DT Flashcards
GPIO, Logic gates, Microcontrollers, VIR, (True, False, multiple choice, Short answer) Parts of an Arduino, Components on arduino, different types of arduino, circuits (Series parallel, drawn)
A
Arduino Uno
The microcontroller development board that will be at the heart of your
projects. It’s a simple computer, but one that
has no way for you to interact with it yet. You
will be building the circuits and interfaces for
interaction, and telling the microcontroller how
to interface with other components.
Breadboard
A board on which you can build
electronic circuits. It’s like a patch panel, with
rows of holes that allow you to connect wires
and components together. Versions that require soldering are available, as well as the solder-less type used here.
Capacitors
These components store and release electrical energy in a circuit. When the
circuit’s voltage is higher than what is stored in
the capacitor, it allows current to flow in, giving the capacitor a charge. When the circuit’s
voltage is lower, the stored charge is released.
Ofen placed across power and ground close to
a sensor or motor to help smooth fluctuations
in voltage.
Battery Snap
Used to connect a 9V battery to
power leads that can be easily plugged into a
breadboard or your Arduino.
DC Motor
- Converts electrical energy into mechanical energy when electricity is applied to
its leads. Coils of wire inside the motor become
magnetized when current flows through them. These magnetic fields atract and repel magnets, causing the shaf to spin. If the direction
of the electricity is reversed, the motor will spin
in the opposite direction.
Diode
Ensures electricity only flows in one direction. Useful when you have a motor or other
high current/voltage load in your circuit. Diodes are polarized, meaning that the direction
that they’re placed in a circuit maters. Placed
one way, they allow current to pass through.
Placed the other way, they block it. The anode
side generally connects to the point of higher
energy in your circuit. The cathode typically
connects to the point of lower energy, or to
ground. The cathode is usually marked with a
band on one side of the component’s body
Gels
These filter out diferent wavelengths of light. When used in conjunction with photoresistors, they cause the
sensor to only react to the amount of light in
the filtered color
Jumper Wires
Use these to connect components to each other on the breadboard, and to
the Arduino.
LEDs
Light Emitting Diode: A type of diode
that illuminates when electricity passes through
it. Like all diodes, electricity only flows in one
direction through these components. You’re
probably familiar with these as indicators on a
variety of electronic devices. The anode, which
typically connects to power, is usually the longer leg, and the cathode is the shorter leg.
H-Bridge
A circuit that allows you to control
the polarity of the voltage applied to a load,
usually a motor. The H-bridge in the kit is an integrated circuit, but it could also be constructed with a number of discrete components
Optocoupler
This allows you to connect two
circuits that do not share a common power
supply. Internally there is a small LED that,
when illuminated, causes a photoreceptor inside to close an internal switch. When you apply voltage to the + pin, the LED lights and the
internal switch closes. The two outputs replace
a switch in the second circuit.
LCD
Liquid Crystal Display: A type of alphanumeric or graphic display based on liquid crystals. LCDs are available in a many sizes, shapes,
and styles. Yours has 2 rows with 16 characters
each.
Male Header Pins
These pins fit into female
sockets, like those on a breadboard. They help
make connecting things much easier.
Piezo
An electrical component that can be
used to detect vibrations and create noises.
Photoresistor
(also called a photocell, or lightdependent resistor). A variable resistor that
changes its resistance based on the amount of
light that falls on its face.
Potentiometer
A variable resistor with three
pins. Two of the pins are connected to the ends
of a fixed resistor. The middle pin, or wiper,
moves across the resistor, dividing it into two
halves. When the external sides of the potentiometer are connected to voltage and ground,
the middle leg will give the diference in voltage
as you turn the knob. Ofen referred to as a pot.
Pushbuttons
Momentary switches that close
a circuit when pressed. They snap into breadboards easily. These are good for detecting on/
of signals.
Resistors
Resist the flow of electrical energy
in a circuit, changing the voltage and current
as a result. Resistor values are measured in
ohms (represented by the Greek omega character: Ω). The colored stripes on the sides of
resistors indicate their value (see resistor color
code table).
Servo Motor
A type of geared motor that
can only rotate 180 degrees. It is controlled by
sending electrical pulses from your Arduino.
These pulses tell the motor what position it
should move to.
Temperature sensor
Changes its voltage output depending on the temperature of the component. The outside legs connect to power and
ground. The voltage on the center pin changes
as it gets warmer or cooler.
Tilt sensor
A type of switch that will open or
close depending on its orientation. Typically
they are hollow cylinders with a metal ball inside that will make a connection across two
leads when tilted in the proper direction.
USB Cable
This allows you to connect your
Arduino Uno to your personal computer for
programming. It also provides power to the Arduino for most of the projects in the kit.
Transistor
A three legged device that can operate as an electronic switch. Useful for controlling high current/high voltage components like motors. One pin connects to ground, another to the component being controlled, and the
third connects to the Arduino. When the component receives voltage on the pin connected
to an Arduino, it closes the circuit between the
ground and the other component.
AC
Alternating current: direction of electron flow switches back and forth at regular intervals or cycles
Analog
Something that has an output proportional or similar to it’s input (usually a voltage)
Amperage
The ‘rate’ that the current is flowing through a circuit. Number of electrons in a wire.
Annode
The electrode (conductor) where current enters a device / cell
Arduino
An open hardware development board
Breadboard
A board used to connect electric components, like wires, to conduct various projects.
Cathode
The negatively charged electrode by which electrons enter a device.
Ampere
Unit of measure for electric current
Closed circuit
a circuit without interruption, providing a continuous path through which a current can flow
Electrode
location of electron transfer
Coulomb
A unit of electric charge that is equal to the amount of charge accumulated in one second by a current of one ampere
Const int
A number value that cannot change
Current
The flow of electricity in a circuit and the amount of electricity flowing through a circuit
Delay
A function allowing you to pause the execution of an arduino program for a specified period.
digital.write
Function allowing you to write a high or low value to a digital pin
Direct current
electric current flow is always in the same direction (uni-directional)
Inductor
Component that stores energy as magnetic energy when current flows through it
Ground
The point of a circuit determined as being the point against which all voltages in the circuit are measured in relation to.
LDR
Light dependent resistor: a resistor thats resistance changes according to the intensity of light it receives.
Microcontroller
A compact integrated circuit designed to govern a specific operation in an embedded system
multimeter
An instrument designed to measure current, voltage, and usually resistance (typically over several ranges of values)
Ohm’s law
V = IR
I = V/R
R = V/I
Parallel circuit
circuit with two or more paths for current to flow through (flow of electricity is divided between each according to the resistance along each route)
Alpha-Numeric
Info in the form of numbers or letters
pin Mode
A function to configure a pin as input or output
polarity
determines the direction of flow
Power Supply
provides electric power to the boards (can be in the form of a battery, USB cable, Adapter e.t.c.)
relay
Allows low-power microcontrollers to handle circuits that use much higher power than what the board can handle directly.
Resistance
Measure of the opposition to the current flow
Resistor
Resists flow, changing voltage and current (measured in ohms)
Serial monitor
A monitor (screen) to send and receive info to and from arduino code (Eg receive debug messages, send commands)
serial.print
prints data to the serial port (port enabling transfer of data) as readable ASCII text
Solder
Two parts/components joined together by metal ‘solder’ (like melted wire)
Soldering iron
Tool used to melt solder (tool for soldering)
series circuit
a circuit following a single path
void loop ()
repeats code over and over
void setup ()
first function to be executed (executed once)
volt
Unit of force equal to difference in potential charge between two points.
Watt
Measure of the rate of energy transfer over a unit of time. 1 watt = 1 joule.
voltage divider
Simple circuit that turns a large voltage into a smaller one.
Voltage of individual resistors in circuit
V / total resistance (to find voltage per ohm)
Ans x individual resistor.
GPIO
A GPIO (general-purpose input/output) port handles both incoming and outgoing digital signals. As an input port, it can be used to communicate to the CPU the ON/OFF signals received from switches, or the digital readings received from sensors.
parts of an arduino
pins / external power supply / reset button / ground / in circuit serial programmer
types of arduino
include : Nano / BT / UNO / Mega
Uno: 14 digital input/output pins / 6 analog inputs / a USB connection / a power jack / an ICSP header / and a reset button.
Nano: Small / It lacks only a DC power jack, and works with a Mini-B USB cable instead of a standard one.
BT: quite similar to UNO (BT: blue tooth) / screw terminals for power
Mega: (bigger version of Uno) It has 54 digital input/output pins / 16 analog inputs / a USB connection / a power jack / an ICSP header / and a reset button.
