Prototype Boards and Breadboards

A breadboard is a rectangular plastic board that used to make quick electrical connections between leaded components. Breadboards have groups of small sockets, some groups of sockets are electrically connected to each other. Sockets let you easily insert electronic components to build and test an early version of an electronic circuit. The connections are not permanent, so it is easy to remove a component if you make a mistake, or just start over and do a new project. On the underside of the board there are many small metal strips which physically connect certain groups of sockets together and allow electricity to flow freely between them. Breadboards are usually divided into four sections, two outer sections and two inner sections. Each row of five sockets in the inner sections are electrically connected to each other. The two outer sections of the breadboard are usually used exclusively for power.