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Are you curious to know what really goes on inside your iPod, cellphone, tablet, or TV? Do you find it amazing that tiny electronic devices can do so many fun and interesting things? Have you ever wondered if you can build an electronic device that actually does something useful? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you’ve come to the right place!

Electronics is all about controlling electrical current – which you may know better as electricity – flowing in a complete path called a circuit. All electronic devices are made up of circuits, and every circuit contains a power supply, a path, and one or more parts (known as electronic components) to control current flow.

By using some basic electronic components to build projects that switch LEDs on and off, sound an alarm when light is detected, tune in a radio station, and more, you can begin to understand how your iPod, cellphone, and computer are able to do such incredible things.

About This Book

Electronics For Kids For Dummies introduces you to the incredible world of electronics in a fun way: by showing you how to build circuits that actually do something. As you build these circuits, you see for yourself how tiny electronic parts – resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits – work together to control lights, sound, and timing.

The book walks you through 13 projects (plus a shopping "project") you can build and understand with just introductory knowledge. Each project includes a list of the parts you need, step-by-step circuit-building instructions (with colorful illustrations), and an explanation of how the circuit works.

By completing all the projects in this book, you will discover

✓ What it takes to make a complete circuit

✓ How to build circuits on a breadboard

✓ What series and parallel circuits are

✓ How to light an LED – without frying it

✓ Why switching electrical current between paths is so powerful

✓ How to pair a capacitor and a resistor to create a timer

✓ How to use a transistor to boost current

✓ What you can do with three different integrated circuits (ICs)

✓ How to create sounds at different frequencies

✓ Ways to control the sequencing of lights

✓ How to pull a radio signal out of thin air and amplify it

Although I can’t promise that you’ll be able to build a project as sophisticated as an iPod after reading this book, I can promise that you’ll build some fun and interesting projects – and you’ll be well on your way to expanding your knowledge so you can tackle more complex electronics projects.

This book is just a start. The rest is up to you.

Foolish Assumptions

In writing this book, I made the following assumptions about the interests and skill level of you and other readers:

✓ You don’t know much – if anything – about electronics.

✓ You’re interested in building projects that do something useful or fun.

✓ You’d like to learn the basic principles of electronics as you build your projects.

✓ You have some money to spend on project supplies and tools. With some smart shopping, $50 will get you most of what you need and $70–$100 will cover everything.

✓ You’re able to place an online order for electronic components and get to a store or two (probably with help from an adult).

✓ You will carefully follow the safety tips in this book.

Icons Used in This Book

The tip icon flags time-saving shortcuts and other information that can make your circuit-building job easier.

This icon alerts you to important ideas or facts that you should keep in mind while building your electronics projects.

When you build electronic circuits, you’re bound to run into situations that call for extreme caution. The warning icon reminds you to take extra precautions to avoid personal injury or prevent damage to your components or circuits.

This icon marks text that tells you technical details about the project you’re building. If you choose to skip this information, that’s okay – you can still follow along and build the project just fine.

Beyond the Book

In addition to the content in this book, you’ll find some extra content available at the www.dummies.com website:

✓ The Cheat Sheet for this book at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/electronicsfk.

✓ Online materials covering additional topics are at www.dummies.com/extras/electronicsfk.

✓ Updates to this book, if any, at www.dummies.com/extras/electronicsfk.

Where to Go from Here

As a project-based book, Electronics For Kids For Dummies is designed to allow you to choose what you want to work on when you want to work on it. You can build each project in order or skip ahead to a project that especially interests you. If specific information about, say, how to attach wires to a speaker appears in an earlier project, you’ll find a reference to that earlier information in all later projects that use a speaker.

Even if you choose to jump into a later project first, you’d be wise to read Project 1 before you get started. Buying electronic components isn’t like buying a laptop or a TV: You can’t just walk into your neighborhood electronics store and pick up a few transistors and other parts. Project 1 lists everything you need to build the projects in the book and guides you through the shopping process to ensure that it’s as easy, quick, and inexpensive as possible.

If you’re new to electronics or have never built a circuit on a solderless breadboard, I recommend you read through Projects 2 and 3 before tackling the other projects. However, because each project walks you through the building steps in great detail, you don’t have to master your breadboard to successfully build any of the projects in this book.

I hope you’re as excited about electronics as I am. Have fun building the projects in this book!