Click on the green flag. This project supports my K-Computer project at https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/706747384 That project is a virtual model of the K-Computer. The inputs can be set to binary 1s and 0s and the code generates the correct outputs. This project describes how to construct a workable K-Computer from strips of aluminum foil, masking tape, two LEDs, and two 1.5v batteries taped together in series. This real-world model also generates the correct outputs from the inputs. The X in the AND gate and XOR gate have the same value as does the Y in the AND gate and the XOR gate. I didn't animate the foil switches as that is left for any builders to do if they build the circuit.
When I taught digital logic as part of a Discrete Math course I had students construct AND, OR and NOT gates first from strips of aluminum foil, then npn transistors (they loved to learn to solder) and finally, by probing Texas Instruments chips containing AND, OR, NOT and XOR gates. The final challenge of the course was to construct, on an experimental wiring board containing TI AND, Or and NOT chips, a half-adder and then a full-adder. Boolean algebra is the answer to the question “What is algebra good for?”
