Illustrating
Logic with Edison 4
Edison 4 provides a terrific visual environment
for designing circuits. Unlike the bigger application Tina Pro, Edison
4 lets you design projects and see them using objects that are recognizable
in real life. The transition to a schematic view is facilitated by Edison
4's creation of the schematic in a side window.
Edison 4 can be used to address many
curriculum expectations throughout the entire curriculum. Here are
but a couple of examples.
For example, in Grade 6 Science:
6s68 Grade 6 PLNR02 Science and Technology Energy and
Control Developing Skills of Inquiry, Design and Communication – construct
series circuits (e.g., logical AND) and parallel circuits (e.g., logical
OR)
to control a device, and compare their characteristics;
or Grade 11 Computer Engineering:
TF1.03 Grade 11 PLNR02 Computer Engineering Theory and Foundation Computer
Logic and Electronics – describe the function of decoder and timer
chips and the fundamental logic gates AND, NAND, OR, NOR, XOR, and NOT;
So, here's a simple example. Start Edison 4 and from
the top collection of components drag a power source and a light bulb
to your workspace. You'll see connectors nicely identified on each. With
your mouse, you wire the objects together by using your mouse to draw
the wire from connector to connector.
Unwired:
Wired:
Note that, once connected, the light comes on. indicating
that there is a flow of electricity sufficient to turn the light on.
The power supply is providing 5 volts of electricity. You can double
click on the power supply to get more details. You'll also note that
there are some dials on the front to adject the voltage and the realities
of electricity kick in when the power exceed what the bulb can handle.
Fortunately, you can always turn the electricity down and use the repair
menu to fix the light bulb!
In reality, we don't work our lights this way. We
have a switch to control the flow of electricity. So, from our component
connection at the bottom, let's add a switch and connect it to our circuit.
With the switch in place, we can now
control the flow of electricity just by using it just as if it was on
the wall.
Not a terribly exciting concept but
we do have input, output, and a controller. It's easy to create a simple
truth table. The next step would be to add another switch to the mix.
Under what conditions would the light bulb come on?
Switch 1
Switch 2
Light
OFF
OFF
.
OFF
ON
.
ON
OFF
.
ON
ON
.
Now, there's a truth table you can sink
your teeth in to!
Edison 4 is the perfect tool for visually
showing electrical experiments and concepts. Don't forget that it's also
creating our schematic for us as we work with the components on our table
top. Here's our light, power supply and switches connected in series.
Just think of all of the experiments
and simulations that can be conducted safely on computer with Edison
4.
