Breadboard and Circuit Basics

Overview

This lecture introduces breadboards, explains their internal connections, and demonstrates building a simple LED circuit using a breadboard.

Breadboards allow for temporary circuit construction by plugging wires and components into connected holes.
Power rails (buses) run along the edges and connect all holes in a single column.
The top and bottom power rails are separate; holes on one rail are not connected to holes on the opposite rail.
Power rails are typically used to distribute positive and negative battery terminals throughout the board.
The central area consists of rows of holes; each set of five holes in a row is internally connected.
Rows on each side of the central gap are electrically separate from one another.
Wires or component leads plugged into the same row of five are connected; plugging into different rows is disconnected unless purposely wired.

Attach the positive terminal of a battery to the red power rail and the negative terminal to the blue/negative rail.
Insert the longer lead of the LED into the positive power rail and the shorter lead into a central row.
Connect a resistor from the LED's negative lead into a new row on the breadboard.
Use a wire to connect that row to the negative (blue) power rail to complete the circuit and light the LED.
Breadboards allow easy and clean assembly without tools like clips or directly holding components.

Breadboard — A reusable device with a grid of connected holes for building temporary circuits.
Power Rail (Bus) — A long row of connected holes along the edge of the breadboard, used for distributing power.
Row — A short strip of five connected holes in the breadboard's main area.
LED — Light Emitting Diode; a component that emits light when current passes through.

Practice building simple circuits on a breadboard to become familiar with connections.
Review the previous tutorial (episode 8) for reference to the circuit used.