3. Glow and Flow Flexible Circuits
Part 1: Paper Circuits – Light Up a Message! 💡💌
Your Goal: Create a card or paper craft with a working LED light. Make it Mean Something: Design it for someone special or to share a positive message. (Think: Electrical basics, Design, Interactive Art)
Materials:
- Cardstock/paper
- Copper tape
- LEDs
- 3V coin cell battery (e.g., CR2032)
- Clear tape, scissors, decorating supplies
Let’s Build:
- Design: Who is it for? What will it look like? Where will the light go? Sketch your idea.
- Plan Circuit:
- Battery: + and – sides. LED: long leg (+) & short leg (-).
- Draw two copper tape paths: One from battery (+) to LED (+), another from LED (-) to battery (-).
- Optional Switch: How can you make a break in the circuit that you can close to turn it on? (e.g., a flap, or pressing the battery down).
- Construct:
- Stick copper tape firmly along your planned paths.
- Attach LED: Bend legs flat. Place longer (+) leg on the positive path, shorter (-) leg on the negative path. Secure legs with more copper tape.
- Add Battery: Ensure correct sides touch the copper tape paths. A small paper flap or tape can hold it.
- Test & Fix: Light on? Great! No light?
- Battery direction? LED legs correct? All tape connections tight?
- Decorate & Share! Add your artistic touches.
Part 2: Luminescence
You’ve learned about bioluminescence (glowing in living things) and chemiluminescence (glowing from chemical reactions like in glow sticks), let’s make your own glowing “firefly”—using LEDs!
LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) glow when electricity flows through a tiny chip. This isn’t a chemical reaction like in glow sticks or fireflies—it’s a light made by energy moving through a circuit. Today, you’ll use an LED to represent the glow of a firefly, like a tiny glowing bug.
Watch the video below to learn how to safely power your LED. Then build your glowing firefly and decorate it using pens from your chromatography experiment or any other fun materials you li
STEP 4: When you’re happy with your “firefly,” take a clear photo of it glowing and use the QR code below to upload your picture. Be sure to type your first name in the “Subject” line when you upload.
