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Published byArabella Gibbs Modified over 8 years ago
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Electricity Activities
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Static electricity Start with static activities – construct a pith ball out of styrofoam and string – hang in a pitcher or just let the kids pinch the end with their fingers– the Styrofoam ball at the end of the string will be attracted and repelled to/from the charged objects. Use a larger Styrofoam ball and pretend your charged rod is a magic wand
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Static continued Glass rod, plastic rod, hollow glass rod, various cloth, balloon, electrostatic generator, etc.
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Build your own battery Batteries store electric charge and allows the electricity to flow Build the lemon battery or the potato clock – use a voltmeter to measure the charge produced or use an LED lightbulb
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Battery and bulb Once students understand that electrons can build static charges, and jump back and forth, begin to explain that electrons can flow from one place to another Explain how the filament on a light bulb works – a thin carbon strand – demonstrate using steel wool – same thing except the steel wool burns and breaks – in a light bulb it’s a carbon filament and it doesn’t burn and break because it’s a vacuum in the bulb – no air
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Make the light bulb light Take the light bulb out of the holder and, using one wire, experiment with how you can get the electrons to flow and light up the light bulb. Draw the combinations that work Then get a second wire and try the combinations on this sheet to see which ones work
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Conductors and Insulators Does electricity flow through just wires? Does electricity flow through everything? Test different materials in the gap between the two wires and see
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Human conductors We can carry an electric charge – use the ufo ball to demonstrate – use as an introduction to circuits – students form a circle and hold hands – have the last students in the link each touch a finger to the metal electrodes on the ball – watch it light up and make a noise – what happens if anyone lets go of their hands?
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Simple circuit
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Circuit diagrams Symbols for battery, switch, lightbulb and wires are introduced Draw a few circuits to see if they would light up From now on draw the circuits the students make
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Circuit with switch Draw diagram
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Series circuits Add one light to a simple circuit – what do you notice about the brightness? Add a third light as in the picture – what happens? Add a second battery – do the two batteries have enough power to light up 3 bulbs? Unscrew one light bulb – what happens to the other two? Why are series circuits not very good? Draw diagram
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Parallel circuits Build a parallel circuit (without the switch at first) Add a 3 rd bulb – does it still light up with only one battery? Unscrew on light bulb – what happened to the other two? Add switches Why is papallel better that series? Draw diagrams
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Parallel circuits with switch(es) Add a couple of switches – explain this is like having lights ion different rooms The blue light holders on the left are set up in parallel – there are four in a kit but they’re not as useful
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Magnets Introduce magnets Experiment – let the kids discover which ends attract and repel each other Cover attracting and repelling magnet ends with a piece of paper and sprinkle iron filings on top to see the magnetic field Video Video Attract Repel Whole magnet
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Make a magnet with a magnet Build a compass Magnifly a sewing pin by rubbing it in one direction with a magnet. This aligns all the scattered domains within the pin in the same direction…which turns it into a magnet. Float a cork in a dish of water and place the pin on top – a compass Afterwards “demagnetize” the pin by hitting it with a hammer or drop it repeatedly to scatter the domains again.
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Electricity can also make magnets… Electricity and magnetism are linked – huge discovery! First use a magnet to see if the compass will move Then wrap a copper wire 6 or 7 times around a compass and run a current through it. What happens? It generated a magnetic field and made the compass move, just like the magnet did! So electricity running through a wire makes a magnetc field – we made it stronger by looping it a few times
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Electromagnet Experiment with how the strength of an electromagnet varies with how many turns of copper wire there are by measuring how many staples it can pick up See who can make their magnet pick up the most Experiment with the core – bigger nails, thicker, thinner nails, non metal cores? – would wood work? Or work as well? Add more batteries?
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…and magnets can make electricity : ) Wrap a copper wire around an empty toilet paper roll – connect the ends to a volt meter. When a strong magnet is inserted into the tube an electric current is generated – it’s an electrical generator – the magnet just needs to be turned and we have free electricity. What could turn this magnet for us? The hand generator turns a magnet inside copper coils which generates enough electricity to light the bulb
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Turbines Turbines turn big magnets inside huge coils to generate electricity for us. We can use wind, water, and steam (heated by solar power or coal, oil or nuclear) to turn the turbines (to turn the magnet inside the copper coils) Animation Animation Dam turbines
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