Electrical · Circuit Fundamentals

Breadboard Basics

面包板入门

~ 10 min · v1

1One-sentence definition

A breadboard is a solderless, reusable wiring board. Inside are rows of hidden metal clips — holes that share a clip are the same electrical point (the same node). Wiring is just plugging the legs you want connected into the same node.

2Which holes are “the same point”

The interactive teaching board below comes straight from our ElecLab simulator: hover any hole and every hole on the same electrical node lights up; use the three buttons to see the power rails / a column / the gully split. Read and poke at the same time.

↑ Hover holes to see “the same point” · tap the buttons for demos · Open the full simulator ↗

3The 4 core facts

A column of 5 = one node
The 5 holes in each main-area column sit on one metal strip — plug into any of them, same point.
The gully splits halves
The center gully cuts each column into two independent nodes, so a chip can straddle it with its two leg rows kept apart.
Power rails run through
The long edge strips with red(+)/blue(−) lines are one continuous node end to end — they carry power.
Components must “span”
A two-leg part must straddle different columns; to connect two parts, put a leg of each into the same column.

4Mistake lab · verify it on the board above

① Both legs in the same column
The clip shorts the two ends together — same as not wiring it. Hover two holes in one column above — they already light up together as one point.
② Using one column to cross the gully
Top and bottom halves are separate nodes; the same column won't bridge them. Tap “gully splits a column” above to see them split into two colors. Use a jumper to cross.
③ + connected but no ground (−)
The loop isn't closed, so nothing happens. Both + and − must reach the rails (tap “power rail” above to see it run through).

5Hands-on challenge · real simulator, auto-graded

Below is the full ElecLab simulator (embedded here). Goal: 5V → 330Ω current-limit resistor → LED → ground to light an LED. Place parts, wire them, switch on the supply — it auto-checks whether your circuit is electrically equivalent to the target.

↑ Build it in the real simulator and get graded · or open the full simulator ↗

6Quick check

Want to build freely?
Drop parts, wire anything, and probe voltage/current with the meter in full ElecLab.
Open ElecLab simulator ↗