Who needs a chocolate advent calendar when you have an electronic advent calendar? Not us here at JPhys+, that’s for sure. Purchased from Conrad Electronics, the Electronics Advent Calendar features 24 experiments, with a new electronic component behind each window. The instruction manual reliably informs us that this year’s calendar focuses on sensors.

Day one brought us a green light emitting diode (LED) with an in-built 1kΩ resistor which we tested with our power supply: a 9V alkaline battery.

Day two gave us a battery clip and instructions for creating a basic touch sensor using a finger as a resistor.

Finally, day three reveals a mini breadboard which will make circuit assembly much easier, how’s our green LED looking?

There’ll be five posts in this Advent Electronica series, culminating in a Christmas Eve post. We’ll pick up again next Thursday, by which time, we’ll have opened another 7 windows! Who knows what they’ll hold.

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Front image and article image: J Sanders.

Categories: JPhys+

Tags: AdventElectronica, Christmas, Electronics, Light, Optics, Photonics, Sensors