Electronics For Kids For Dummies. Shamieh Cathleen

      Electronics For Kids For Dummies^®

      Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com

      Copyright © 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

      Published simultaneously in Canada

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

      Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

      LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.

      For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002. For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.

      Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2016931382

      ISBN 978-1-119-21565-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-21572-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-21571-4

      Electronics For Kids For Dummies®

      Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/electronicsfk to view this book's cheat sheet.

      Introduction

      Are you curious to know what really goes on inside your iPod, cellphone, tablet, or TV? Do you find it amazing that tiny electronic devices can do so many fun and interesting things? Have you ever wondered if you can build an electronic device that actually does something useful? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ve come to the right place!

      Electronics is all about controlling electrical current – which you may know better as electricity – flowing in a complete path called a circuit. All electronic devices are made up of circuits, and every circuit contains a power supply, a path, and one or more parts (known as electronic components) to control current flow.

      By using some basic electronic components to build projects that switch LEDs on and off, sound an alarm when light is detected, tune in a radio station, and more, you can begin to understand how your iPod, cellphone, and computer are able to do such incredible things.

      Electronics For Kids For Dummies introduces you to the incredible world of electronics in a fun way: by showing you how to build circuits that actually do something. As you build these circuits, you see for yourself how tiny electronic parts – resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits – work together to control lights, sound, and timing.

      The book walks you through 13 projects (plus a shopping "project") you can build and understand with just introductory knowledge. Each project includes a list of the parts you need, step-by-step circuit-building instructions (with colorful illustrations), and an explanation of how the circuit works.

      By completing all the projects in this book, you will discover

      Although I can’t promise that you’ll be able to build a project as sophisticated as an iPod after reading this book, I can promise that you’ll build some fun and interesting projects – and you’ll be well on your way to expanding your knowledge so you can tackle more complex electronics projects.

      This book is just a start. The rest is up to you.

      In writing this book, I made the following assumptions about the interests and skill level of you and other readers: