In this project, we first started off with getting familiar with electronics and circuits by creating many different circuits from the packet we were given. I mainly worked with Olivia and few times Hana and Shannon worked with us. We learned how to make a closed circuit and how to use ammeters to measure the current and voltage strength. After completing the packet, we got to explore into breadboards by programming arduino boards. Breadboards are plastic boards that contain many tiny holes. For the two vertical nodes in both sides, the red sides are positives and blue sides are negatives. For the horizontal nodes in the middle, each holes are connected horizontally to many metal strips underneath. You use jumper wires to create a complete circuit. When a path is formed by wires and components (Arduino Pins) from the positive supply node to the negative supply node, we can turn on the power and current flows through the path. Breadboards are for prototyping of electronics. Breadboard Diagrams:
After exploring the breadboards and programming arduino boards, we were given the task to create our own program. Since my group wasn't very good with programming, we decided to combine few programs from Arduino to create our program. At first, Olivia and I tried to combine (Arduino Pins) four LED lights, a buzzer, and a word projector together. However, there wasn't enough power to run all three programs at once. Olivia and I decided to combine groups with Hana and Shannon so we can do more programs at once. We ended up with buzzer and a word projector in one circuit and LED lights and a word projector for the other circuit. This is the "Stem Way of Asking Someone to Prom" :
Concepts Ohms Law- Voltage(V) = Current (I) X Resistance (R) Kirchhoff's Law- Current: The sum of the currents going into a connection must equal the sum of the currents leaving the connection. Voltage: The sum of the voltages around a circuit must be equal to zero. Circuit- closed loop of conductivity material connecting one end of the power source to the other end. Voltage- push or pull on electricity or the "drop" of electricity across a resistor; measured in volts Power- brightness of a bulb; measured in watts Resistance- obstacle to current that weakens, or reduces, the current measured in ohms Current- flow of electricity from positive to negative; measured in amps Parallel Circuit- current has many roots it can take Series Circuit- the current has to go through multiple resistors in a row.
Reflection First few days of working on this project was very hard and frustrating. Since both Olivia and I didn't have any knowledge about electronics and programming, it was very hard for us to work on this project. However, through this project, we got to learn so many new things. We learned how the breadboard works, how to program, the calculations of the Ohm's Law and many more. There were many peaks. One of the peak is that we were more independent for this project than previous projects. We got to have more responsibilities of our works. Whenever we had problems or questions, we searched up online to get answers. It was a new way of learning and personally, I think it went really well. Also, my partner and I worked very well together. We communicated and cooperated so well that we finished our project very quickly (so we didn't have time management problem this time! Yay! ^^ <improvement from previous projects>). We didn't have many pits. One of the pit would be when I had to leave to New York for Jazz Band trip for few days. My partner had to work by herself for little bit (Sorry Olivia ^^; ). Another pit is when our circuit didn't work when we had three programs running. However, we solved the problem as a group together and our end result was well done.This project was very hard but interesting and fun!