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304 Making Things Move

FIGURE 10-19 Rectifier circuit created on a breadboard

Blue

Yellow

gnd +5V

Green

Red

19. Notice the LED in the center and the two capacitors at the top and bottom of
the board. Plug the long leg of your LED into the power column and the short
one into ground. Before you add the capacitors, give the wind lantern a spin
and watch the LED flicker!

20. Try adding at least one capacitor as shown in Figure 10-18. The negative
marked side should go to ground, the other to power. The capacitor will store
energy while the wind lantern is creating it, and release it when it is not. The
resulting effect here is a smoother flicker on the LED. Try adding more LEDs
and more capacitors until you get a smooth glow when you spin the
aluminum rod. In Figure 10-20, we placed diffuser paper over the side of the
lantern and used three LEDs and two capacitors to create a pleasing glow.

21. Now take it outside! See if it works with real wind. We had success on a street
corner in Manhattan and on the roof of Eyebeam Art + Technology Center’s
two-story building.