Day 5 Microcontroller Board

 Fig 5.1

1. In fig 5.1, the properties of transistors is tested. The transistor is essentially a switch that's controlled by a current like a valve. The current added to the transistor can open or close the valve, depending on the type of transistor if it's an always open transistor or always closed. In this case, an always open transistor was used. Here a finger was used in order to demonstrate how the minute current passed through the finger can close the "valve" of the transistor in which the LED becomes brighter.

 

Fig 5.2

2. A microcontroller circuit is built. This microcontroller is useful as it is an integrated circuit that can be programmed to perform many functions, and thus making it a relatively cheap, compact, and versatile means of creating a circuit that can perform many functions. 

 

Fig 5.3

3. With the microcontroller connected to the PC via a DB9 serial cable, the microcontroller is able to be programmed to perform various tasks. Here is a basic task of coding the microcontroller to blink the LED every second.