Project Images
First image courtesy of Dishon Wise, a previous PLTW Engineering Student
Project Description
In this project, I was tasked with soldering specific parts to designated places on a circuit board so that the components would come together and perform as a digital random number generator. The goals of this project were to teach us how to solder, how components on a circuit board are assigned and placed, and to give us a better understanding of how electrical components work in a system.
Testing the RNG's Randomness
Post Project
We were given two conclusion questions to answer:
1. How evenly distributed were the numbers for your RNG? And do you think it is fair or not?
My numbers produced from the system were not evenly distributed at all, and this is mainly shown by the data where the system produced a (1) 39% out of 100 times. For this reason, I say that it is not fair.
2. Define "debugging" and find the origin of the word.
"Debugging" means to identify and remove errors from computer hardware or software. The origin of the word comes from a Harvard student who was working on a computer and had a moth stuck in a relay component inside the device, causing problems to the computer. When removing the bug and restoring the device to function, she coined the term "debugging".
Reflection:
In this project we used four types of resistors, which were seven 180ohm resistors, one 1.2kohm resistor, one 10kohm resistor, and one 18kohm resistor. We also used seven red LEDs, three capacitors which measured 100µfarrats, 0.47µf, and 0.01µf, and two switches, a push-button and a slider switch. Other items include a 555 timer, 5 computational chips of different functions, and five 14 pin sockets along with one 8 pin socket. Lastly, all the components, along with a battery holder, were attached to a singular provided circuit board using lead-based solder.
This entire project was very enjoyable for me. It taught me more about circuit boards are assembled and how the function, as well as teaching me a skill I’ve always been curious about, soldering. I found the process easy and enjoyable despite the toxic lead fumes wafting up from the work area. I was extremely careful with the solder and the soldering iron, making sure the hot end of the device stayed away from me or anything else that could get burned, and I made sure not to burn the circuit board, as well as getting the solder amount on each pin of the components just right. The only problem I encountered the entire time performing the task was when I found that I had left some LEDs a few millimeters off the circuit board after I had soldered them, so in the future I will pay extra attention to make sure that does not happen again. One final note is that I would have loved to be taught how the circuit board component itself is made so that I could possibly delve into the creation of circuits and electronics on my own time.
1. How evenly distributed were the numbers for your RNG? And do you think it is fair or not?
My numbers produced from the system were not evenly distributed at all, and this is mainly shown by the data where the system produced a (1) 39% out of 100 times. For this reason, I say that it is not fair.
2. Define "debugging" and find the origin of the word.
"Debugging" means to identify and remove errors from computer hardware or software. The origin of the word comes from a Harvard student who was working on a computer and had a moth stuck in a relay component inside the device, causing problems to the computer. When removing the bug and restoring the device to function, she coined the term "debugging".
Reflection:
In this project we used four types of resistors, which were seven 180ohm resistors, one 1.2kohm resistor, one 10kohm resistor, and one 18kohm resistor. We also used seven red LEDs, three capacitors which measured 100µfarrats, 0.47µf, and 0.01µf, and two switches, a push-button and a slider switch. Other items include a 555 timer, 5 computational chips of different functions, and five 14 pin sockets along with one 8 pin socket. Lastly, all the components, along with a battery holder, were attached to a singular provided circuit board using lead-based solder.
This entire project was very enjoyable for me. It taught me more about circuit boards are assembled and how the function, as well as teaching me a skill I’ve always been curious about, soldering. I found the process easy and enjoyable despite the toxic lead fumes wafting up from the work area. I was extremely careful with the solder and the soldering iron, making sure the hot end of the device stayed away from me or anything else that could get burned, and I made sure not to burn the circuit board, as well as getting the solder amount on each pin of the components just right. The only problem I encountered the entire time performing the task was when I found that I had left some LEDs a few millimeters off the circuit board after I had soldered them, so in the future I will pay extra attention to make sure that does not happen again. One final note is that I would have loved to be taught how the circuit board component itself is made so that I could possibly delve into the creation of circuits and electronics on my own time.