08/10/2012
So I have officially completed the electronics kit I have been working on, (which only was the first two chapters of the entire book), but at least it is some progress. I will need to get the next kit in order to continue with working on this book and learning more about circuits and such. Today, the experiments I did were all on a breadboard thankfully, so they were not really difficult at all. The first one I finished was using a transistor in it, so i had to read all about the three different leads on the device and use it correctly in the circuit in order for it to light an led when i applied the power. It was originally connected all on the breadboard, but I also had to use my finger to touch a a couple wires, which also lit the led without the bread board connecting all the wires. So my finger basically supplied a connection between the two wires, which can be seen on the pictures page of the blog. The next, and last experiment, was probably the most complex one so far, starting out using an led, a couple resistors, a transistor (which there are two different kinds I had to use), and a capacitor. I got to learn what exactly the capacitor does by using a push button in the previous experiment and measuring the voltage inside the capacitor rise, so I learned that it will basically store as many volts as the power source has until it is discharged. Anyway, the last experiment started out a bit simple, using all of the items I said above in order to make an led flash repeatedly when power was supplied. But after that I had to include in the circuit, more resistors, transistors, and even a loudspeaker in order to make basically an alarm that will make sound and flash when power was supplied. The circuit continued to expand because in order to make the loudspeaker work better and get louder, more resistors and transistors were needed, so it became pretty complex. Unfortunately the loudspeaker did not work properly because a wire that would have gone into the speaker came out and i could not fix it so it never got to produce a sound. But i set up the whole circuit nonetheless. From these experiments and the make kit so far I have learned more than I ever did about wires and electronics than I ever have before, and I cannot wait for the next project of mine I will take on in order to further my knowledge of everything.

08/09/2012
Today I worked more with my electronics kit. I finished about 3-4 more experiments, so not many more left after today. I will probably finish by tomorrow. What I did today was make a few circuits, using an ac adapter as a power source that can use about 12 volts from an electrical socket. One experiment I had to use a bunch of alligator clips to connect all the wires, plus I also had to cut and strip some 22 gauge wire in order to connect certain parts of the circuit. It was pretty tedious and frustrating using so many alligator clips, and stripping the wires was definitely something I have never done before so it took a bit of time to get better at it. The circuits I did also used a relay and a pushbutton to let electricity flow through the circuit and into the relay, which would then light an led. After that circuit, the next one was very similar, except this time I used a capacitor in the circuit, replacing one of the wires I had previously used. After taking so much time to put these circuits together with so many alligator clips, the next experiment I basically had to do the exact same circuit, but set it up on a breadboard. Luckily, using the breadboard was so much easier than using alligator clips and It took much less time.  From reading about and making these circuits I am definitely learning alot about how the different parts work and what they do and It is definitely a good learning experience and I look forward to doing more tomorrow.

07/23/12
Another "project" I will be working on this summer is with a book that will help me get more into and learn a lot more about electronics and circuits and what all the things in circuits are, how they can be used, and what they do exactly and their function in a circuit. The book came with a kit containing resistors, batteries, potentiometers, and a ton of other things for building circuits. I have done about 4 lessons using the book so far, out of about 11. the first experiment was basically licking a 9 volt battery to feel electricity, and the second on how to use a multimeter. The third and fourth, which you can see some of in the pictures section of this blog, was using double A batteries to light an led, one using a potentiometer and one without. I have also short circuited a couple batteries which was pretty fun, but only small batteries so as not to be dangerous. I look forward to posting more pictures about this kit and learning more about electronics along with what i'm learning with Professor Whitaker at the Millikan Lab.