Unit 3 ePortfolio Entry - Digital Circuits

Binary Numbers

We learned how to convert binary numbers into different forms like decimal,
hexadecimal and binary. We learned how to go from any form to another form of those
three. The biggest challenge for me was learning how to add and subtract binary digits.
I practiced it for a while before the test but I don’t think I got it properly. Another
challenge was remembering how the hexadecimal digits change but we had a system
for that and that is how I overcame this challenge. Binary numbers don’t really relate to
my life directly but they are used in a number of products and items I use everyday and
that probably won’t change in the future of my life. I feel like the ideology of binary
numbers will stay the same for a long time because it seems so simple and I don;t know
what the future holds for binary numbers. Nonetheless, binary numbers and conversion
was probably the easiest part of the unit but it was a little bit boring to me.
 Logic Gates

Logic gates were a very important component of the unit. We learned all the
basic logic gates and had to memorize them. We learned the diagram, truth table, name
and Boolean equation for each logic gate. Some examples are the AND Gate, the NOT
Gate, the OR Gate and many other different gates. The most difficult part for me with
logic gates was looking at two or three logic gates combined and telling what one logic
gate the diagram represents. At first I was overcomplicating it in my head and I just got
better with practice and experience but that wasn’t until after the logic gates test. Logic
gates are in a lot of products and things I use everyday and that’s how it is related to my
life indirectly. This probably won’t be in my future in life because I didn’t really find logic
gates a fun topic that we covered. I will continue to use products made with logic gates
but that’s it for me and logic gates. I am not really sure how logic gates will affect others
in the future. I would assume that logic gates will be the same for a very long time since
there is already quite a lot at least I think so. To conclude, logic gates was a very
important topic in this unit and it was a little bit tricky for me as well.
 Analog and Digital Electronics/Circuit

In this part of the unit, we learned a lot about circuits and electronics. We learned
about what a circuit is, the components of one and how they work together to complete
tasks. We also learned about analog vs digital information and how they are different
from each other. We also went over Ohm's Law and the equation to get power in watts.
We went over schematic diagrams and symbols as well. The hardest part for me about
this topic was learning about what each component of the circuit does. Like I didn’t
really understand what a capacitor does and why we use it. To overcome this challenge
in the future I would just have to study harder and get myself more familiar with these
things. The only way that this stuff connects to my life is that I use digital and analog
electronics and these circuits are in many everyday items but I don’t work with any
circuits directly. I think that these electronics will change a lot in the future with new
technology and what not and I think it will affect others in the future by giving the users
more convenience. Overall, this topic was probably the biggest that we covered in the
unit but it wasn't a totally new experience because this overlaps with Grade 9 Science
quite a bit with the circuits and Ohm’s law. I think this was the most important topic of
the unit.

Circuit Labs - Logic Probes and Logic Gates

 In this part of the unit, we made our own logic gates on breadboards and we also
attached logic gates to them in order to experiment and answer lab questions. We used
what we learned about logic gates and circuits to complete this lab. We used two 330
Ohm resistors, a red LED and a green one, jumper wire, a probe wire and a breadboard
to make the logic probe. When we put the probe wire on positive or float, the red LED
would light up. When the probe wire was negative, the green LED would light up. Then
we added some logic gates to answer questions. There wasn’t really anything hard
about this lab but there was some questions on the lab where we had to look at a
combination of logic gates and tell what it is. Eventually, me and my partner figured it
out and it wasn’t a problem anymore. This lab does not connect to my life at all and this
is the first time I ever did something like this. I don’t really see how this lab will affect
others now or in the future but it might be helpful for me if we do this in science next
semester. To conclude, I enjoyed these labs.

Circuit project: - LED flasher circuit

 For the final project, we had to make a flasher circuit with a 555 timer on a
breadboard. We made our design with 6-8 LEDS, chose a frequency to solve for the
value of R2 and we spent about a week putting the circuit together. I chose a pretty hard
design with 4 green LEDs and 4 yellow LEDs. This project was pretty difficult and I
didn’t get all of my LEDs to blink and work properly. That was the hardest part for me.
To wire up all the LEDs to work at the right times. I even burned out an LED trying to get
everything to work properly. I never actually overcome this challenge but I should have
asked for more help from the teacher to do so. This project once again does not relate
to my life at all and it probably will never because I was not good at this so I probably
won’t choose to do this in the future. This was the hardest part of the unit but at least I
learned something.