Manual

-7-
About Electricity (STEM)
17. Circuit Blox™
For Circuit Blox™, the denition of an electrical circuit is: The
complete path for an electric current ow, usually including the
source of electric energy. The path shown in the circuit below
is from the battery, through the blue 2-wire, through the motor
under the fan, through the blue 4-wire, through the switch,
through the blue 2-wire, and then back to the battery. If the switch
in this circuit is closed, then current will
ow from the battery through all the
components and back to the battery.
If enough current ows, the motor will
spin and launch the fan. If the switch is
open, nothing will happen since it is an
open circuit with no current.
18. Short Circuits in Circuit Blox™
The battery holder that comes with your Circuit Blox™ Kit is
fully protected. A short circuit indicator LED lights and a beeper
sounds if any of the outputs are shorted or under a high current
draw. It is important that you always use this battery holder in the
circuits you build to protect the batteries and prevent damage to
parts. Even shorts from one voltage output to
another is protected by a patented circuit and
will indicate an excessive current. This circuit
uses resettable Positive Temperature Fuses
(PTCs). Circuit Blox™ kits are always approved
by independent safety laboratories to insure all
users will be able to experiment without worry
of harm to parts or themselves.
19. Sound and Light
There are many modules in Circuit Blox™ that will produce
different sounds and different light effects.
The Three-in-One module, for example, has two control
inputs (T1, T2), a speaker connection (SP1, SP2), and music
& space sound selects (I/O1, I/O2).
By proper connection of parts with the
Three-in-one module many special effects
can be generated and triggered in different
ways. This module will be used to simulate
many of the different interesting problems
in the elds of Sound Technicians, Medical
Engineering, Communication Engineers,
Home Security, and much more.
20. Semiconductors
Semiconductors have properties that can control current owing
through a conductor similar to a faucet controlling the ow of
water in a pipe. A diode acts like a check valve in a water pipe by
only letting current ow in one direction. A Light Emitting Diode
(LED) produces light when very little current
ows. Different colored LEDs are made and
some LEDs can even produce Laser light
similar to hand-held pointers or gun scopes.
Transistors have three leads and one is
used to control the current between the
other two.