CONTENTS IN DETAIL

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

About This Book

Experiments

Projects

Code and Resources

1
GETTING STARTED

A Tour of the Micro:bit

The Top

The Bottom

Power and the Micro:bit

Connecting Electronics with Input/Output Pins

Built-In Peripherals

Hardware Essentials

Programming the Micro:bit

Connecting your Micro:bit

Programming with Blocks: Hello World

Programming with MicroPython: Hello World

Programming Concepts

Variables

Arithmetic

if Blocks

Strings

Arrays and Lists

Programming Wrap-Up

Downloading the Code

Downloading the Blocks Code

Downloading the MicroPython Code

Summary

2
SUPER SONIC

Connecting a Loudspeaker to a Micro:bit

The Quiet Method: Headphones

The Ghetto Blaster Method: Speaker

Experiment 1: Generating Sounds

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: Frequency and Sound

Experiment 2: It Speaks!

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Project: Musical Doorbell

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

Project: Shout-O-Meter

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Microphone Output

Summary

3
LUMINOUS LIGHT

Experiment 3: Sensing Light

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works

Project: Automatic Night-Light

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Project: Light Guitar

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Project: Infinity Mirror

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works

Summary

4
MAGICAL MAGNETISM

Project: Compass

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: The Earth’s Magnetic Field

Experiment 4: Measuring Magnetic Fields

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: The Strength of Magnets

Project: Magnetic Door Alarm

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

Summary

5
AMAZING ACCELERATION

Experiment 5: Gestures

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: Force, Acceleration, and Gravity

Experiment 6: Real-Time Acceleration Plotting

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Calculating Net Acceleration

Project: Toothbrushing Monitor

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

Experiment 7: Logging Acceleration to a File

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

Project: Acceleration Display

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Summary

6
MAD MOVEMENT

Experiment 8: Making a Servomotor Move

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Servomotors and Pulses

Project: Animatronic Head (Mike the Micro:bit Robot)

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

Project: Robot Rover

What You’ll Need

Construction

How It Works: Motors and the Flow of Electricity

Summary

7
TIME TRAVEL

Experiment 9: Keeping Time

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Keeping Time

Project: Binary Clock

How to Read the Binary Clock

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Telling the Time in Binary

Project: Talking Clock

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Teaching the Micro:bit to Speak

Summary

8
MAD SCIENTIST MIND GAMES

Experiment 10: How Fast Are Your Nerves?

What You’ll Need

Construction

Testing Your Nervous System

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: Measuring Your Reaction Time

Project: Lie Detector

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Detecting Lies Through Sweat, Voltage, and Resistance

Summary

9
ENVIRONMENTAL MADNESS

Experiment 11: Measuring Temperature

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Why Does a Processor Heat Up?

Project: Temperature and Light Logger

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Sensors

Project: Automatic Plant Waterer

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: Measuring Soil Dampness

Summary

10
RADIO ACTIVITY

Experiment 12: Finding the Radio Range

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

How It Works: Radio Signals

Project: Wireless Doorbell

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: Sending and Receiving

Project: Micro:bit-Controlled Rover

What You’ll Need

Construction

Code

Things to Try

How It Works: Motor Driver Blocks

Summary

APPENDIX: GET THE PARTS

Useful Tools

Common Parts

Powering Your Micro:bit

Micro:bit Accessories

Miscellaneous