Electrical Engineering
Basic Circuits
ApplicaƟons – Teams of engineers worked for years to perfect every device that you use. Every device that
has power had an Electrical Engineer on that team. Even though this project only has a couple wires and a
ba ery, you can imagine how something this simple could light a house and even power a cell phone.
This Project – Electricity is created from electrons flowing in a con nuous path. If there is a break in that
path, the electrons can’t flow and there won’t be electricity.
No Contact
Contact
The path on the le shows what happens when the wires are not touching—the light can’t turn on! This is
because there is not a con nuous path that the electrons can flow through. When there is a con nuous path,
like there is in the picture on the right, the light will turn on because the electrons can flow. This project
makes a game out of keeping the light off while demonstra ng how simple it is to create an electric circuit.
Further InformaƟon

This project was inspired by a Wire Loop Game on instructables.com, a do‐it‐yourself website. Make sure
that you follow all safety instruc ons and always consult your teacher or parent before trying any do‐it‐
yourself electronics projects.
 A good resource for ques ons about electronics is allaboutcircuits.com. This is a website that has educa‐
onal informa on about circuits that include electronic textbooks, video lectures, worksheets, and more.
Click on the ‘Educa on’ tab at the top of the page to get started.
Electrical Engineering
Microcontrollers &
Artificial Intelligence
Applications – From the thermostat in your house to the car that you drive, microcontrollers are all around
us. Microcontrollers are tiny computers that work as our device’s ‘brain’ and allows it to work. As Electrical
Engineers, we can have the job of programming microcontrollers, or we can have the job of designing and
building them. Any of these applications that changes itself on its own while it is working is called artificial
intelligence (AI).
This Project – The objective is to create a microcontroller that plays rock, paper, scissors.
The microcontroller uses a random number generator to decide what selection to play.
The artificial intelligence is done when we convert the random number to a selection—rock, paper, or
scissors. The random number is any number between 1 and 100, and these values are divided into thirds for
rock, paper, and scissors with two limits. When the microcontroller finds out the value that the user played, it
updates the two limits to make it more likely to play a winning selection next time.
Further Information



Arduino.cc — To purchase the microcontroller used in this project, get project ideas, and learn programming tips, Arduino is a very popular and relatively inexpensive way to do projects with microcontrollers.
SparkFun.com — SparkFun’s Inventor’s Kit includes an Arduino, lights, motors, and more. The Inventor’s
kit also comes with a guidebook and 16 example circuits. The website also includes tons of tutorials and
project ideas.
CodeAcademy.com — A free website that teaches you to start programming right now! Learn several
programming languages, free of cost.
Electrical Engineering
Basic Circuit Control
ApplicaƟons – Teams of engineers worked for years to perfect every device that you use. Every device that
has power had an Electrical Engineer on that team. Even though this project only has a couple wires and a
ba ery, you can imagine how something this simple could light a house and even power a cell phone.
This Project – There are many ways to control a circuit. Light and sound ac vated circuits are o en used to
control more advanced circuity.
The photoresistor (RP) that is in this circuit will react differently in the light than in the dark. This will give a
different signal to ‘U3’, the integrated circuit (IC), which controls the LED light. This control can also be
changed to a microphone to control the circuit with sound instead of light.
Further InformaƟon

SnapCircuits.net — The Snap Electronic kits used in this project are good educa onal tools for school or
fun. The come in different sizes to meet different need. The kits have instruc ons that allow you to build a
lot of different circuits.
 AllAboutCircuits.com — A good resource for ques ons about electronics. The website has educa onal informa on about circuits that include electronic textbooks, video lectures, worksheets, and more. Click on
the ‘Educa on’ tab at the top of the page to get started.
Electrical Engineering
Antenna Theory
Antennas are used around the world for communicaƟon – cellphones, satellites, GPS, and
more, all make use of antennas!
An antenna works by converƟng electricity into electromagneƟc waves, and another antenna
will convert it back!
Electricity causes electrons in the current to wiggle back and forth along the antenna. This
creates the electromagneƟc wave, like splashing something in the water. When the wave
reaches a receiving antenna, the electrons wiggle around, creaƟng electromagneƟc waves, like
a buoy floaƟng on a wave. The wiggling is turned back into an electric current, and an understandable signal!
Electrical Engineering
Basic Logic Circuits
Logic circuits process data signals to create new desired signals and informaƟon. This is commonly done in
binary. These logic circuits oŌen use operaƟons through gates. There are two essenƟal gates, AND and OR.

AND Gate: A single bit AND gate will only produce 1 as an output if both inputs are one. This is symbol
for AND is ‘&’.

OR Gate: A single bit OR gate will produce 1 as an output if either of the inputs are one. This is denoted
with ‘|’ .
A
0
0
1
1
The NOT gate takes the input and
inverts it. For example, if a 1 is
inpuƩed, a 0 is outpuƩed.
B
0
1
0
1
A&B
0
0
0
1
A|B
0
1
1
1
The XOR gate is an exclusive OR
gate. This means that the output
will only be a 1 if the two inputs
produce a 1 for an OR gate but
not for an AND gate. For example,
inputs of 0 and 1 will produce a 1
while an two inputs of 1 will
produce a 0.
The NAND gate is a combinaƟon
of an AND gate and a NOT gate.
So, the inputs are produced like a
normal AND funcƟon, then the
result is inverted. For example,
an input of two 1s would produce
an output of 0.
Electrical Engineering
Renewable Energy:
Solar Power
Applications – Fossil fuels are a source of energy for many of our devices and machines that we use everyday. Fossil fuels are also damaging our planet, so engineers have come up with a way to use the sun’s energy
by converting it into useable electricity that we are able to use to charge our devices and power our machines.
By using solar energy, we are using energy that it is far less damaging to our planet.
This Project – Solar power works by using light waves from the sun to heat up the electrons in solar panels,
causing them to move and creating a current in the solar panels. The current is then controlled and stored in
the solar panel to be used later. In the OWI Super Solar Race Car Kit, the speed of the car is controlled by the
current, or the amount of solar energy it receives. The more current the car has, the faster it will go. A car that
is getting a lot of light will go faster than a car that is in the dark because it is not getting any solar energy.
Further Information:


For more information, go to http://www.owirobot.com/ to learn about the kit used in this demo and to
discover several other amazing kits that they have to offer. Although they are awesome, they can be
expensive.
Check out these other websites for more information on solar energy and how it works:
 http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=solar_home-basics
 http://www.kids.esdb.bg/solar.html
 http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/energy/solarpower.html
 http://www.dasolar.com/solar-energy/solar-energy-for-kids
Electrical Engineering Renewable Energy: Wind Power Applica ons – Fossil fuels are a source of energy for many of our devices and machines that we use everyday. Fossil fuels are also damaging our planet, so engineers have come up with a way to use wind energy by
converƟng it into useable electricity that we are able to use to charge our devices and power our machines.
By using wind energy, we are using energy that it is far less damaging to our planet.
This Project – Wind power works by having wind turn turbine blades on a windmill, causing the windmill’s
shaŌ to spin which creates electricity that is inverted into AC voltage that travels through the power lines.
The Green Science Windmill Generator Kit demonstrates how wind power through the use of a windmill actually works.
Further Informa on: 
To learn more about the kits used in this demo and see other science toys and kits that you can make at
home, visit:
 hƩp://store.discovery.com/green-science-windmill-generator/detail.php?p=524774
 hƩp://www.scienƟficsonline.com/product/green-science-windmill-generator
 Check out these other websites for more informaƟon on wind energy and how it works:
 hƩp://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=wind_home-basics
 hƩp://www.kids.esdb.bg/wind.html
 hƩp://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/energy/windenergy.html
 hƩp://www.alliantenergykids.com/energyandtheenvironment/renewableenergy/022397
Electrical Engineering
Robo cs
Applica ons: Robots have a wide variety of applica ons.
They can go places that humans cannot, from small spaces to
dangerous ones. They can be much stronger than people, and
can do repe ve tasks such as in manufacturing much longer
than people can. Robots can even be used to replace limbs that
have been lost, or help to perform surgery. Robots help to
make our lives easier, safer, and in some cases more enjoyable.
This robo c arm is part of a research program trying
to give amputees thought‐controlled prosthe cs.
"APL‐built Prosthe c Arm Controlled by Thought." The Hub.
N.p., 02 Jan. 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.
This Project: RoboNova is a robot with several servo
motors that imitate human joints, and allow it to do
many of the ac ons that a person can do, like
cartwheels! It has been programmed to perform all of
the stunts you see in this project, and can be controlled
using a remote control.
Further Informa on:
Robo Sally is a robot designed to defuse bombs in dangerous
se ngs, so that people don’t have to risk their lives to do so.
Rienzi, Greg. "Applied Physics Lab's Latest Robo c Wonder Does Her
Work in Danger Zones." The Hub. N.p., 01 July 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

h p://www.electronicsteacher.com/robo cs/what‐is‐robo cs.php — General informa on
about robo cs.
 h p://www.lego.com/en‐us/mindstorms/?domainredir=mindstorms.lego.com — To learn
more about LEGO Mindstorms, a robot made of LEGOs that can do many different types of
tasks. Can be very expensive.
 h p://www.usfirst.org/ ‐ FIRST Robo cs, an organiza on that hosts robo cs compe ons for
all ages.
 Ar cles on the two robots featured on this handout:
 h p://hub.jhu.edu/2013/01/02/prosthe c‐arm‐60‐minutes

h p://hub.jhu.edu/gaze e/2013/july/features‐robo‐sally‐useful‐robot‐applied‐
physics