21st Century Skills InnovatIon LIbrary MakerS as Innovators Squishy Circuits Cherry Lake PubLishing ann arbor MiChigan by kristin Fontichiaro and annMarie P Thomas
21st Century Skills InnovatIon LIbrary Contents Inventing Squishy Circuits Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Gathering Supplies Chapter 3 building a Circuit Chapter 4 Series and Parallel Circuits Chapter 5 Challenge yourself Glossary Find Out More Index about the authors 4 9 14 21 26 30 31 32 32
MakerS as innovaTors Chapter 1 Inventing Squishy Circuits E lectrical circuits are all around us They are in radios stoplights computers and countless other things we encounter every day Some people teach classes about building electrical circuits One of those people is the coauthor of this book AnnMarie Thomas She is a college engineering professor and she works with students on design projects This stoplight not only directs traffic but has a circuit inside That means there’s a circle of energy flowing between the lights and the power source A desk lamp is a circuit too 4
SquiShy CirCuitS AnnMarie Thomas right introduces Squishy Circuits at an outdoor festival for makers AnnMarie wanted to share her enthusiasm for building circuits with her preschool-age daughter However she also wanted her daughter to be safe Even though electricity is all around us it can be dan gerous if we are not careful In addition connecting electrical wires by soldering usually requires the use of high-temperature tools AnnMarie wanted to come up with a safer way of connecting circuits 5
