Paper Circuits

  Last night I took a beginning class on paper circuits.  I bet you are wondering what the heck a paper circuit is? I looked for information after I signed up for it.

It turns out that you use a conductive tape such as a thin copper tape that is kind of sticky and lay it down on paper.  There are small triangles with a thin layer of copper on the back and a light in the middle that you use to bridge a small gap in the copper tape.  Add two batteries at the positive and negative ends and voila you have a circuit that will cause the bulbs to light up.

Last night I put together two simple circuits.  The coolest thing about these circuits? You can integrate them into cards, notebooks, art work, math or anything you can write in.  One of the videos showed a piece of artwork with flowers that lit up and parts floated away when you blew on the flowers.  It looked so cool.

I saw another that was a drawing of the forest and if you touched it just right, lights would come on showing a path through the forest.  I also saw how it could be used in interactive math journals, in stories, in just about anything you could put in a journal.  It was sooo simple and awesome.

I'll get to go to the next class in about two weeks.  Its the intermediate class and I'll get a chance to try some more things.  Right now I can make simple circuits.  I hope I learn how to set these up so I can have lights go on and off to illustrate perhaps a concept almost like the person whose drawing showed a lit path through the forest.

I have left overs to play with over the next couple weeks before my next class.  I am off to have fun.