Introduction:
In this project we had the opportunity to learn about circuit boards and how they work. We also got to physically use them and put together different circuits. Each circuit had a different action. We got to explore these circuits using Arduino. Arduino is an electronic platform that allows you to create interactive circuits. For example, some of the circuits played songs, while others had lights that flashed in different patterns. Besides building the circuit boards, we also had the chance to try programming. The final assignment was to program our circuit boards to play a song and to have the lights flash in a special pattern. The song my partner and I choose to program was Fur Elise. For our light show we chose two different colors and had each color flash back and forth. Scroll down to see videos of our projects and all of the physics concepts we learned in this unit.
Videos:
In this project we had the opportunity to learn about circuit boards and how they work. We also got to physically use them and put together different circuits. Each circuit had a different action. We got to explore these circuits using Arduino. Arduino is an electronic platform that allows you to create interactive circuits. For example, some of the circuits played songs, while others had lights that flashed in different patterns. Besides building the circuit boards, we also had the chance to try programming. The final assignment was to program our circuit boards to play a song and to have the lights flash in a special pattern. The song my partner and I choose to program was Fur Elise. For our light show we chose two different colors and had each color flash back and forth. Scroll down to see videos of our projects and all of the physics concepts we learned in this unit.
Videos:
Physic Concepts:
Circuit - a completed loop made of conductors including a power source (battery).
Battery - container with one or more cells where chemical energy is transferred to electricity and used as a power source.
Conductors - material that transmits heat, electricity, or sound.
Current - flow of electricity.
Voltage - push of electricity.
Parallel - route for the flow of electricity that has a connection and a branched path.
Series - route for flow of electricity with a single path.
Resistors - device designed to have resistance against travel of electric current.
Ohm's Law - V=IR
Capacitor - device that can store electric charge with an insulator separating one or more conductors; charge and discharge energy when necessary
Diode - semiconductor device with two terminals but only allowing the flow of current in one direction only.
LED - light-emitting diode
Reflection:
Overall I would say that this unit was a bit confusing. All we learned was completely new to me and I had no experience with it. By the end of the unit we had at least some idea what we were doing though. This definitely was not my favorite unit. It wasn't very exciting and we didn't really build anything. One thing I learned was how to code through Arduino. I now have a new skill I didn't have before. Another thing I learned was how to set up a circuit board (breadboard). I learned what different things were like resistors or LEDs. This is also a new skill I have gained. One thing I could've done better was help out more with the coding. My partner did a lot of that since she was more clear on the subject. Another thing I could've done better was stay on task more. It's always easy to go off task. I will try to pay attention more in the future. An example that describes a peak to this project was the coding of the light show. It was fun to see what different things we could do to the lights with code. An example from this unit that describes a pit was the coding of Fur Elise. This part was really hard. It took awhile to figure out exactly how to code it so it did what we wanted it to do. After completing this unit I don't see a future for myself in coding.