Important Concepts – Breadboard, Resistor, LED
01 / What is a breadboard – A breadboard is a solderless device for temporary prototype with electronics and test circuit designs. Most electronic components in electronic circuits can be interconnected by inserting their leads or terminals into the holes and then making connections through wires where appropriate. The breadboard has strips of metal underneath the board and connect the holes on the top of the board. The metal strips are laid out as shown below. Note that the top and bottom rows of holes are connected horizontally and split in the middle while the remaining holes are connected vertically.
Note how all holes in the selected row are connected together, so the holes in the selected column. The set of connected holes can be called a node:
02 / What is a resistor – The resistor is a passive electrical component to create resistance in the flow of electric current. In almost all electrical networks and electronic circuits they can be found. The resistance is measured in ohms. An ohm is the resistance that occurs when a current of one ampere passes through a resistor with a one volt drop across its terminals. The current is proportional to the voltage across the terminal ends. This ratio is represented by Ohm’s law: R = V / I.
Resistors are used for many purposes. A few examples include delimit electric current, voltage division, heat generation, matching and loading circuits, control gain, and fix time constants. They are commercially available with resistance values over a range of more than nine orders of magnitude. They can be used to as electric brakes to dissipate kinetic energy from trains, or be smaller than a square millimeter for electronics. Resistors are denoted on electronic circuits using the following symbol.
03 / What is an LED – In the simplest terms, a light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when an electric current is passed through it. Light is produced when the particles that carry the current (known as electrons and holes) combine together within the semiconductor material. Since light is generated within the solid semiconductor material, LEDs are described as solid-state devices. The term solid-state lighting, which also encompasses organic LEDs (OLEDs), distinguishes this lighting technology from other sources that use heated filaments (incandescent and tungsten halogen lamps) or gas discharge (fluorescent lamps).
An LED has two terminals, a positive Anode and a negative Cathode. The LED will only work if connected and energized with the right polarity. So be careful when putting your circuits together. See the below diagram for a view of the LED internals.
Comments