# How a Breadboard Works: Clips, Rows, Power Rails and Chips

- Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2118479089807888796
- Source account: [@sparklabhq](https://x.com/sparklabhq)
- Source language: English
- Duration: 0:54
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips

## Transcript

[0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips) Have you ever wondered what's actually inside of a breadboard?

[0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=3) Every circuit you build on it holds together without a single drop of solder, and this is why.

[0:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=7) Under every hole sits a little metal strip.

[0:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=9) It is made of phosphor bronze, a springy kind of copper folded into a row of tiny clips.

[0:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=14) When you push a leg in, the two jaws of the clip spread apart and squeeze back on it.

[0:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=18) That squeeze is the connection. But why do the holes come in short rows of five?

[0:22](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=22) Because one strip runs under all five, so anything you push into those five holes is joined together as if you had soldered it.

[0:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=28) So what is the channel in the middle for?

[0:30](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=30) It cuts every row in two. The gap is exactly as wide as the gap between the two leg rows of a chip.

[0:35](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=35) So a chip straddles it, and every leg lands on its own strip with nothing shorting across.

[0:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=39) And the long lines along the edges? Those are the power rails.

[0:42](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=42) Under each one is a single strip that runs along the board.

[0:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=45) So plus and minus are right next to every row.

[0:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/GXJGyqNAoqF4/en/how-a-breadboard-works-clips-rows-power-rails-and-chips?t=47) Your ESP32 sits over that same channel, one row of pins on each side, so every pin gets its own strip