Re:555 Timer Circuits
by qq66 on Saturday October 19, 2024 @11:41PM
(#41892689)
The problem with starting with a 555 timer is that the things you can make with a 555 timer aren’t impressive to kids anymore. Oh, you made a sound that gets higher pitched when there’s more light on it? I thought that shit was amazing when I was 8. But my son wouldn’t look twice at that. So we started with Arduino so that the first thing he created was something he saw as “cool.”
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I wonder if that will come around though, where it's cool because it seems so simple or 'real' compared to black box software or AI walking talking robot or wherever we are.
I grew up interested in stuff like that, taking walkie-talkies apart and building electromagnets with nails etc. - despite the availability of the world wide web & DAB radio.
I disagree. I as an adult with zero prior experience with electronics have recently completed the book "Make: Electronics", which contains such experiments, and I got a sense of amazement very much resembling one that a(n) (intellectually curious) child would have. A 555, a couple of trimpots and a speaker can be loads of fun!
One of the circuits on the site is a 20000 V zapper [1]. Would even that fail to interest today's kids?