Name of project: Don’t Touch My Funny
Bone!
Submitted By: Adventures in
Engineering and Science
Overview
The Don’t Touch My Funny Bone project is a new and exciting take on the Operations board game.
Building this project will help children to understand certain physics concepts such as electricity,
electrical engineering basics as well as a general view of the human anatomy.
Topic Area(s)
Subject areas
the project
covers:
- Physics
- Electricity
- Biology
-Electrical
Engineering
Grade Level
Grade level
the project is
aimed at:
Cost
Cost per
person
$1.13 /person
Grades 4-8
Time
Preparation
time = 15
minutes
Construction
time = 2
hours
Complexity
Preparation: 1
Execution: 4
Objective
- Learn simple
series circuits
- Understand
how electricity
is created
- general view
of the human
anatomy
Hook
The Don’t Touch My Funny Bone game is a fun and interactive way for participants to discover how
electricity is created, to learn simple electrical series circuits and to get a general view of the human
anatomy.
Necessary Background Information
- It is essential to ensure a proper connection between each component of the electrical circuit. All
pieces of copper wire must be well sanded and properly attached together. The connection between
the aluminium foil and the wires must be secure. The circuit will be incomplete if there is a bad
connection on the board.
- The LED has two legs of different length. The longer leg is the positive side whereas the shorter
leg is the negative side. The positive side of the LED must be connected to the positive side of the
battery.
Materials
- 2 pieces of cardboard of approximately 35 cm x 25 cm (free, find in recycling)
- copper wire (1 m)
( $ 0.10 per participant, purchased at Grant Electric Ottawa LTD)
- 1 5mm RED LED
( $ 0.20 per participant, purchased at Gervais Electronics)
- 1 miniature DC motor ( $0.48 per participant, purchased at ALL Electronics Corp)
- aluminium foil (0.5 m) ( $0.01 per participant, purchased at Costco)
- 1 alligator clip
( $0.27 per participant, purchased at Electrosonic)
- 1 elastic
( $0.001 per participant)
- 1 piece of string
( $0.01 per participant, purchased at White Rose)
- 1/4 bamboo skewer
( $0.0015 per participant, purchased at Grocery Supplier for $0.75/100)
- the body template
- sand paper
( $0.05 per participant)
- hot glue and a glue gun
- tape
-scrap piece of cardboard
-markers
-scissors
- a 6 v battery (for demonstration purposes only)
Safety Considerations
The glue gun is very hot. Please ask for the assistance of an adult. Be aware of the sharp edges of
the scissors while cutting the holes.
Procedure
- Place the body template on one piece of cardboard in order to mark the positions of the organs. Set
aside the second piece of cardboard.
- Cut out five squares in the cardboard in the area of the future organs.
Cut out hole for heart (1)
Cut out hole for intestines (2)
Cut out hole for tendon (3)
Etc….
- With the leftover cardboard, make the necessary organs or body parts (ex. Bones, heart...)
-You will have two sides to the cardboard. The back of the cardboard will have all the circuit and the
front side will be nicely decorated!!
- On the back of the cardboard, glue the aluminium foil around the five holes. For each individual hole,
make sure that all the pieces of aluminium foil are touching in order to make the circuit work.
- Poke the diode through the cardboard to make the nose. The legs of the diode should point towards
the back of the cardboard and the nose should appear on the front side.
-Cut the long copper wire into 1 longer piece (approximately 40cm) and 6 shorter pieces
(approximately 8 cm)
-Glue the motor to make a mouth. The motor will make noise when the circuit is complete.
- Form a simple series circuit with the copper wires. Make sure the ends of the copper wires are well
sanded.
-To build the circuit, wrap the smaller piece of copper wire around the positive band of the LED and
connect this wire to the aluminium foil around a given organ. Take a second piece of the smaller wire
and use it to connect the aluminium foil of the first organ to the aluminium foil that is around the
second organ. Continue connecting all the organs with the smaller pieces of copper wire.
-Wrap a smaller piece of copper wire around the negative band LED and connect this wire to a band
of the miniature motor
-Wrap the end of the alligator clip around the positive part of the battery.
-Wrap the longer piece of copper wire around a band of the miniature motor. This long piece of wire
will be connected to the negative side of the battery
- Test the circuit with the 6 v battery.
- Tape the second piece of cardboard in order to hide the circuit.
- Place the body template on top of the cardboard or draw a body yourself.
-Glue the second piece of cardboard to the first piece in order to create a base to place the organs.
Optional:
- Add or subtract body parts in order to control the length of the project.
- Different body parts or organs can be used to learn about all the different systems.
(respiratory system, digestive system, etc.)
Learning Outcomes
Physics and Electricity
Atoms (not Adams!) are the tiniest particles that make up a substance. Everything in the world is
made up of atoms. Atoms are like puzzle pieces that get together, to make molecules and
molecules make up the things that you see. You can't see atoms and molecules, because they are
so small. The answer is one sixtillion (1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000) atoms!!!!! That's 21 zeros!
What does it look like? Nobody has ever really seen them, but there is proof that it looks a bit like
this:
Proton: positive particles (in nucleus)
Electrons: negative particles
Neutrons: neutral particles (in nucleus)
Positive and Negative particles are like north and south on magnets! They attract each other!
The electrons spin around the nucleus ,or centre of the atom, at a super high speed (almost the
speed of light)!
Why doesn't the electron "fall" towards the protons in the nucleus (because they are attracted)?
There are two forces (a force is like pulling or pushing) acting on the electrons that cancel each
other out (pull in opposite directions)
-force #1: as the electron spins, there is a force pushing it away from the centre (like when
you are in a fast car and you turn a corner)
-force #2: the force of attraction between the proton and the electron (- and +)
What is electricity? Electricity is the movement of electrons through a conductive substance. A
conductive material is any substance that let electrons move in them, example: metals and water.
An insulating material is one where no electrons can move, example: wood and plastic.
The electrons jump from one atom to the next, switching places.
How?
To start the electrons moving, something has to push them: batteries!
Once the first electron moves from the battery to the first atom, the first atom is not happy because
he has too many electrons! So the atom will try to get rid of one of his electrons. So an electron will
move from the first atom to the second atom. But the second atom is not happy because now she
has too many electrons……So an electron will move from the second to the third atom…..
We have a chain reaction!
What is a circuit?
It’s a continuous "circle" where the electrons can pass. The minimum a circuit needs is some wires
and a battery.
How do you turn on a light? The light bulb must be in the circuit and the electrons must
be able to pass through it and go all the way around the circuit and back to where they started.
Like in a baseball game: to make a point you must run from the home base, all the way around and
back to the home base.
With a circuit: to turn on the light, the electrons must go all the way around and back to where they
started.
What happens if there is a break in the circuit? The electrons cannot pass in air (air is an insulator).
Except for lightning…
There are two kinds of circuits: in parallel and in series
In series: cheap Christmas lights, if one light bulb dies, all the others turn off
In parallel: good Christmas lights, if one light bulb dies, all the others stay on
The Don’t Touch My Funny Bone project uses a simple series circuit. In order to work the motor or
the LED light, the circuit must be closed because the electrons pass through it and go all the way
back to the start. In the game, when the aluminium foil and the alligator clip touch together, we
close the circuit and we hear the motor spin, and see the light. For this project, it is a series circuit
because there is only one route for the electrons.
Biology
What is it? Biology is the study of living things. All living things are made up of cells which are the
single unit of life form. Different kinds of cells make up different organs or tissues such as bone cells,
blood cells, neuron cells, skin cells etc.
With the Don’t Touch My Funny Bone game, we learn that bones make the skeleton which helps
humans to stand and move. The heart is the most important muscle in our body because it pumps the
blood throughout our whole body in order to bring oxygen to the cells. Tendons are useful because
they help the muscle to move. Intestines are also necessary because they absorb all the nutriments
we need before they are excreted out of the body. In fact, all organs and tissues of the body are
important and each has a different role.