MakerS as innovaTors Chapter 1 What Are Circuits W hen you woke up this morning was it dark outside If so you probably switched on a light Maybe you leaned over to turn off your alarm clock or unplug your smartphone from its charger Perhaps someone is listening to the radio or You probably use electric lights every day But do you know how they work 44
We rely on electricity to power the many devices we use every day watching the morning news on TV as you head down to the kitchen for breakfast Once you get there you pop your instant oatmeal into the microwave Within the first few moments of the day your life has been impacted over and over again by electricity Most days we don’t give electricity a second thought That is until the power goes out and we realize how much we miss it The products you buy rely on electrical energy to work If they’re not plugged in or powered by batteries they won’t work Although it seems like magic electricity is really invisible science at work 5 PaPer CirCuits
MakerS as innovaTors A Long History Even though electricity has been recognized since at least 2750 BCE it has only been a few hundred years since people began to explore how it works and how we can harness its power for our practical use We owe a lot to past scientists who have studied electricity so that we can heat our homes light our rooms and run appliances to make our lives easier You can see what happens when you zoom in on energy and look at the smaller-than-microscopic level Everything we see around us is made of atoms Atoms have smaller pieces called electrons In some atoms electrons are loosely attached These electrons can break away and jump to other atoms that are also loosely connected When electrons move from one atom to another they carry an electrical charge This charge becomes electricity when the electrons travel in a steady current For electricity to flow in a current it must have a path that the electrons can travel through That path is in the shape of a circle which is why we call it a circuit Every item powered by an electrical outlet or a battery runs on a circuit Energy travels from the power source such as an outlet or a battery along a path until it reaches the item it is going to power such 6
When you play with Snap Circuits electricity travels through the metal snaps which are conductors of energy as a lightbulb or a radio It then moves back along another path until it ends up back at the power source Now think about how you could make a circuit of your own There are so many ways to make your own circuits Toys like Snap Circuits or LittleBits contain components that snap together into circuits Squishy Circuits uses activity dough to create circuits But why not combine electricity with paper to make paper circuits Paper circuits are fun projects that apply the concepts of electrical circuits to art You can use paper 7 PaPer CirCuits
