Electronics Basics: Your First Circuit

In this blog post, we will guide you through creating your first circuit using simple components like a 9V battery, a 470 ohm resistor, and a LED. We’ll also introduce you to a useful online tool called Tinkercad for circuit simulation. So let’s get started!

If you’d like to follow along and try out the circuit yourself, we highly recommend getting a starter kit like the “ELEGOO UNO R3 Project Most Complete Starter Kit” from Elegoo, which you can find on Amazon.

To simulate the circuit, we’ll be using Tinkercad, a free web application created by Autodesk, the makers of AutoCAD. Apart from circuit simulation, Tinkercad also allows you to design for 3D printing, making it a versatile tool.

To begin, create a free account on Tinkercad and navigate to the Circuits menu on the dashboard. Click on the “Create new Circuit” button, and you’ll be taken to the circuit builder interface.

On the main screen, you’ll find a sidebar with various components that you can drag and drop into the workspace. For this circuit, grab a 9V battery, a resistor, and a LED.

Each component has specific connections available. For example, the battery has a positive pole and a negative pole. To create the circuit, connect the negative pole of the battery to one of the poles of the resistor.

Next, connect the resistor to the cathode (the straight pin on the left) of the LED. Finally, connect the anode (the right pin) of the LED to the positive pole of the battery.

To make the circuit neater, you can change the colors of the wires by clicking on them. Additionally, you can modify the settings for each component by clicking on them. For instance, you can change the resistance value of the resistor, which is set to 1kΩ by default.

If you want to add a point to a wire and make the circuit even tidier, double-click on the wire.

Once you’ve finished setting up the circuit, click the “Start simulation” button. You’ll notice that the LED lights up. To stop the simulation, click “Stop simulation”.

If you want to experiment with different resistance values, try changing the resistance to 220Ω. Run the simulation again, and you’ll see a warning on the LED indicating that the current flowing through it is too much. It’s important to note that the recommended maximum current the LED can handle is 20mA.

While the simulation is running, you can also change the resistance value. For example, if you replace 220Ω with 1000Ω, you’ll observe that the LED becomes less bright.

Adding a resistor with a value of 10000Ω will result in the LED not emitting any light at all. This is because the higher the resistance, the less current flows through the circuit, and consequently, the less current is available for the LED to produce a bright light.

Remember Ohm’s law: I = V / R, where I is the current flowing through the circuit. With a 220Ω resistor, the current is 9V / 220Ω = 40mA. With a 1kΩ resistor, the current is 9V / 1000Ω = 9mA.

To give you a real-world example, here is an image of the same circuit created physically:

Now that you’ve successfully built your first circuit and learned about resistors and LEDs, you’re ready to explore more advanced concepts and projects in electronics. Happy circuit-building!

tags: [“electronics basics”, “circuit simulation”, “LED”, “resistance”, “Ohm’s law”]