Video!
I spent some time hanging out with my breadboard today, and together we made some switches do just what they wanted to.
The switches I used here are “normally open” meaning that their connections are open/not touching, unless they are are engaged. Despite the fact that these two setups use the same type of switch, they can be used in significantly different ways by altering their wiring.
In this arrangement the switches are all “parallel”, meaning that if any of the switches are pushed (closing their circuits) it will complete the circuit and turn on the LED.
I spent some time hanging out with my breadboard today, and together we made some switches do just what they wanted to.
The switches I used here are “normally open” meaning that their connections are open/not touching, unless they are are engaged. Despite the fact that these two setups use the same type of switch, they can be used in significantly different ways by altering their wiring.
In this arrangement the switches are all “parallel”, meaning that if any of the switches are pushed (closing their circuits) it will complete the circuit and turn on the LED.
Whereas in this arrangement the switches are in a series, (there are no wires that will by step the other two switches) so all three need to be pressed in order to turn on the LED.
Another switch variety is the potentiometer! Unlike the previous button switches which were only capable of ‘on’ or ‘off’ functions, the potentiometer is an analog interaction. It has three connections, and as the knob is turned, the outer two connections adjust resistance to the center wire, which in turn dims or brightens the LED.