Figure 8 shows a simplified diagram of the power generator circuit used by Bigshot. Besides the components described in the previous sections, the power circuit has a special semiconductor chip, called a diode [1], which is placed between the dynamo and the rechargeable battery. It acts as a one-way switch allowing charges to flow from the dynamo to the battery but not the other way. Without the diode, there would be no way to stop the charges in the battery from heading back into the dynamo. If that happened, the dynamo would act as a motor and will automatically spin the hand crank [2]!
DiodeDynamoBatteryBigshot
Figure 8: Simplified version of Bigshot's power circuit
Click the two buttons in Figure 8 to see how cranking the dynamo causes electric power to be stored in the rechargeable battery, while pressing the shoot button causes the battery's power to get used.
References