The Last piece of weird equipment that you have never heard of!  But there are about 4 Billion (with a b) in this laptop.

The transisitors amplify current.  A small current at the base will allow a much larger current to pass between the collector and the emitter.  Tranisistors are often used as amplifiers or switches.

For our class we are only going to use the NPN:  Which means the middle lead (the BASE) will need positive power to press and start electricity flowing.  This is the basis of all computer interatction .

 

On one side you have the Emitter and the other the collector

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have two examples on the table of how things can work.  You can use them to do all sorts of things one thing I like to build is a motion detector.

One motion detector, one NPN transistor, one nine volt battery, one buzzer, one child.