SEE No. 2: Voltage Dividers and lighting an LED

In this Simulated Engineering Experience, I was placed in a team and our task was to construct a circuit in order light up an LED. The first step was to become familiar with the dimension of an LED and this was done by measuring the dimension of the LED with a digital caliper. I was rather amused by the digital caliper because I had never seen one before. I also learned that digital calipers are cheaper than the mechanical ones. The next step, was to build a circuit using a resistor with the appropriate amount of resistance in order to give a voltage drop across the LED so that it could be properly lit.

In this SEE, I learned that it is important to have a precise amount of current in order to light up an LED because if you use to much current, you can blow up the LED. This tells me that engineering consist of precise measures for constructing circuits and precision is important when measuring values. The second thing I learned is that previous knowledge is also key and this was exemplified in the SEE when my team used knowledge that we obtained from SEE No. 1. As discussed in class, engineering concepts build on each other. The third thing I learned is the importance of working in teams and how engineers depend on their coworkers when designing, implementing, and testing circuits. As an HR professional, I am interested in learning more about how engineers perceive team work and perhaps share that knowledge with other functions in an organizations. It seems like there is a lot we can learn about engineers and how the work together to meet an ends goal.

Prior to this SEE, I had already been exposed to a similar exercise where I lit some LEDs. However, it was until this class exercise that I realized how much light a small an LED can produce by seeing it from a difference angle. I understand that engineers are working on developing LEDs that can function as light bulbs. Hopefully, this can come to a reality so that we can save energy and still have a products that produces a rich source of light.