The Main PurposeThis project helped us learn how to properly solder a circuit board and follow directions in order to create a functioning random number generator. We used a soldering iron which is heated to about 700 degrees Fahrenheit to melt solder to attach components to the circuit board. Solder is an alloy of tin and lead and helps to conduct the current throughout the components.
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Conclusion Questions
1. Each number should have appeared 16.67% of the time or around that in order to be fair. I don't think that my random number generator is fair since 1 appeared twice as often as it should have.
2. The term "debugging" originated in the 1940's when Admiral Grace Hopper was working on a Mark II computer and noticed that there was a moth stuck in a relay which prevented the computer from functioning. However, Thomas Edison is accredited with coining the term bug to mean a technical error.
2. The term "debugging" originated in the 1940's when Admiral Grace Hopper was working on a Mark II computer and noticed that there was a moth stuck in a relay which prevented the computer from functioning. However, Thomas Edison is accredited with coining the term bug to mean a technical error.
Reflection
Overall, this project was fairly enjoyable although on the second day I managed to drop the soldering iron and catch it burning my hand as a result. Luckily, my hand didn’t blister and I was able to continue soldering. Additionally, I found out that I had been using a soldering iron with a broken tip which was very ineffective and slowed me down and made me fairly disgruntled. I didn’t realize that the tip was broken until the end of the second day. On the third day I found a soldering iron that worked properly and I was able to proceed much more effectively. One thing I found interesting was how the circuit would malfunction depending on the placement of the IC units. My friend accidentally had two of the ICs mixed up and it made only one of the LEDs light up. I wish that we knew more about how the IC units worked. Also we don’t really know how the circuit board works or anything about why it functions the way it does. We only know that it works in the configuration that we were told to make. I'm glad that were able to learn how to solder since you can use it in areas outside of engineering such as in jewelry making. we were able to apply our knowledge about reading the resistance on ohms by looking at the color bands on the resistor. we also got to use capacitors, which are measured in farads, for the first time. we had already used diodes before when we learned how to breadboard in POE.