Exploring series and parallel circuits

(a) Shopping list

(b) Things to do

Background

The ideas of resistance and capacitance are abstract for thoes who have not had an opportunity to play with these things.

Shopping List

Here is a list of parts needed to do this project. They are all available at Radio Shack, and so the parts numbers are provided. Prices are what I paid for them in the Summer of 2005 before taxes.

N1	N2	Description	Price	Exp 1	Exp 2
270	0413	Plastic Battery holder 4-AA	1.79	1
271	1126	10k ohm	.99	1
271	1130	47k ohm	.99	1
271	1131	100k ohm	.99	1
271	1133	470k ohm	.99	1
271	1134	1 Meg ohm	.99	1
271	1301	10 ohm resistors	0.99	1
271	1311	100 ohm	.99	1
271	1315	330 ohm resistors	0.99	1
271	1321	1k ohm	.99	1
272	1055	1.0 MFD 240V capacitor	1.59	2
272	1055	same	1.59
276	0175	IC Breadboard Socket	8.39	1
276	1622	Assorted LEDs	2.59	1
276	1723	555 Timer	1.49	1
999		Total	26.35

In addition, I also bought the following things which were helpful but not essential to the things you might want to do.

N1	N2	Description	Price	Exp 1	Exp 2
270	0346	Alligator Clips PK8	2.79	Good	Good
272	0802	PK20 electrol capacitor asmt	4.29	Good
272	1099	Mini Colored Lamps	2.59	Good
273	0092	Mini-Speaker 8 ohm	2.59	Good
276	0173	BreadBoard Wire Kit	6.29	Good
640	2979	Adjustable Wire Stripper	4.99	Good	Good
999		Total	23.54

Things to do

Blinking lights

This site is still under construction. I wanted to get the shopping list up for those who are interested in playing with series and parallel circuits using a 555 timer to make lights blink in an RC.

If you want to work ahead of where I am at, you might do research on 555 timer history and theory as well as several interesting applications. I just did a Google search on "555 timer circuits" and found nearly 33 thousand hits. I liked http://www.doctronics.co.uk/555.htm because it shows a picture of the circuit as built. But the next time I did the same search, the next day, I got different results.