Electronic circuits that use the 555 Timer

555 Timer Circuits

555 Timers are fun and a great way to start learning electronics

Inside the 555 Timer

You may wonder what is inside the 555 timer chip or what makes it work. Well, the 555 timer chip an Intergrated Circuit (IC) and therefore it contains a miniturized circuit surrounded by silicon. Each of the pins is connected to the circuit which consists of over 20 transistors, 2 diodes and 15 resistors.

The illustration below shows the functional block diagram of the 555 timer IC.

Inside the 555 Timer Chip

Do you notice the three 5k resistors? This is how the chip got it's name.

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Pin Configuration