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Chapter 9

Scary Pumpkins

In This Chapter

Eyeing the schematic

Checking off the parts list

Breadboarding the pumpkin circuits

Placing the works in the pumpkins

Turning on your pumpkins

A

round the end of October, many of us carve faces in pumpkins and then

put candles in those pumpkins to create an eerie effect. Why not elec-

trify pumpkins to do the same thing — and add a spooky sound effect or mes-

sage to the mix?

In this chapter, we use two plastic pumpkins and activate sound and light by

using an infrared beam. When those trick-or-treaters come up to your door-

way, won’t they be surprised?

Of course, if it’s February and plastic pumpkins are scarce, use these same

techniques with some other plastic container shape to create talking dinosaurs,

heart-shaped candy boxes, or whatever!

The Big Picture: Project Overview.............................................................

When you complete this project, you’ll have two pumpkins:

One that transmits an infrared beam

A second one that lights up and plays back a recorded sound or mes-

sage when something or somebody interrupts the infrared beam by

walking between the two pumpkins