Elsenaar and Scha Article

The Elsenaar and Scha Article is a very fascinating piece. The experiments mentioned in the article are really out there. I had never heard of most of them but they were rather fascinating. I think the very idea of the human body as a conductor is interesting. I knew the brain had electrical neurons (or something like that) but this was very interesting to see what they did to the human body in 1700s and so on. 

Now those experiments were intersting, but the whole animal electrocutions are a completely different matter. I knew animal testing existed but I had never known electricity was ever involved in the experimental process. While that portion was shorter compared to the other sections it really spoke the most to me (as I love elephants and other animals). That being said, the experiments on already dead animals was interesting — the whole part where the scientist discovered that a frog’s legs will contract if a circuit between the leg muscles and spine are closed. 

Also I found the experiments in regards to cadavers (they call them beheaded criminals) and the experiment regarding artificial emotional expressions were pretty cool. I’m sorry this experiment was worked into the asylum system with shock treatments.

Finally, I found the variety of electric related performance art weird but oddly interesting. It makes my skin crawl slightly to think of pumping electricity into my body just for the sake of art. It is just weird. I mean research is one thing. We do need to know more about the human body to fight debilitating diseases and conditions but I do not know how I feel about performance art. That goes a bit too far in my book. I do not think the university would take it kindly if an artist did that in the Tag gallery — might get sued. But I guess there are a variety of art styles and this is merely one of them.

Notes 8/29/16

Components:

used to constructive push electricity to do work. complex organizations to control resistance, currents, voltages

General types of components:

• two types of components: through hole/surface mount tech
• both get soldered to attache to circuit
• through hole: older tech
• "legs" that pass through board
• surface mount: newest tech
• smaller form factor (dramatic at times)
• sits on the board, soldered same time

Battery

• batteries are a store of electrical potential
• supply direct current DC
• Come in a variety of voltages (V) and capacities known as Ampere-Hours (Ah)
• body of rechargeable battery will often be marked with milliAmp-Hours (mAh)

switch

• the fundamental purpose is to connect a section of a circuit
• typical application: connect the power
• the diagramming for a simple switch illustrates a toggle that is broken
• there are many other forms of switches for special circumstances

more on switches

• switches can have a variety of characteristics, some important terms
• pole: number of switch 

• momentary : switch returns to its normal position when released
• latching : stays at last state until triggered again

Resisters

• Resistance: amount any component in the circuit resists the flow of current 
• measured in ohms; Ω
• common values and multipliers
• kilohm (thos) kΩ
• megaohm (millions) mΩ

Capacitors

• capacitors( caps) come in variety of forms and materials
• caps store an amount of electrical potential to provide a boost current, deliver a large burst of energy
• metaphor of a battery/storage bucket
• capacitance is measured in Farads
• common values found in small electronics
• picoFarads (trillionths) pF
• nanoFarads (billionths) nF
• microFara (millionth) μ F
• 
  

Potentionmeters/rheostats/presets

Notes (textbook ch1)

Physical computing Introduction/Chapter 1

• Transduction: conversion of one form of energy into another
• All electrical and electronic devices exploit the fact that electrons have the tendency to go from a point of greater electrical energy to a point of lesser electrical energy
• provide a positive connection (greater energy, or power), a negative connection (lower energy, or ground), and a conductor through which the electrons flow. [then] the electrons will travel from power to ground
• A circuit - closed loop containing a source of electrical energy (a battery) and a load (a light bulb)
• A switch - a break in the circuit that stops the electrons from flowing. By closing the switch, you close the break in the circuit and allow the electrons to flow again 
• Every component you put into your circuit has certain electrical characteristics 
• battery can provide a certain amount of electrical energy, and the light bulb can resist a certain amount of electrical energy
• If you provide too much electrical energy, the wire inside the light bulb will melt, breaking the circuit

The 3 basic electrical characteristics that come into play in every circuit:

• Voltage: relative level of electrical energy between any two points in the circuit
• measured in volts; V
• Current: amount of electrical energy passing through any point in the circuit. 
• measured in amperes/amps; 
• Resistance: amount any component in the circuit resists the flow of current 
• measured in ohms; Ω
• Ohm’s Law: Voltage = Current × Resistance (likewise, Current = Voltage/Resistance and Resistance = Voltage/ Current

-

• Short circuit:  circuit without enough resistance in its load.  If circuit does’t use enough energy, it will just go right back into the battery, heating it up, and eventually blowing it up
• open circuit: etc a switch (off)
• closed circuit: switched (on)
• electrical power/wattage: combination of current and voltage
• watts = volts × amps
• amps = watts/volts or volts = watts/amps

Electricity always favors the path of least resistance to ground.

All the electrical energy in a circuit must be used.

The day I made a blinky light (and a throwie!)

Part 1

We had to make a "throwie light" which was a light attached to a small battery with magnets and tape. It was a cute little project

I played around with the different light colors and doing more than one light (red took the most power, green -- my color light -- was the middle and blue took the least power). A combination of blue/green worked whereas a combination of red/green didn't (it did not have enough energy from the battery). Cute little project

Part 2

The other thing we did in class was a project where we made a circuit. It was a fairly simple soldering  project, but I did have some complications. 

One of my lights was backwards (I thought it was strange but I was listening to one of my fellow students so I blame them.......unless they are reading this in which case I take full responsibility for my mistakes). So I had heat up the solder again and take the light out and rotate it.

It turned out pretty well. It made me feel so much better now that I know most of the people in the class also struggled with something basic like this. That means we all are going to learn (there are a few of us who know more and they can be resources but most will be learning as we go just like me). So that makes me feel better about taking this class.