The dreidel is a game implement used in Jewish games. Usually 6-sided, it can be used as a substitute for dice. A dreidel. Dreidels come in a variety of styles. Photo courtesy Sidney Stetson. If you want your dice to be special to your game, you can use Avery label stock available at the local office supply store , and print your own designs, then stick them on regular dice available at the local drugstore.
I like to laminate the stickers so they don't get dirty, but sometimes the lamination can peel at the corners. Experiment with various techniques until you find something you like. There are also ready-made special dice available from Koplow see Resources, below , if you don't just want regular dice with spots, or if you want dice with more than 6 sides. This Lesson is necessarily short on details.
All in all, making the preliminary prototype and the final prototype are the most fun aspects of designing an original non-electronic game. Legal Considerations Once you've worked out the details of your game, and before you pitch the product to industry pros, it's time to protect your intellectual property.
Get a patent attorney. Learn about the differences between copyrights, patents, and trademarks. And file a patent application for your game. This Lesson was due in October of but I had several distractions get in the way. Not least of which was the first-ever W orld C hampionship in M ah- J ongg. But I digress. The point is, it's November 3rd as I write this, and in this morning's Los Angeles Times, I read a story you should read and take to heart. Times to see it. Sam Torosian invented the game of Pai Gow Poker or at the very least popularized it but, because he did not file a patent application within one year, the game lapsed into the public domain, and Torosian cannot cash in on other casinos' use of his game.
Don't let that happen to you! Now For The Hard Part So you have worked out the details of your original game concept, you've secured legal protections for your intellectual property, and you have your prototype ready to show.
You have two choices of ways to go at this point: License the game to a game manufacturer. Manufacture it yourself. And either way you choose to go, you will find even more branching choices have to be made.
Licensing Route If you choose to license the game to a manufacturer, you have to decide between a couple of routes: Submit it yourself to the manufacturer.
Submit it through an agent. It is strongly recommended that you go through an agent. If you were already a professional game inventor, and have already done this several times before, you probably wouldn't be reading this. Submitting it yourself is to enter a minefield without a map or a mine detector.
There are too many things you don't know about the process, the market, the industry, or the legal aspects. Agents know all that stuff and are well worth the money. See Resources, below. The rejection rate matrix in Lesson 11 doesn't exactly apply to non-electronic games, but if you haven't checked it out, you might want to click here and take a quick look. That matrix applies to the video game biz, where the timeframes and development costs are much higher than for non-electronic products.
Nevertheless, there are substantial costs and risks involved in the manufacture and distribution of non-electronic games. So it's a tough sell in this world too, as it is in the digital game world. Specialty shops Obviously, if you can get the big chains to carry your game, it will get broader exposure and sell in bigger numbers. And you don't have to go to quite as many store buyers to pitch your product.
But it's very difficult to get shelf space with the big boys. An agent could help. Or it might well be that your best bet is to pitch the product to small specialty shops.
Trade shows are a good way to meet specialty shop owners without having to live in your car. Once your product is selling well in specialty outlets, it may well be that the chains will come to you and place orders - and it sometimes happens that successful self-published games are picked up by a major manufacturer who wants to get in on the success of the product. Pros and Cons As you might expect, there are pros and cons involved for each possible route you may take.
If you succeed in having a major manufacturer license your game concept from you, then you are freed from having to do a huge amount of work which you would have to take on if you self-manufactured and self-distributed , but you lose a lot of the creative and quality control, and any costs incurred by the manufacturer get deducted from your royalties, so your check is smaller in the end.
It's a huge investment in time, effort and money to self-manufacture and self-distribute, but you have total control over the quality of the product if you go this route. Article 60 February, discusses ways to distribute print-it-yourself paper games. More on this topic, to clarify Self-publish 2.
License - with an agent 3. License - you act as your own agent Of those three, I recommend 1. It's the most work but the profits are higher and you have total creative control. Your chances of success this way are lower than 1 but higher than 3 assuming you don't have a track record as a designer. You're likely to work hard to get meeting after meeting, only to get rejection after rejection. Your profits and creative control are less than 1 but higher than 2 with this path.
In my Lesson 20, I wasn't really mentioning 3 much. I added it in this time in recognition of the difference in how things are done in Europe. Maybe I'll just paste this discussion in there as an adjunct. But it definitely needed clarifying. In fact, this point the pros and cons of the three routes needed clarifying so much that I made this bar chart: CONTROL green bars - I'm talking about creative control.
If you hand over your creation to a game publisher, then they're going to tweak the look and probably even the gameplay. The opposite side of the coin is that if you aren't artistically inclined yourself, you will probably have to hire an artist if you self-publish. EASE yellow bars - I'm talking about how hard you have to work.
If you want the easy way out, get an agent to do the hard work for you. Self-publishing involves the most work thus is the least easy route. SUCCESS magenta bars - These bars illustrate the relative likelihood that you will have in getting your game made into a finished product that's sold in the marketplace, depending on which route you take. If this is your priority, publish and market the game yourself. But I do not recommend that you try to be your own agent.
What's that axiom about lawyers - he who represents himself has a fool for a client. The opposite side of the coin is how much money you have to put into it up front. To self-publish you have to invest heavily.
Self-licensing also costs a lot you'll have travel expenses and legal fees. And although common wisdom says you shouldn't pay an agent up front, the reality is that agents have to eat too. All three of these routes will cost you something up front.
As you can plainly see, there are tradeoffs, either way you go. My recommendation is still self-publishing. Yes, it's hard work, but your likelihood of succeeding at getting the game out in the market is higher, your creative control is greatest, and you stand to make the most money that way.
Besides which, once the game has shown itself to be attractive to the market, game publishers are more likely to want to deal with you.
My 2 recommendation should you decide not to self-publish is getting an agent. I assume that your priority is to get the game into the marketplace as a finished product. If that's what you want, then the agent knows how to facilitate that. If, on the other hand, you're not going to self-publish for whatever reason and your priorities are profit and creative control, then go ahead, try becoming your own agent - if this is the route you take, then I hope you have a lot of time, energy, and a thick skin.
What costs? Please correct me if I have something wrong here. In the videogame world, royalties are a percentage of profits, not wholesale. I have seen deals that rated based on wholesale, but those are a thing of the past.
With provisions for how to divvy up moneys when goods have to be sold at big discounts or at a loss. Tom More Legal Considerations Using Licensed Properties It often happens that an inventor has an idea for a game that uses characters from an existing universe movies, TV, comic books, novels. Be advised that if your game concept depends on the use of someone else's intellectual property, there will be costs involved, and legal restrictions. Let's say you want to make a board game about a TV show that you like called I don't know, "Spacebar.
Can you tell that I looked at my keyboard when I was trying to find inspiration for this example? The bad news is that you'll get lower royalties - but it might be offset by the good news the fact that the instant name recognition of the Spacebar name will result in better sales numbers than if the game did not have the Spacebar name attached. And you might find it difficult to get a game manufacturer to buy your game idea, if they have to go to the extra trouble of dealing with Escape Enterprises to get the board game rights you might want to have preliminary discussions with Escape Enterprises yourself, before approaching board game manufacturers.
The item that gains electrons will have a net negative - charge if the item has more electrons than protons. This gives the balloon a net negative charge. Meanwhile, the hair strands that have lost electrons to the balloon have a net positive charge see image below. The opposite net charges are attracted to each other. Note that electrons are moved, not created, in this process. An item with a net charge positive or negative is said to be charged or to have a charge imbalance.
For solid materials the positive charges protons cannot leave or move about like the electrons. What is Electrical Energy. Model good techniques for safe quality internet searches. Consider pre-selecting sites that yield quality information on atomic structure, electric forces, static electricity, and fields.
Sites having. Sites ending in. Cut 10 Mylar sheets in half to make 20 pieces that are 1. Cut the straws in the kit in half, making 10 half straws. Each group needs to gather the following materials:. During the kinesthetic modeling activity, ask students to describe in their own words how they knew when and how quickly to move towards particular electric charges in the model. They should describe explicit instances of cause and effect relationships in terms of attractive and repulsive electric forces.
The facilitator can address conceptual misunderstandings and clarify where needed. Students in each group test the effect of different materials on the merry-go-round and explain to a partner the relative rates of spin.
Then they collaboratively arrange the materials from left to right in terms of increasing electric force generated by the material. Students apply their learning to clarify concepts for each other with facilitator input where needed.
Students learn about electric current and voltage by exploring web resources on these topics and by engaging in virtual and hands-on activities. Students assemble their own series and parallel circuits by manipulating the arrangement of light bulbs connected to the battery pack.
They observe the effect of each arrangement on the brightness of the bulbs as a relative measure of the electric forces affecting the movement of current through the circuit MS-PS Student groups begin by watching a video on circuits, voltage, and current in the External Resources section. Write the following words on a whiteboard or flip chart. Direct students to pay attention to these terms while watching the video: switch , battery , potential energy , voltage , current , and series , and parallel.
These terms are defined in the Concept Quick Review section below. If necessary, review these terms with students in more detail to clarify understanding. Twist the wires on two pre-stripped incandescent bulbs so they can be easily inserted through the holes in the schematic symbols.
T: Solicit prior knowledge on electrical circuits. How does it move from place to place? You will get a chance to build your own circuits! I will be providing assistance and suggestions when needed.
Electricity is a form of energy resulting from the existence of charged particles such as electrons or protons , either statically as an accumulation of charge or dynamically as a current. An electric current is a flow of electric charge. In electric circuits this charge is often carried by moving electrons in a wire.
It can also be carried by ions in an electrolyte, or by both ions and electrons such as in a plasma. Voltage , also called electromotive force , is the potential difference in charge between two points in an electric field, measured in volts. Batteries are common sources of voltage. Batteries consist of two oppositely charged electrodes. The positive end is a cathode and the negative end is the anode. Between the electrodes is an electrolyte solution through which electrons charged particles move from the cathode to the anode.
Battery : A battery contains stored potential chemical energy which is transformed into potential electrical energy. The potential chemical energy in the battery decreases as more of the chemical energy is converted into electrical energy.
Wires: Metals are conductors because some electrons in the metal can move about easily, unlike non-conductors insulators such as plastic and glass. Metals will vary in how easily electrons can move about e. Aluminum and copper are both metals with a low resistance to the movement of electrons. Copper is commonly used inside the wires found in homes and cars. Aluminum is used in some wires and is the basis for the folded foil wires as the foil can be easily cut, joined, and can be folded neatly.
The foil wires from different ends of the battery must be kept from touching because the foil wires lack the insulated covering found on most other wires. Crossing the foil wires could lead to a short circuit, a very low resistance path from one end of the battery to the other.
A short circuit can heat up the wire and battery and run down the battery. Light Bulb: An incandescent bulb , such as the mini-holiday bulb, produces light when the wire filament inside becomes hot enough to glow. The filament contains the metal tungsten which has a relatively high resistance to the movement of electrons.
When the bulb is connected to the battery, the electron movement occurs easily in the aluminum wires but is resisted in the coiled filament of the bulb. When the atoms are hot enough these vibrating atoms can give off visible light. Light produced by heating is called incandescent light. Switch: To turn the light on and off, a part of the circuit needs to be moveable so that the conductive path can be broken separated and reconnected as needed. A hall light with 2 switches makes use of a more complex switch having 2 possible circuits and is called a double pole, double throw switch.
Most homes had a board for cutting bread, especially before sliced bread became commonly available. Early circuits used nails hammered into the board to create connection points for electrical components. Light bulbs, like the green ones in the picture below, can also be connected in series. Bulbs in series will glow less brightly than a single bulb in the same circuit as the 2 bulbs have to share the voltage. Parallel Circuits: Batteries connected with the positive ends together and, separately, the negative ends connected together are said to be in parallel.
The voltage remains unchanged but more potential chemical energy is available so the circuit can be powered longer. Bulbs connected so that each bulb has one lead connected to the positive battery end and the other to the negative battery end are said to be connected in parallel. Bulbs in parallel will glow as bright as a single bulb in the same circuit as long as the battery can supply the same voltage.
Set the two bulbs side by side on a flat surface. Connect the innermost wires using the ends of one alligator lead. The slack of the alligator lead wires can be wound and secured using short straw segments as shown if the extra wire makes the connections appear confusing. Connect alligator leads to one light bulb as shown in the picture topmost light. Connect the remaining ends of these alligator leads to a second light bulb. Connect the battery holder to the alligator leads to complete the circuit.
Basics of Voltage and Current. Residential Electrical Circuits. Put all materials in a location that is safely accessible to students. Keep all wires and leads untangled and check light bulbs to identify those that are broken or burned out. Students practice their skills by building virtual circuits. Students review the web resources for this lesson and then create a poster depicting a series or parallel circuit that clearly and correctly indicates where electric currents vary in magnitude along the circuit.
They will include text that summarizes how this demonstrates variation in the size of voltages electric forces in the circuit. Students learn about the structure and importance of diodes in electrical circuits. They apply what they learn by engaging in a mini design challenge. Students describe the affects of the diode in terms of the electric forces within the circuit MS-PS T: Show students pictures of a common diodes. You can find several pictures using Google Images.
Has anyone seen these before? Diodes act as a one-way valve for electrical current in a circuit. You will be building circuits together in both series and parallel configurations that contain a diode and two light bulbs. You will have to discover the correct way to connect the diode within the circuit so that both bulbs light in one configuration and only one bulb lights in another configuration.
I will not be telling you how to assemble the circuits, but you are already familiar with series and parallel circuits. Building on this knowledge and applying what we will soon learn about diodes, you will be successful!
Remember to think about electrical current in terms of electrical forces pushing energy through the circuit. We will relate this concept to the role of the diode and its attributes its characteristics that allow it to behave as it does. You will record your observations and ideas in the Maker Journal Page for the lesson. A diode is an electrical component that allows current to move through a circuit in only one direction. The most common kind of diode in modern circuit design is the semiconductor diode see picture and schematic symbol below.
When the polarity of a battery is such that electrons are allowed to flow through the diode, the diode is said to be forward-biased. Conversely, when the battery polarity is reversed, the diode blocks the current. The diode is said to be reverse-biased in this case. Diode behavior is similar to the behavior of a check valve. A check valve is pressure-operated and allows fluid to flow through it in only one direction. Diodes are essentially the same but instead are voltage-operated.
The essential difference between forward-bias and reverse-bias is the polarity of the voltage dropped across the diode. A forward-biased diode conducts current and drops a small voltage across it. If we consider the diode to be a self-actuating switch closed in the forward-bias mode and open in the reverse-bias mode , this behavior makes sense.
The forward-bias voltage drop exhibited by the diode is due to the action of the depletion region formed by the P-N junction under the influence of an applied voltage see below. The P section of a diode contain positively-charged spaces, or holes.
The N section contains electrons negatively-charged that are attracted to the holes in the P section. The attraction between the holes and electrons creates diffusion across the boundary between the P and N sections, making the P section more negative and the N section more positive. If no voltage is applied across a semiconductor diode, a thin depletion region exists at the P-N junction, preventing current flow. The depletion region is almost devoid of available charge carriers, and acts as an insulator.
If voltage is applied with the correct polarity, the depletion region in the P-N junction shrinks and allows current to pass through and continue towards other paths within the circuit. There are many ways to connect a parallel circuit that includes light bulbs and a diode.
Students can discover through inquiry that it is easier to first connect the lights in parallel without the diode. Encourage students to think about how multiple alligator clips can connect to the same point to form junctions. The diode can be added in such a way that it becomes one of the junctions. Then, students simply have to connect the clips on the diode junction so that at least one of the bulbs lights up.
Below is one example of how the parallel circuit may be connected. Notice how the lights are connected in parallel, with one bulb circled forming a junction that simultaneously connects to the battery pack, the other bulb, and to the diode. Similarly, the diode connects to the same components. Students must discover the appropriate places on the diode to connect the clips so that one bulb lights up. Switching between having one bulb or two bulbs illuminate can be done by changing the orientation of the diode notice the bulb below in yellow box.
This works but it is preferable to change the orientation of the battery pack instead because this provides a better example of the effect of reversing current through the diode and how diodes can serve as temporary switches in a circuit.
Each student uses a highlighter to trace the path of electric current through each of the circuits drawn in the Maker Journal page. Student teams share their highlighted electric current paths and discuss them in terms of electric forces. Call on individual students to elaborate on their circuit designs by completing the sentence frame below. Make corrections or clarify as needed:. Students continue their learning on diodes by investigating light emitting diodes, or LEDs, and how they are used in electrical circuits.
They will build series and parallel circuits with two LED-resistor component blocks and note the relative brightness of light emitted from the LEDs for each configuration. Students will troubleshoot and modify their circuits, making the necessary changes to ensure the electrical current is flowing the appropriate direction to illuminate the LEDs.
Students identify and describe the path of the current through the circuit and explain their observations in terms of electrical forces MS-PS T: Show students pictures of several illuminated LEDs. You may find them using a Google search. Them we will build LED circuits in series and parallel in order to understand the behavior and how they function to control electrical forces within a circuit.
Do we build the circuits with the same battery pack as before? Find out what is possible with parallel and series LED arrangements in terms of voltage. This will require persistence and troubleshooting on your part! Relate these results to the observed brightness of the bulbs in each configuration. Are their noticeable relationships? This data can be used to determine the effects on the electrical forces within the circuit and provide insight into the overall function of LEDs.
A light — emitting diode LED is a two-lead semiconductor light source. The schematic symbol for an LED is provided below. It is a p—n junction diode see lesson Getting Directional with Diodes , which emits light when activated. When a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons.
The light emitted is usually monochromatic, meaning it consists of one single wavelength of light rather than being a combination of colors. LEDs come in a variety of colors depending on the semiconducting materials used to form the p-n junctions. Each LED color has a specific voltage requirement to cause it to light and an associated voltage drop see below. Voltage drop describes the reduction of source voltage as electric current moves through the passive elements of an electrical circuit.
Voltage drops across loads and across other active circuit elements are desired as the supplied energy performs useful work. Building a circuit containing an LED usually requires the use of a current-limiting resistor to prevent burning out the LED because a small change in voltage across the LED can produce a large change in current.
It is safer to include current-limiting resistors to achieve a target current, say 20 milli-amps, or 20 mA. Purchased LEDs usually specify a rating. LEDs can be arranged in a circuit in parallel or series the same as incandescent lights. The difference is the voltage requirement for each configuration. For example, white LEDs usually require 3 volts, so two of them connected in series makes the voltage requirement for the circuit at least 6V 3V per LED.
The same two LEDs connected in parallel would only require 3V to illuminate. LEDs connected in parallel and series behave much the same way as incandescent bulbs do in these same configurations. The difference is the amount of voltage needed to light the bulbs and the direction the current is moving through the circuit they are diodes! Below are examples of how to build a parallel circuit left and series circuit right using the Resistor-LED component blocks. Notice that in both circuits there are two battery packs connected in series.
This provides six volts 6V for the circuit, which is enough to light the bulbs in either configuration. Students should notice the difference in brightness more dim for the series circuit.
This is because of the voltage drop across each of the LEDs explained above. The LEDs in series reduce the current flowing through the circuit, and this affects the amount of light emitted.
Encourage student groups to allow all group members to practice configuring the whole circuit or parts of the circuit. This will help all students reinforce their understanding that electric current direction is important to LED function. During the lesson students may get frustrated when one or no bulbs light, but this is a natural part of the learning.
Encourage exploration without revealing the answers! Student groups review their Maker Journal pages and summarize their learning in a group discussion. Student groups discuss and compare their findings and share any difficulties experienced with building the circuits, as well as provide feedback to peers that could solve these issues.
Students demonstrate for the class how to build either a parallel or series circuit and then explain how the electrical energy from the battery is converted into light by the LEDs. Students learn about resistance in a circuit and its importance in restricting the amount of current that can flow through various electrical components.
Students read resistance color codes and use them to identify specific resistors on the Component Circle. Students investigate the effects of series and parallel resistor configurations on the relative brightness of an LED, correlating calculations with their observations.
Students explain their observations in terms of electric forces MS-PS If I say I want to resist certain foods, what am I saying?
Suppose we all try to go through the door at one time. Will any of us get through? Probably, but some of us may just get stuck.
If this happens, how might we get stuck people through the door? The doorway resists letting us all go through at one time but we can push or pull more people through, sort of helping them along. In electrical circuits, electric charges electrons move through conductive wire much like people through the door in our analogy.
T: Show students the circuit board image. Where are the resistors? Notice the colored bands on this resistor. How many bands do you see? These tell us how much resistance this component provides a circuit.
Use the chart to confirm the color code represents a resistance of ohms 1K. What do you think the total resistance for this series circuit is and why do you think that? Discuss how you would find the total resistance for this circuit with a different partner.
The electrical resistance of a material is a measure of how easily electric charge flows through the material. This resistance, R , is defined as the ratio of of the voltage across the material to the electric current flowing through it.
One ohm is 1 volt per 1 ampere. If the material has low resistance, more current can flow through it for a given voltage. It is not really a physical law but an empirical statement about the behavior of materials.
Resistors are electrical components made of materials that have specific resistance values. They are connected in a circuit by conducting wires assumed to have negligible resistance. In schematic diagrams, resistors are represented with zigzag lines. When two or more resistors are connected in series, current moves through one resistor and is reduced before it moves through subsequent resistors in the series, producing a cumulative effect on the electric current flowing through the circuit.
Notice that each term is written as one over the resistance value. This has implications for the total resistance in the circuit. For example, in circuits that only have resistors connected in parallel the equivalent resistance will be less than the lowest resistor value in the circuit.
This can be explained by the idea that in a parallel connection, current has more paths that it can flow through to reach the terminals of a battery. The more paths available, the less resistance experienced by the charges moving through the circuit.
This is also why lights connected in parallel shine the same no matter how many lights are included in the circuit.
Resistors are characterized by their resistance values and their power ratings, measured in watts. The power rating indicates the amount of power the resistor can tolerate without being damaged due to overheating.
The electrons are moving and as they slow down they lose kinetic energy energy of moving objects. The lost energy has to go somewhere or be converted to other types of energy, like heat, which can burn up a resistor depending on its power rating. Do I smell toast?! Resistors in Series and Parallel — Calculations. Monitor student calculations for equivalent total resistance, especially for resistors connected in parallel. Students need to understand this to make sense of their observations during the investigation.
Students review their calculations for equivalent resistance and current and then summarize their learning in a group discussion. Students listen to and build upon the explanations from peers on the correlation between resistor arrangement in a circuit and relative LED brightness observed during the investigation.
Problem: Suppose we need a circuit with two resistors connected in parallel. We want a total resistance of ohms and one of the resistors has a value of ohms 1K.
What is the value of the second resistor? Explain why an LED connected in this circuit would be less bright if the resistors were connected in series rather than in parallel. Students learn about the basic structure of a capacitor and its role in storing electrical energy. They build a simple circuit that includes a capacitor and investigate the charge time for the capacitor. Then students reconfigure the circuit to investigate how long the capacitor will power an LED discharge time.
Students connect capacitors in series and parallel and calculate the total equivalent capacitance for the circuit in each instance and measure the average discharge times for each equivalent capacitance and then correlate their observations with the calculations. Students use the resources in the lesson and their observations to describe how capacitors can affect the electric forces in a circuit MS-PS They store potential energy, or energy that has the potential to do work on other objects.
I want you to think about these questions — Where is charge being stored in the circuit? Which component is the capacitor? Why did the video show the inside of the capacitor? What did they show happening on the inside before and after charging? What happened to the stored charge? Pay close attention to things like what capacitance is, how capacitance can be increased, and what is happening in a capacitor in terms of charge and forces.
T: Show students an image of different capacitors. How many different types of capacitors are shown. Notice there are disc-shaped ones along with others that look like barrels. Those will be the ones we work with the most in this lesson. Look at the biggest one. What does it say on its side? The unit of capacitance is called a farad, named after a scientist. They are big units so with most electrical components the values are written on the sides in uF or a special number code.
Based on what you learned so far, why would the makers of this capacitor write 35V on the side? What does this mean for the capacitor? Notice the location of the switch and the polarity of the batteries as well as the capacitor and LED.
This is important. Draw the circuit in the Maker Journal page and write your hypothesis about what you expect to happen when the circuit is closed connected. Afterwards, close the circuit. What did you see? The next step is to determine how long it takes to charge. Do this by closing the circuit and recording the time for the light to go out.
You will do this three times and average the times for the uF capacitor. Choose two capacitors from the Component Circle and then do the procedure again, remembering to take three measurements and take an average for each capacitor. These capacitors will be used again in this lesson. It seems we need to do that so the capacitor is the power for the circuit. This circuit design makes it easy based on where the switches are located.
Your group will need to use your findings from the last investigation to charge the capacitor for the appropriate amount of time and then stick to that charging time throughout this investigation. Do this two more times, take an average, and repeat for the remaining two capacitors. What are the two basic circuit configurations or arrangements?
But we do not know for sure how this will affect the time the LED will remain lit, that is, how long the two capacitors together can power the LED. Is it similar to the equations for the resistors? How is the method shown here different than with resistors?
For now, draw this circuit in the Maker Journal page. Then, choose two of the capacitors we have worked with so far and calculate the total capacitance in series. Use your data from previous investigations to determine a time for charging these capacitors in series. In other words, how are your calculations related to your observations? What do you anticipate the equation for this arrangement will look like? Afterwards you will use the same capacitors used in the series circuit and calculate the equivalent capacitance, draw and build the circuit , and then run through the procedure again to determine the average discharge time for the arrangement.
Capacitors are electrical components that maintain a potential difference voltage by storing charge. They control the storage and delivery of charge within electrical circuits. It takes energy to separate charges and maintain a potential difference, so capacitors are said to store energy. This energy can be seen as electrical discharges resulting in sparks. The amount of charge a capacitor can store depends on the design of the capacitor and the amount of voltage applied to the capacitor.
The more voltage applied to the capacitor, the more charge it can store and thus release when discharged. For prototyping on breadboard it is more practical to use capacitors with values in microfarads uF. The basic structure of a capacitor is relatively simple.
Two metal conducting plates are separated by either air or another material called a dielectric see below. Dielectrics are materials that do not conduct electricity but have an effect on the external electric fields in which they are placed. They protect against the possibility of charge leakage or accidental sparking across the plates. In the image below the plates have a specific area A and are separated by a dielectric with thickness d.
Capacitors do not always look nice and flat like the image above. This adds a bit of suspense to when the dice will show the results. You can incorporate this into a board game, or else just code and play on its own. Each player could have a Circuit Playground Express, or the players could share a board, or players could even just play after coding by using the Simulator. Two players can use their own devices, or they can take turns with one device, or they can play in the Simulator if no devices are available.
This code uses a variable called colorPick to randomly pick one of four colors and then reset the display to off. This could be used for a Candyland-style game in which you advance to the next color that has been picked, or it could determine which path you take at a junction, as in the Medusa example above.
This picker allows you to make some options more probable than others. The NeoPixels turn back to purple after a pause, and they flash off with the light:clear block after the input:on shake input. Odysseus tries to stab the Cyclops in the eye thereby triggering the light sensor on the Circuit Playground Express. A random number between 1 and 4 is selected:. You can imagine a game in which a revolutionary, an animal, or a piece of legislation is facing tough odds like these.
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