Lab: Setting Up a Breadboard

Working with a breadboard for the first time was incredibly daunting. I was truly clueless when it came to circuits and the mechanics of how electricity actually works, and it turned out to be no easy task. Even something like getting an LED light to turn on, a task that sounds so simple, took quite a while for me to figure out.

Even after reading the instructions, it was difficult for me to understand what each component did and why the wires were successful one way but not in another. It was also difficult finding a battery, so I also had to learn how to use my Arduino to power my board and how the different pins worked. The learning curve was steep, and I am grateful for the help of my peers!

<aside> 💡 While I was able to eventually get it to work, I would benefit from an in-class or in-person run down of how electricity runs through wires and how that determines how they should be placed

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Lab: Electronics and Using a Multimeter

It was difficult finding a multimeter that worked, and once I was able to find one that at least displayed different numbers, I was still unsure if I was getting the results that I was supposed to. I couldn't find any multimeter that beeped, but I was able to observe points such as how the meter can show a negative number depending on what point is touching what.

While I am not sure how successful I was, I was still able to familiarize myself with the different symbols found on the multimeter (the sign for continuity, the sign for diode testing, etc.

There was also some confusion about why my 5 volt pin was not working (I wanted to see if it would change the value on the multimeter) but we figured out at mine was probably not working because I was able to get my 3 volt to work but not my 5 volt.

Lab: Switches

It was amusing learning about different switches and ways one can get creative with them. I love mechanical keyboards, so I felt a familiarity reading about tactile switches. When I went to turn on my light with the newly added switch, I was disappointed to discover that it wouldn't turn on. I didn't know why since it seemed to match up with the example photo.

Another student showed me that using the multimeter, we can see that there is normally one corner of the switch that is not connected to the others. My LED light was placed behind one of those corners, and by simply moving it to another corner I was able to get it to light up. This was a fun way to learn more about how something from the last lab (the multimeter) can come in handy.