The Switch

Figure 1: The push-button is a popular switch

The switch is a component that connects one pin to another. For current to flow through a circuit, there needs to be a path from the plus of the battery to the minus of the battery.


If you build a simple circuit with an LED and a resistor and connect this to a battery, your LED will light up. If you disconnect the plus of the battery from the circuit, the LED turns off. 


The switch is nothing more than a way to connect and disconnect two or more things. For example to make a light-switch. Or a keyboard.



Figure 2: The switch symbol comes in many forms. This is the push button switch.

Example

 
In Figure 3, you can see how you can use a switch to turn on and off an LED.

Figure 3: In this circuit, the switch turns on the LED when pushed down


 


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