Book Image

Arduino for Kids

By : Rishi Gaurav Bhatnagar, Vijay Varada
Book Image

Arduino for Kids

By: Rishi Gaurav Bhatnagar, Vijay Varada

Overview of this book

The mission of this book is to integrate technology with the tools that children already use for crafts so that they feel that the technology is an extension of their playtime. We use coding, sensors, and micro-controllers integrated with art and craft supplies, origami, and Playdough. There are 10 fun-filled chapters that talk to children directly, and give clear instructions for non-technical parents too. We use Arduino as the controller of choice due to its easy availability and large community. By the end of the book, children will comfortably be able to set up their Arduino, read and understand code, manipulate code, and ultimately write their own code for projects. They will also be able to use basic sensors and know how components connect to each other. All the learning takes place with lots of colorful pictures and the circuits are neatly presented using wiring.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Arduino for Kids
Credits
Foreword
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Preface

Detecting light


Let's look at the following new sensor that we are dealing with. We will be using a LDR, which stands for a Light Dependent Resistor. A LDR works on the principle of photo-conductivity An LDR is shown in the following figure to familiarize you with it:

Image source : http://ninjagecko.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ldr.jpg

Photo conductivity is an optical phenomenon in which the material's conductivity (ability of the device to allow free flow of electrical charge) is increased when light is absorbed by the material.

Note

Remember, photo means light in Greek.

The surface of the LDR is made of this photo-conductive material. Typically, the resistance (apposition to the free flow of electrical charge) of the LDR is very high when there is no light falling on it. When light strikes the surface of the LDR, the resistance drops because of photo-conductivity and allows more current to flow across it as shown in the following representation:

Image source: http://www.tnt-audio.com...