Electronic Team 1 (Morgan Demunck and Clair Elso) - Unconventional Switch - Soil Measurement

 

 

For the unconventional switch assignment, my partner and I decided that it might be fun to play with the conductivity of water and soil to activate a switch, as both are conductive! 

 

The idea was that when a potted plant had gotten enough water to drink, the light would switch on—and then sloooowly fade over several hours and eventually turn off to indicate that the soil was completely dry and needed watering. 

 

Naturally, this is a very slow switch to demonstrate as you’ll see in the video below—but we think this is the perfect little device for absent-minded gardeners like ourselves!