earth is a circuit?
Well, a basic circuit consists of a battery plus components. You'll see new components over the next handful of emails.
The battery and components are connected to each other by a wire - basically a metal string, usually wrapped in plastic.
The combination of battery and components connected by the wire is called a circuit.
We're going to build one of these!
The first circuit I ever built was a blinking light.
My father taught me how to build it when I was around 14 years old.
After that, I was hooked on electronics.
Back then I found electronics and computers exciting and cool - but I couldn't even begin to understand how to build something like that. It was something magical, way beyond my grasp.
But after I understood how to blink a light - it was like a new world of possibilities opened up to me. If I could make a light blink - what else could I do??
Could I create sound? Could I create images on a screen? Could I make a motor move? Could I build robots? *
I realized I probably could - and that realization was BIG to me.
It was the start of a lifetime journey - one that has brought you and me together today!
In the next lessons, I'm going to teach you how to blink a light.
So let's start with the light. We're going to use an LED.
LED stands for Light-Emitting Diode. An LED is a component that lights up when you run current through it.
It looks like this:
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It's like a modern light-bulb, and you see it everywhere.
On your laptop.
On your TV.
On your cellphone.
On your home alarm.
When we come to using an LED in a circuit there are two things you need to know about it:
First, it has a plus and a minus side.
As a matter of fact, the battery has a plus-side and a minus-side too.
The LED only works if you connect its plus side towards the plus of the battery.
And its minus side towards the minus of the battery.
The LED usually has one leg that is longer.
That's the plus side.
Here's what our circuit looks like when we've added the battery, switch and LED:
We attach the plus side of the LED towards the plus-side of the battery. And we connect the minus-side of the LED to the wire that comes out of the minus-side of the battery.
We switch it on and... the current flows!
And do you know what happens when we run a current through that LED?
No. It doesn't light up.
It blows up.
See for yourself in this video: https://youtu.be/m7jXRYHb9R8
Why?
Well, that's the second thing you need to know.
Look out for tomorrow's email and all will be revealed.
* By the way, the answer to the question 'Can I create sounds, images, motors, and robots?' is "YES!" - As members of our Ohmify community will assure you...
SUMMARY
You were introduced to an LED and saw a simple circuit diagram showing how it could be connected to a switch and battery. You now know that both the LED and the battery have 'plus' and 'minus' sides. Soon you're going to learn how to make the LED blink rather than blow up!
PS! If you're already hooked and want to order components so that they arrive for when you're ready to build, check out How to get components.
Keep On Soldering!
Oyvind @ build-electronic-circuits.com
Ohmify is an online academy to learn electronics from scratch. Our members are hobbyists, teachers, inventors, artists, and more - from all walks of life. Our library of courses and project plans assume no prior knowledge. Get support, learn, build and chat with people like you - find out more here.
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