Transistors: Part 1

Last updated on October 7th, 2021

Transistors are at the heart of the digital revolution. In this Building Block a single transistor is introduced along with its basic circuit configuration.

Simple introduction to transistors. This is a huge area with many other resources online — so this is pretty barebones.

Video

I am aware that I am a special kind of green in this video.

Get the Slides

Transistors-IntroductionDownload

Get The Code

The code used in this video is exactly the same as that used in our introduction to Digital Outputs. 

int ledPin  = 8 ; // built in

void setup() {

  pinMode ( ledPin , OUTPUT) ; // set direction
}

void loop() {

  digitalWrite ( ledPin , 1 ) ;   // turn LED on
  delay ( 1000 ) ;  // wait a bit == 1 second

  digitalWrite ( ledPin, 0 ) ;  // turn LED off  
  delay ( 1000 ) ; // wait a bit
}

Get the code from tangible on github.

Going Further

Add motors to this circuit in Transistors: Part 2