Basic Electrical
Definitions
Warm Up
What is electricity? Create a sketch showing how electricity is at work in your daily life
What is Electricity?
When you plug in your coffee maker in the morning, you use electricity. When you watch tv you are using electricity. When you drive your electric car, you use electricity. When you are flying your drone, you are using electricity.
Electricity is the flow of electrical energy through some conductive material.
Code, Circuits, & Construction: code and fabrication resources for physical computing networking
http://www.tigoe.com/pcomp/code/circuits/understanding-electricity/
Christiane, can you add cute icons here for things like TV, curling iron/hair dryer, iphone, moped, electric car.
Electricity vs. Electronics
Electricity can occur by design (e.g., the power coming through your wall socket) or on accident (e.g., lightning hitting a tree).
Electronics refers to harnessing electrical properties to convey information or create an intended outcome.
Hi Christiane, can you add a cute circuit board image here, like the one I added below.
Reference circuit board images- make green shade~
Electricity Basics
When you are beginning to explore the wonderful world of electronics, it's vital to understand three core elements of electrical charge: Voltage (v), Current (i), and Resistance (r).
These three principles help us understand how and why electrons do what they do and thus how we can make them do what we want them to do.
Or more simply, when you understand these concepts, you're more likely to make cool projects and fry less electronics along the way.
Note: This image represents Ohm's law which is a useful formula for understanding the mathematical relationship between voltage and current.
Voltage
Voltage is a measure of the electrical energy of a circuit.
It is measured in Volts. In the water analogy, voltage would be the water pressure. Think of a geyser as high voltage, and the shower of a low-rent apartment on the fifth floor of a tenement building as low voltage (unless you’re one of those lucky people with good water pressure!).
Current
Current is a measure of the magnitude of the flow of electrons in a circuit. It is measured in Amperes, or Amps. The higher the amperage, the more electricity is flowing.
Battery current is called direct current (d.c.) because it flows constantly in one direction. The electricity that flows in your home is called alternating current, or a.c., because it flows backwards and forwards many times a second.
Resistance
Resistance is a measure of a material’s ability to oppose the flow of electricity. It is measured in Ohms. A kink in the pipe would act as a resistor, limiting the current (and the voltage) flowing through the pipe.
Circuits!
Circuit
A circuit is a closed loop containing a source of electrical energy (like a battery) and a load (like a light bulb). Every circuit has to have a load of some sort, All of the electrical energy in a circuit has to get used by the load. The load will convert the electrical energy to some other form of energy.
Every circuit has to have a load of some sort, All of the electrical energy in a circuit has to get used by the load. The load will convert the electrical energy to some other form of energy.
Closed Circuit
Electricity will flow through a copper wire if we connect it to a battery. If we add a light bulb, electricity passing through the light bulb turns into light.
Could you make a version of this diagram in your own aesthetic - like you did with the short circuit diagram (which is lovely!!)? Does not need to be a gif (unless you want to do that).
Open Circuit
An open circuit doesn’t have a complete path for electricity to flow which means that it's not functional.
Same request here: Could you make a version of this diagram in your own aesthetic - like you did with the short circuit diagram?
Needs to have an opening for open circuit, replace with right image from slide 11
Short Circuit
This circuit is called a short circuit and it might lead to damaging the battery because there is nothing preventing electrons from moving very fast from the negative to the positive terminals.
Christiane, can you make a cuter version of this diagram and place it in the "short circuit" slide - one right after this one?
In a short circuit the electricity moves through the wires, but doesn't hit it's "load" such as a light/led.
LARGE SCALE CIRCUIT ACTIVITY
Activity: Paper Circuits
Guiding Questions:
- What is Electronics?
- What is an electric current? How do batteries work?
- What is a circuit?
Our challenge today is simple with plenty of learning objectives and fun! You will build your own circuit to create a dynamic pop up card. This activity is based off of a step-by-step tutorial on Sparkfun. We'll reference this tutorial as a guide to design our own pop-up circuit card.
How to Make
Materials
- Copper tape
- Assorted LEDs
- Coin Cell Battery 3V
- LilyPad Button Board (optional)
- Cardstock
- Other Craft Supplies from Studio
Map Out Your Circuit
Using regular masking tape and your components, map out where they will fit in your design. You can get creative and add extra elements to bring the LEDs to life! You can utilize one of the guides above to help create your switch.
Techniques for Paper Circuits
Use folding action to complete the circuit
Lay battery flat and attach copper tape to the top and bottom
Make sure the positive terminal of the LED is connected to the positive terminal of the batter, and vice versa.
Put it all Together
Using BRISTOL paper, put all of your components together to create a complete pop-up circuit. Create your circuit lines with a ruler and pencil before you put down the copper tape!
Deliverables
In the response tab of this assignment, post a photo of your initial prototype and your final prototype in bristol. Create a diagram that shows the circuit (with proper conventions) on the left and how that circuit corresponds with your paper folding on the right. Add a GIF of your circuit turning on and off.
Techniques for Paper Circuits
Circuit Diagrams
LED
Battery
Switch
Circuit Diagrams
Parallel
Series
Circuit Diagrams
Parallel
Series
Techniques for Paper Pop-Ups
Reverse Cut
Insert
Pull Tab
Reverse Cut
Insert
Pull Tab
Electronic Sensors
Electronic sensors convert some other form of energy (light, heat, sound pressure, etc.) into electrical energy so that we can interpret what’s going on electronically.
For example, a microphone changes sound pressure waves in the air to a changing electrical voltage. By amplifying and reading that electrical signal, we can interpret what the sound was that caused it. This process of changing one energy into another is called transduction, and devices that do it are called transducers.
Components
LEDs
LEDs are the workhorse of simple electronics projects. There is so much you can do with this simple, yet impactful electronic.
Here is what you need to know to get the most out of your LED projects:
- LED stands for Light Emitting Diode.
- LEDs are polarized, which means electricity can only flow through them in one direction. If your LED isn't lighting up, try flipping it around!
- Too much electricity can burn an LED out. You'll probably need to use a resistor with one!
AMAZING
Conductors: Materials through which electrical current moves freely.
Insulators: Materials which prevent the flow of electricity.
Resistors resist, but do not totally block, the flow of electricity.
They are used to control the flow of current. Current can move either way through a resistor, so it doesn’t matter which way they’re connected in a circuit.
The colors on a resistor are a language to communicate the level of resistance they will add to your circuit. Look up a resistor calculator to help guide you in choosing the right resistor.
Resistor symbol
THESE ARE SO CUTE!!!!
There are many other types of components which you’ll come across:
Switches control the flow of current through a junction in a circuit.
Transistors and relays are switching devices.
Thermistors change resistance in reaction to varying temperature.
Photoresistors change resistance in reaction to varying light.
Flex sensors change resistance in reaction to being bent or flexed.
Piezoelectric devices create a varying voltage in reaction to slight changes in pressure.
In this assignment, we will use paper pop-up and origami techniques to create simple circuits with switches!
Step 1: Design Your Pop-Up
In order to complete a circuit, you must have a continuous loop of conductive material (copper tape, in this case). For this exercise, your folded paper will serve as the switch. Design your pop-up card such that your circuit goes from OPEN to CLOSED. That means that a piece of the copper tape should go from disconnected (with a gap in the loop) to connected (a complete loop). Prototype with PRINTER PAPER first.
Step 2: Map Out Your Circuit
Using regular masking tape and your components, map out where they will fit in your design. You can get creative and add extra elements to bring the LEDs to life! You can utilize one of the guides above to help create your switch.
Step 3: Put It All Together!
Using BRISTOL paper, put all of your components together to create a complete pop-up circuit. Create your circuit lines with a ruler and pencil before you put down the copper tape!
Bonus:
Use the above instructions to create a dynamic (moving/transforming) origami object that lights up an LED as it moves!
Deliverables:
In the response tab of this assignment, post a photo of your initial prototype and your final prototype in bristol. Create a diagram that shows the circuit (with proper conventions) on the left and how that circuit corresponds with your paper folding on the right. Add a GIF of your circuit turning on and off.
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