Data Sheet
About Electricity (STEM)
17. Circuit Blox™
For Circuit Blox™, the denition of an electrical circuit is: The
complete path for an electric current ow, usually including the
source of electric energy. The path shown in the circuit below
is from the battery, through the blue 2-wire, through the motor
under the fan, through the blue 4-wire, through the switch,
through the blue 2-wire, and then back to the battery. If the
switch in this circuit is closed, then current will ow from the
battery through all the components
and back to the battery. If enough
current ows, the motor will spin and
launch the fan. If the switch is open,
nothing will happen since it is an open
circuit with no current.
18. Short Circuits in Circuit Blox™
The battery holder that comes with your Circuit Blox™ Kit is fully
protected. A short circuit indicator LED lights and a beeper sounds
if any of the outputs are shorted or under a high current draw. It
is important that you always use this battery holder in the circuits
you build to protect the batteries and prevent damage to parts.
Even shorts from one voltage output to another is protected by a
patented circuit and will indicate an excessive
current. This circuit uses resettable Positive
Temperature Fuses (PTCs). Circuit Blox™ kits
are always approved by independent safety
laboratories to insure all users will be able to
experiment without worry of harm to parts or
themselves.
19. Sound and Light
There are many modules in Circuit Blox™ that will produce
different sounds and different light effects.
The Three-in-One module, for example, has two
control inputs (T1, T2), a speaker connection (SP1,
SP2), and music & space sound selects (I/O1, I/O2).
By proper connection of parts with the
Three-in-one module many special effects
can be generated and triggered in different
ways. This module will be used to simulate
many of the different interesting problems
in the elds of Sound Technicians, Medical
Engineering, Communication Engineers,
Home Security, and much more.
20. Semiconductors
Semiconductors have properties that can control current owing
through a conductor similar to a faucet controlling the ow of
water in a pipe. A diode acts like a check valve in a water pipe by
only letting current ow in one direction. A Light Emitting Diode
(LED) produces light when very little current ows. Different
colored LEDs are made and some LEDs can
even produce Laser light similar to hand-
held pointers or gun scopes. Transistors
have three leads and one is used to control
the current between the other two.
-7-