What is a Breadboard and how do you use it?

A breadboard is for making electrical circuits. On it, you put components, such as sensors, lights, buttons, jumper wires, etc., and connect it to a power source, such as a battery or a computer that has power.

The image to the left shows a circuit set up to light a red LED using 4 AAA batteries as a power source. The LED is controlled by an on/off push button that you see as part of the circuit.

There is also a resistor in the circuit to control the amount of current.

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LED

push button

resistor

What is a Breadboard and how do you use it?

There is a specific way current travels through a breadboard. The breadboard has conductive strips on the back which allows power to go to where YOU want, but you have to plan a pathway.

The lettered rows: A-E or F-G, are connected, they are called the component rails. As you can see in the image to the right, each short row of letters is connected by a single, conductive metal rail. When you flip the breadboard over and look at the back, you can see the metal rails.The letters in a row are connected to each other, but not to anything else.

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What is a Breadboard and how do you use it?

Notice how each strip of conductive material is separate from each other strip. This is important in you being able to control where the electrical current flows. If you want something in one row to be connected in a circuit with something in a separate row, you MUST connect them somehow.

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What is a Breadboard and how do you use it?

Along the long edges of the breadboard, there are labels of (+) and (-). All of the positive on one side is connected and so is all the negative, those are called the power rails.

In short:

-- the component rails are the rails that conduct electricity between short rows; A-E or F-G

-- the power rails allow current to flow along the length of the board from top to bottom.

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What is a Breadboard and how do you use it?

Let’s follow the pathway of the current through this circuit. We will use color coded arrows.

Yellow arrows show current flow through a conductive wire that has been added to the breadboard

Blue arrows show current flow through a conductive rail that is hidden on the back side of the breadboard.

Pink arrows show current flow through a conductive part of the component in the circuit (button, LED, resistor).

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What is a Breadboard and how do you use it?

See if you can visualize and trace the entire circuit without the help of the arrows.

Begin at the positive terminal of the battery. This is where electrons begin to flow out. The circuit will continue until it returns to the negative of the battery.

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+

--

A

B

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C

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What is a Breadboard and how do you use it?

WHAT’S THAT??!!

YOU DON’T HAVE A BREADBOARD BECAUSE YOU ARE TRAPPED IN YOUR HOUSE?

TinkerCAD to the RESCUE!!

TinkerCAD has an amazing online circuit design platform on which you can design simple circuits, or very complex circuits.

You can run simulations on them to see if they will work.

IT’S ONLINE AND IT’S FREE! at Tinkercad.com