Electronics

Mainly Making SKE

 This morning…
Build some simple circuits and test them

Understand what a circuit is and the relationship between current,

voltage and resistance

Measure voltage, current and resistance in circuits with a multimeter

Your first circuit – build it!
2 x 1.5V AA batteries
Long leg is next
to the more
positive side of
the circuit
Red wire is
positive
220 Ohm resistor

Make it

Draw it in symbols
(below)
Switch
Change parts to see
what happens
Your first circuit

Draw the circuit using standard symbols.

Add labels and notes to help you remember what everything does
Can you ‘breadboard’ this simple circuit?

Use a powerpack set to 3V, instead of using a battery

Find some different switches. Put them into your
LED circuit. What do they do, how do they work?
Start your own circuit component library
in your notebooks
Component name Circuit symbol Sketch
Resistor
LED (light emitting
diode)
Battery cell
Switch
Transistor
LDR (light dependent
resistor)
A challenging little electronics quiz
Torch
Kettle
Toaster
Burglar alarm (motion sensor)
Smoke detector
Hairdryer
Breadboard (also known as stripboard
or prototype board)
The nature of electricity from a battery

Positive side

Flow of
negatively
charged
electrons
Battery

Negative side
What is current, voltage and resistance?
Voltage (Potential difference)– is the electrical force that ‘pushes’
electrons around a circuit
Potential difference is
measured in volts, V
In calculations V is the
symbol for voltage
In this circuit, the battery
produces 3V
Voltage = 3V
(we sometimes say that the
there is a voltage “across the
battery”)
What is current, voltage and resistance?
Resistance = is the electrical resistance in materials and
components used in the circuit (it resists the flow of current)

Resistance is measured
in ohms, Ω (omega)
In calculations R is the
symbol for resistance
In this circuit, the resistance
of the resistor is 220 ohms
Resistance = 220Ω
What is current, voltage and resistance?
Current – is the flow of electrons (electric charge) around a circuit.

Current is measured
in amperes (which is often
abbreviated to amps or A)
In calculations I is the symbol for
current

In this circuit, what is the

current value?
Ohms’ Law
Georg Ohm 1789 - 1854

Voltage (V) = Current (I) x Resistance (R)

Using Ohms Law can you work out
the current (I) of the LED circuit?
Experiment with some changes 1

If the power supply to 4.5V … what is

the current now?

Use a powerpack instead of using a battery for this example

Experiment with some changes 2

Swap the resistor to 600 Ohms …

what is the current, and what
happens to the LED

Use a powerpack instead of using a battery for this example

 Experiment with some changes

Add a second LED (as

shown above right) …
what happens now?

Use a powerpack instead of using a battery for this example

Resistor Colour Codes

Resistor Calculators and

Colour Code apps:

Android

iOS
Work out the values of some resistors
Resistor colours Value (in Ohms) Tolerance

Brown, Black, Orange, Gold

1 0 000 Ohms +/- 5%
(1) (0) (x1000) (+/-10%) (or 10K Ohms)

330 Ohms +/- 5%

Red, Red, Red, Silver

64K Ohms +/- 5%

Brown, Red, Green, Gold

 Click icon to add picture

Finding the right value of components

LED technical specification (data sheet)

http://www.rapidonline.com/
Note the following information about an
LED you have found online:
Colour of LED is…
4.5V battery
Maximum working current (IF) =

Maximum working voltage (VF) =

(Assume a battery is connect at 4.5V (3 x AA batteries))

 Now, we will calculate the resistor needed to
limit the current, to protect the LED

4.5V battery
Measurement abbreviations
Multimeter

https://learn.adafruit.com/multimeters/overview
A possible extension:
A ‘dark’ sensor circuit to breadboard if you finish early

What does it do?

How can you adjust it?

100K Variable Resistor

Sources for electronics resources

Kitronik - https://www.kitronik.co.uk/

Rapid Electronics - http://www.rapidonline.com/

Adafruit - http://www.adafruit.com/

Spark Fun - https://www.sparkfun.com/

Cool Components - https://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/

Ebay
Further useful links
Read through BBC Bitesize Systems and Control

Practice Ohms Law equations – Kitronik (online

tutorial)