Little Bird Inventor's Kit for micro:bit

Jargon buster

Plain-language definitions for the technical terms used above.

LED

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a small electronic component that emits light when current flows through it in the correct direction. Because it only conducts one way, its polarity matters, and a through-hole LED must be soldered the correct way around to light up.

photocell

A light-sensitive component whose electrical resistance changes with the amount of light falling on it. It matters when choosing or using light sensors, automatic lights, or brightness-detecting circuits because its response speed, resistance range, and sensitivity affect how reliably it detects light levels.

RGB

Short for red, green and blue, the three primary colours of light that are mixed in varying amounts to make a wide range of colours. In electronics RGB can refer to an LED or pixel that blends these three colours, or to a colour signal or interface that carries separate red, green and blue channels.

servo

A servo is a motor with built-in position control, usually told to move to a specific angle by a control signal. It matters when you need repeatable movement, such as steering, arms, flaps, or linkages, rather than continuous spinning.