When electronics are made in a factory, they are made using printed circuit boards. But this requires high heat and special tools, so engineers often use breadboards. Breadboarding makes it easy to place and replace parts. Circuit designers use breadboards to quickly build circuits and experiment, and with our kit, you can too!
At first, breadboarding meant fixing parts to actual wooden breadboards. But modern breadboards are made of durable plastic with electrical conductors built inside.
Breadboards have a grid of points where wires or parts can be inserted. Points on the same row of the grid connect horizontally, but not across the middle. On each side of the grid are a pair of strips, marked “+” Positive and “-” Negative. These strips connect vertically and deliver power across the circuit.
MicroKits manufactures a “power bridge” which connects the power strips on each side together. This makes it easy to connect batteries to the breadboard. The battery negative terminal connects to the “-” on both sides of the breadboard, and the battery positive terminal connects to the "+".
Let’s make a simple circuit to show how breadboards work. Connect a resistor between Row 10 and Row 13. Then connect an LED between positive and Row 10. Finally, connect a wire from Row 13 to negative. When a battery is connected to the power strip, the LED will turn on. Electricity flows from the positive strip to the LED to Row 10, then through the resistor to Row 13. Finally, it returns to negative through the yellow wire. Breadboards make it easy to combine parts to make a circuit!
