Snap Circuit AM Radio

Have you just acquired a snap circuit kit and you've been looking for a fun and easy experiment to try? Look no longer, this simple circuit is a AM radio that I will show you step by step on how to make and educate you on how it works. This circuit will take about 20-40 minutes to complete depending on your knowledge of snap circuits. Hope you enjoy!

-Scissors (Optional)

-Cardboard Box (Preferably 35 cm length, 24 cm width, 6 cm length)(Optional)

-4 AA Batteries

-Snap Circuit Parts Including:

-10x7 Grid

-3, 1-Snap Wires

-7, 2-Snap Wires

-3, 3-Snap Wires

- 4-Snap Wire

- 7 Snap Wire

-2, B1 Battery Holders (You can substitute with other battery holders if needed

-S1 Slide Switch

-SP Speaker

-R3 5 100 Ohms Resistor

-R4 10 000 Ohms Resistor

-R5 100 000 Ohms Resistor

-C1 0.02 Farads Capacitor

-C2 0.1 Farads Capacitor

-C3 10 Farads Capacitor

-CV Variable Capacitor

U4 Power Amplifier Integrated Circuit

U5 High Frequency Integrated Circuit

A1 Antenna Coil

To start your project off we will need to place the bottom layer of wires. start with your 7-Snap Wire and place it on 1,6 spanning all the way out to 7,6.Then place your 4-Snap Wire on 1,1 and angle it towards 1,4. Next place your 2-snap wires along 3,1 to 4,1 and 6,1 to 7,1, then place your 1-Snap Wire on 6,4. After that you place your 2 battery packs, place the first one on 10,2 to 10,4 and the last one on 8,6 to 10,6. Finally place your slide switch over top of the battery packs connecting them at 10,4 and 10,6 so that you can test the radio at anytime throughout this tutorial.

In this step you will place the Integrated Circuits as well as the C3 Capacitor first you will place the U5 High Frequency Integrated circuit at 3,3 to 4,4 to 3,5. Then you will put the U4 Power Amplifier Integrated Circuit on the grid with the coordinates 8,2 7,2 7,3 7,4 and 8,4. Finally place the C3 Capacitor on 4,3 to 6,3

What the Parts do:

The U5 High Frequency Integrated Circuit detects the radio waves and sends them to U4 Power Amplifier Integrated Circuit to be amplified. The capacitor is used to store and limit electric currents.

In this step you will start on the second layer by connecting the pieces that you placed in the last two steps. Start with your 3-Snap Wire, put the first one on 8,2 and 10,2 then put the next one on 7,4 to 7,6. Next place your 2-Snap Wires at 7,1 to 7,2 then 6,3 to 7,3 next 4,3 to 4,4 and the last one on 3,5 to 3,6. Finally place the last two 1-Snap Wires at 1,6 and then 4,6

In this step we will do the second layer of parts and learn about how the tuner works. First place your three resistors, place R3 at 6,4 to 6,6 place R4 at 4,1 and 6,1 then place R5 at 1,1 to 3,1. Then place your SP Speaker on 8,4 to 8,6 connecting the Power Amplifier to the Battery Pack. Next place the A1 Antenna Coil at 1,3 to 3,3. Finally place your CV Variable Capacitor on 1,4 and 3,4.

What The Parts Do: The A1 Antenna Coil draws in Radio waves so that they can be amplified. After the amplified the speaker turns the radio waves to audio. You adjust the Variable Capacitor to tune the radio. The resistors limit the electric current.

This is the final step where you will install the third layer. First connect the 3-Snap Wire at 4,1 and 4,3. Then place the 2-Snap Wire from 7,6 to 8,6. Finally add the C1 and C2 capacitors, C1 is on 1,4 to 1,6 C2 is on 4,4 to 4,6.

What The Parts Do:

The capacitors limit and store electricity

Congratulations! You have finished the radio, flick the S1 Slide Switch on and use the CV Variable Capacitor to tune your new radio. Keep scrolling down if you want to learn how to make a box cover for the radio and a video showing how to use your radio.

Take out your cardboard box and put your radio inside, then cut a hole in your box with scissors and put your lid back on the box you can decorate your box any way you want I made an example for you in case you don't have any ideas.

How To Operate Video Tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNA0ds-YFwY