copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project

Activity Guide
Basic Electronics Circuits
Easy Moderate Advanced
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Basic Electronics Circuits
Difficulty level:

Moderate
Age Group:

15+
Cost per student:

$2
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Notes :


Further readings :
Good electronic tutorials and ready-to-use circuit schematics are scattered
all over the internet.
In this activity, students will have a guided exposure to using basic electronic
circuit components and assembling them on a breadbaord
Basic Electronics Circuits
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Assemble a RC circuit to delay LED glow:



In this activity, students will have a guided exposure to using basic electronic
circuit components and assembling them on a breadboard.

Activity 1
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Simple way to add turn-on and turn-off delay
to an LED circuit, is to connect a resistor and
capacitor in series to form an RC circuit. It
takes time for a capacitor to charge/discharge
through a resistor.

The time is determined by T = R x C,
where R is the resistance in ohms, C
is the capacitance in Farads and T is
time in seconds.
Focus: Capacitor , Resistor. Charge- Discharge of Capacitor.
Easy to understand animation here:
http://www.csis.ul.ie/studentresources/ntnujava/rc/rc.html
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Assemble a transistor circuit to understand its
working:



In this activity, students will have a guided exposure to using the transistor as a switch and
assembling a circuit to understand the working, on a breadboard.

Activity 2
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
A transistor can be used as a
switch.
When low amount of current
flows into the base (B) of the
transistor it closes the path
between C and E, and allows high
current to flow through it.

Focus: Transistor (NPN Type), LED, Resistor
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/trancirc.htm
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Practical transistor application for Arduino and
other microcontrollers



Activity 2
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Imagine you want to drive a high current device (like a
vibration motor requiring 100 mA current) by the Arduino
pin. Arduino pin can only source up to 40 mA of current.
If we connect the motor directly the Arduino will either
shutdown or burn off. What do you do?


In order to prevent that we can use the transistor as a
switch as demonstrated in Activity 2.
Focus: Transistor
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
Make a two LED flasher circuit



Optional Activity 3
copyright 2012, Stanford University, FabLab@School Project
This circuit is also known as an Astable Multivibrator. You
can control the flashing time by adjusting the value of R
and C. (In the present circuit, R = 10K, C=100 uF)

Read more about it in the links below.

Focus: Transistors, Resistor, Capacitor, LED flasher
http://www.falstad.com/circuit/e-multivib-a.html
http://www.play-hookey.com/digital/experiments/rtl_astable.html
http://talkingelectronics.com/FreeProjects/5-Projects/Page16.html