yes, not the nicest looking circuit...
Recently Jon Britton and I participated in the Educator Extravaganza, in which we delved into the electronics at our jobs, and gave educators a peak under the hood. One gizmo we left people with was the CdS Transistor candle, pictured above with the lamp gone all bokeh.
It's essentially one of the simplest and most educational circuits that can be made, without handtools, solder or even a breadboard. For me, its entirely magical, and goes the distance at instilling an intuitive understanding of electronics. According to one high school physics teacher, it even fit a state standard to explain "how transistors work."
I've attached the lesson plan with bill-o-materials and procedure (scrambled together, errors and all, half an hour prior to the event) here: eextrava.pdf
Leave a comment