In this section, we learned about electronics and circuitry, and we learned how to program in a programming language called Python.
In the electronics part of this unit, we learned about how electricity works and how circuits work. We did this by getting a packet of projects and we had to build all of the projects on a breadboard. The image to the left is a picture taken of our final test. For this test we had to be able to take a packet of instructions and get all of the parts and put together a circuit that makes a little red LED blink. Also, when you set the potentiometer higher or lower, it makes the LED blink faster or slower.
In the programming part of this unit, we used a free website called Codecademy.com to learn how to program in a language called Python. We learned how to do many things with Python such as creating and using functions, lists, dictionaries, loops, and classes. It is an interactive website where we got to do the programming ourselves, rather than just reading about it, and we got to create things such as a Pig-Latin translator and a single-player game of Battleship.
Concepts
Some concepts we learned about in this unit:
Current - the 'flow' of electricity through a circuit; measured in amps.
Voltage - the 'potential energy' of a circuit; measured in volts.
Series - When two resistors are in succession in a circuit, they are in series. In a series, the current is the same throughout, but the voltage is different at different points.
Parallel - When the circuit splits and there are two resistors in the circuit, but not in sequence, they are in parallel. In a parallel, the voltage is the same, but the current is different.
Reflection: Peaks and Pits
One Peak, or positive, about this project was that I got to learn my second programming language (I had learned C++ previously). A Pit, or negative, was that since I already knew some programming, a lot of people came to me for help with it, which slowed me down some. Another Pit was that the electronics and circuitry quickly got very confusing for me. A Peak was that I managed to easily figure out the color coding on the resistors. I also got to learn how to solder which was much easier than I anticipated, so that was a Peak, too. Over all, I think the Peaks for this project outweigh the Pits.