Tag Archives: Light switch

Week 7: Light Switch Part 2

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This week, we finished up our light switches. First, I decorated the iPad switch. I drew a box for the screen, and then I drew a bunch of apps and colored them different colors. Then, since I was done and there was still time, I quickly made another button for my iPad, that is also a light switch. The button that I added is an “Off” button. I made it the same way as the home button. I attached a piece of tinfoil at the top right of the iPad. Then I cut a small piece of a rubber band, and hot glued each side an inch apart to the cardboard. I cut out and colored a small cardboard circle, to the middle of the rubber band. Lastly, I hot glued a small piece of tinfoil to the bottom of the circle.

I finished early, so I decided to test out my light switches. They all worked, but I had to make an adjustment to the Starbucks cup and the lever. I couldn’t stick the alligator clip inside of the cup to the bottom, where the tinfoil is. So I cut a hole through the bottom of the cup. Then I tested them a couple more times, made little adjustments, and I was done. The next day, it was time to play the light switch game. One person starts the timer, and one person flips over 2 cards. If one of the cards is red and one is black, the third person hits the light switch that is on the side of the red card. If the cards are both red, the third person hits the middle light switch. If both of the cards are black, the third person doesn’t do anything. Once they get through the whole deck of cards, the person who is timing it stops the timer. The goal is to get through the whole deck as fast as you can. My record time was 35 seconds. From this project, I learned how to make a light switch with only a few materials. 

Week 6: Light Switch

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This week, we learned a little bit about how light switches work. To make a light switch, you need at least 1 battery, some wires, and a light bulb. The more batteries you have, the more light it will produce. So our assignment is to make 3 different creative light switches. For the switch to work, you have to have tinfoil not touching tinfoil in the beginning, and then you push or pull something, and tinfoil touches tinfoil.

First, I drew some sketches. For my first sketch, I designed a Starbucks coffee cup. When I was done, I got started building. The cup is made out of cardboard that I curved, and closed with another piece of cardboard at the bottom. I put a piece of tinfoil at the inside-bottom of the cup. Then I got a straw, and hot glued a piece of tinfoil to the bottom, as well as the middle of a cut rubber band. I glued one end of the rubber band to one side/top of the cup, and the other end to the other side/top of the cup. Here’s how it works – you attach one alligator clip to the straw tinfoil and another alligator clip to the cup tinfoil. You push the straw down, and the tinfoil on the straw, touches the tinfoil on the bottom of the cup, and the light switch lights up.

Then, I drew another sketch. I decided to do a lever/scale. I cut out a base for the lever out of cardboard. Next I cut out a triangle, so that the lever can move up and down/ side to side. Then I cut out a long oval for the lever. I hot glued some Pom poms for decoration. I taped the middle of the lever to the top of the triangle. Then, I hot glued one piece of tinfoil to one side of the lever, and another piece of tinfoil to the base of the lever, so that when you push down on the lever, the tinfoil on the lever touches the tinfoil on the base.

Lastly, I drew a sketch of an iPad. The home button has a piece of tinfoil on the bottom, and the iPad has another piece of tinfoil on it. I taped each end of a cut rubber band to the iPad, and taped the home button to that. So when you push the home button down, the tinfoil on the home button touches the tinfoil on the iPad. Next week I will decorate the iPad.