For this recitation we created 3 circuits with the arduino, breadboard, and many other components.
Circuit 1: Fade
The goal of this circuit was to make an LED light fade off, then turn back on slowly. The new components needed for this circuit included an LED, a 220 Ohm resistor, and wires.
I believe when the resistor connected to the LED light with the wires, it let the light slowly turn on and off.
First Trial: Success
Circuit 2: toneMelody
For this one we just needed a speaker, wires, and the arduino & breadboard. Using the code, the speaker created a melody.
First Trial: Success
Circuit 3: Speed Game
This circuit involved tons of wires and the main point was to play a game on the serial monitor with the buttons. Whoever hit the button 10 times first would win (where the LED would light up displaying so, and the speaker would create a sound).
The new components were 10K & 220 Ohm resistors, buttons, 2 LED lights, a speaker, and a ton of wires.
First Trial: Fail (LED lights didn’t light up on win)
Everything was working, just not the LED lights. Since we had a bit of time left, we redid the whole circuit and the LED lights were still not working. We had tried previously to switch the LED light wires and it still did not work. We found out shortly afterwards that one LED light was broken (or the issue came from that one). Because when we swapped LED lights everything was working.
Second Trial: Success
We did not end up creating a 4-person game because we were low on time when we finished.
Question 1:
From the reading and the circuits, I believe “input, output, and processing” are essential to how technology works in my daily life. With the circuits the wires and buttons must be in the right place to produce an output, and all that much be processed by the Arduino program in the computer to work properly. In life, it could be as simple as air conditioning. The input is pressing the on button and the output is getting cold air, while all this processes through a signal receiver in the air conditioning.
Question 2:
The 10k resistor was to slow down the push button a little so it wouldn’t be spamming the serial monitor when we would continuously press it. I noticed this when I pressed the button it would not show up the millisecond it got pressed. This makes it fair for both sides to win the game.
Question 3:
I would create an island, that is of course connected to a piece of land so it doesn’t float away, out of the LEDs. With 100,000 LEDs I think I could make a decent sized island and I would place it (if I could) on the Shanghai coast.