DC Circuit

Date
March 17, 2025 Posted By
admin
Categories

Description of Activity:

1. Build a Basic LED Circuit

  • Objective: To introduce students to Tinkercad and basic DC circuit concepts.
  • Activity: Guide students to create a simple circuit with a battery, resistor, and LED.
  • Outcome: Students will learn how to use Tinkercad, basic circuit assembly, and the
    importance of resistors for current limiting

2. Exploring Kirchhoff’s Laws in a Multi-Loop Circuit

  • Objective: To apply Kirchhoff’s Voltage and Current Laws in a simulated circuit.
  • Activity: Build a multi-loop circuit with several resistors and measure currents and voltages.
  • Outcome: This activity helps students understand and apply Kirchhoff’s Laws in complex
    circuits, an essential skill in circuit analysis

3. Series and Parallel Resistor Circuits

  • Objective: To explore the effects of different resistor configurations.
  • Activity: Build both series and parallel resistor circuits and measure voltage and current.
  • Outcome: This activity will give students hands-on practice with series and parallel circuits and a better understanding of how resistors affect voltage and current in each configuration.

Instructions for Activity

Getting Started:

1. Create a Tinkercad Account:

  • Visit www.tinkercad.com.
  • Click Sign Up or Log In (use your Google account or email).
  • Once logged in, click on Circuits from the dashboard to start creating a new circuit.

2. Starting a New Circuit:

  • Click Create New Circuit to begin a new project.
  • You will enter the Tinkercad Circuits Workspace where you can build your circuit.

3. Understanding the Workspace:

  • Components Panel: On the right, you’ll see a list of components like resistors, LEDs, switches, and more.
  • Workplane: The centre area where you’ll place and wire your components.
  • Wire Tool: Use the wire tool to connect components.
  • Simulation Button: You’ll use the Start Simulation button to test and see how your circuit works.

4. Adding Components to Your Circuit:

Drag and Drop Components:

  • From the components panel on the right, drag components (like resistors, LEDs, batteries,
    switches) onto the workplane.

Common Components for Basic Circuits:

  • Battery: Powers your circuit.
  • LED: Light-emitting diode, used to show the flow of electricity
  • Resistor: Controls the amount of current flowing through the circuit.
  • Breadboard: For easy connection of components.

Position Components: You can move, rotate, and place components anywhere on the workplane.

5. Connecting Components:

Use the Wire Tool:

  • Click on the wire tool (shown as a red line) to start connecting components.
  • Click on a component’s terminal (e.g., the positive side of a battery) and drag to connect it to another component (e.g., the anode of an LED).

Wire Colors: The default wire color is red for positive connections, but you can change it to
black for ground/negative connections.

Complete Your Circuit:

Make sure all components are correctly connected. For example:

  • Battery: Connect the positive terminal to the anode (long leg) of the LED, and the
    negative terminal to the cathode (short leg) of the LED through a resistor.
  • Resistor: Place it in series with the LED to limit current and prevent burning out
    the LED.

6. Setting Component Properties:

  • Edit Resistor Value: Click on a resistor to change its value (e.g., 220Ω, 1kΩ, etc.) from the properties window that appears.
  • LED Polarity: Remember that LEDs have polarity. The longer leg is the positive (anode), and the shorter leg is the negative (cathode).

7. Simulating Your Circuit:

Start Simulation: Once your circuit is connected, click the Start Simulation button at the top of the screen to see how your circuit works.

  • If the circuit is correct, the LED will light up (or other actions will occur depending on
    your circuit).
  • If the circuit doesn’t work, check your connections, components, and component values.

Pause Simulation: If you want to pause and adjust your circuit, click the Pause Simulation button

8. Troubleshooting:

LED Doesn’t Light Up:

  • Check if the LED is in the correct orientation.
  • Ensure the resistor value is appropriate (too low a value may cause too much current, burning out the LED).
  • Check if all connections are properly made.

Power Issues:

  • Make sure the battery is connected correctly and provides enough voltage for your circuit.

9. Saving and Sharing Your Circuit:

  • Save Your Work: Your design is automatically saved to your Tinkercad account.
  • Share Your Circuit: To share, click the Share button in the top-right corner and select how you want to share your project (via link or invite).