The 555 is the most famous chip ever made. Two capacitors and a couple of resistors turn it into a metronome you can hear, see, or feel. Once you understand it, half the analog electronics on Earth stops being mysterious. Beside it sit the CD4011, four NAND gates, the one building block every digital circuit can be made from, and the CD4017, a counter that turns the 555's ticks into a light that walks from LED to LED.

New in the box

555 timer chip — The most famous chip ever — it blinks, beeps, and keeps time.

10 µF capacitor — A tiny rechargeable bucket for charge — fills and empties to keep time.

100 nF capacitor — A very small charge bucket that smooths out electrical wobbles.

CD4011 quad NAND — Four NAND gates in one 14-pin chip. Every other logic function can be built from these.

CD4017 decade counter — Counts clock pulses from 0 to 9 and lights one of ten outputs for each count. The chip behind every LED chaser.

with everything through L6, your box now holds 30 component types.

Level 6 · Logic

New in the box

Ideas this level teaches

Projects at Level 6

What you can build so far