{"id":3098,"date":"2015-11-06T11:16:04","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T17:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/?p=3098"},"modified":"2016-10-14T13:08:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T18:08:53","slug":"diy-for-the-weekend-dancing-dolphins-talking-puppets-and-an-electric-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/diy-for-the-weekend-dancing-dolphins-talking-puppets-and-an-electric-you\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY for the Weekend: Dancing Dolphins, Talking Puppets, and an Electric You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wanted to know how ‘electric’ or ‘resistive’ you really are? Have a wall of dancing dolphins or a talking puppet? Whatever electronics project you’d like to try – we’ve got the resources you need!<\/p>\n

Making Everyday Electronics Work: a Do-It-Yourself Guide<\/em><\/a> will help you learn the basics of electricity, about everyday electronics, and what makes them work – or not. Author Stan Gibilisco starts with the basics by explaining direct current, alternative current,\u00a0working his way through magnetic force, semiconductors and vacuum tubes. Each section\u00a0has “Did you know?”, “Fact or Myth?” and “For Nerds Only” boxes and sidebars. And, since I’m sure you don’t want to be electrocuted, there are also warnings about dangers of which you will want to be aware!<\/p>\n

\"Multimeter<\/a>
Multimeter available in our Tool Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gibilisco talks about building and stocking your workbench. He includes a detailed list of what you’ll need to have a well-stocked place to experiment. One of the items mentioned is a multimeter. We have one in our Tool Library<\/a> – ready for you to check out!<\/p>\n

Now that you are ‘grounded’ in the basics of electricity and everyday electronics, you can move on to the experiments that Gibilisco provides..\u00a0You can start by\u00a0building a wet cell\u00a0using distilled white vinegar, table salt and other items from your workbench. And, once you’ve created the wet cell, Gibilisco will walk you through using\u00a0the left-over items to test both how electric and resistive you are!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dancing<\/a>
Dancing Dolphins. Electronics Projects for Dummies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or maybe you’d like to have a wall of Dancing Dolphins….or birds…. or spaceships…. Using the dancing dolphins as an\u00a0example,\u00a0Electronics Projects for Dummie<\/a>s<\/a><\/i>\u00a0will teach you everything you need to know about putting the schematic together and building “a circuit with a porpoise.” (their words, not mine. Really). From making the circuit, the dolphins and the lighting,\u00a0Electronics Projects for Dummies<\/em> walks you through each of the steps, complete with photos to help you through the process.<\/p>\n

\"Murmuring<\/a>
Murmuring Merlin. Electronics Projects for Dummies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Talking puppets (or just about anything else) more your style? You can learn about working with sound synthesizer chips and have fun making a “Murmuring Merlin” puppet.\u00a0The project that is demonstrated in\u00a0Electronics Projects for Dummies<\/em> uses a wizard hand puppet. You can program the synthesizer chip to say anything you’d like. \u00a0Have anything you’d like to say to your roommate?<\/p>\n

If you want to try your hand at making light dance to music, controlling a Go-Kart “infrared style,” or making your own metal detector,\u00a0Electronics Projects for Dummies<\/em>\u00a0will help you through.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have fun using these\u00a0projects and your new knowledge as a jumping off point for your own projects and ideas!<\/p>\n

Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gibilisco, Stan. 2014.\u00a0Making everyday electronics work: a do-it-yourself guide.<\/em>\u00a0New York : McGraw-Hill Education. Engineering Library TK7819 .G37 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ham Radio.<\/em> February 24, 2008. Ham Radio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Boysen, Earl. 2006.\u00a0Electronics projects for dummies.<\/em> Hoboken, NJ : Wiley. Engineering Library TK7819 .M38 2006<\/a><\/p>\n

Other Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Giblisco, Stan. 2005.\u00a0Electronics demystified.<\/em> New York : McGraw-Hill. Engineering Library TK7819 .G35 2005<\/a><\/p>\n

Giblisco, Stan. 2011.\u00a0Teach yourself electricity and electronics<\/em>. New York : McGraw-Hill. Engineering Library TK7819 .G38 2011<\/a><\/p>\n

Nuts & volts magazine.<\/em> Corona, CA : T & L Publications. \u00a0Journal. Engineering Library No call number<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wanted to know how ‘electric’ or ‘resistive’ you really are? Have a wall of dancing dolphins or a talking puppet? Whatever electronics project you’d like to try – we’ve got the resources you need! Making Everyday Electronics Work: a Do-It-Yourself Guide will help you learn the basics of electricity, about everyday electronics,Continue reading “DIY for the Weekend: Dancing Dolphins, Talking Puppets, and an Electric You”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,19],"tags":[],"syndication":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3098"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4783,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3098\/revisions\/4783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3098"},{"taxonomy":"syndication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lib.uiowa.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/syndication?post=3098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}