Electricity for All Levels
Jen Donaldson – jdonalds@cdeducation.org
Briana Richardson – brichardson@mplsd.org
Scott Spohler – sspohler@mplsd.org
Batteries are EXPENSIVE
Use old cell phone charges instead!
Even a USB one works, but the wiring is a little
trickier. (I make Spohler do it!)
Squishy Circuits
Gives students the chance to:
• follow directions/recipe
• work in teams
• experiment with making complete circuits,
conductors and insulators
Time to make
the doughnuts…
er, um, dough.
Fun AND messy!
Dough Creations
UFO Ball
• Series and
parallel
circuits
• Is water an
insulator or
conductor?
Fruit Batteries
• Potato clock
• Old fruit is best
• Activity series of metals
important
• Measurable, but might not
light up
Electrolysis of Water
If I had to pick ONE lab, it would probably
be this…
• Ionic and Covalent – add sugar then salt and observe what
happens to the bubbles
• Mole Ratio – have students collect the gases from the
cathode and anode and compare amounts
• Acids and Bases – add some phenolphthalein and watch
what happens to the color
• Metal Reactivity or Potential – use different metals as the
cathodes and anodes and observe what happens
Building a Light Bulb
• Quantitative and
Qualitative
• Danger factor!
• Use uncoated wire (or
strip it)
• Does require a Variac
2015 Teachers Materials Camp Schedule
ASM Materials Camp Teachers Camps are held across North America. These are usually five-day camps and may
be residential (requiring teachers to stay overnight at the camp), commuter (drive up) or mini-camps (one day
or less).
www.asminternational.org
City, State
Akron, OH
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland, OH
Columbus, OH (1st yr)
Columbus, OH (2nd yr)
Columbus, OH (MSP)
Dayton, OH
Venue
University of Akron
Princeton High School
Beaumont High School
Tolles Career & Technical Center
The Ohio State University
Tolles Career & Technical Center
Central State University
Dates
July 20-24
July 20-24
June 15-19
July 20-24
June 15-19
July 27-31
June 22-26
Albuquerque, NM
Ann Arbor, MI
Boston, MA
Butte, MT
Calgary, Canada
Chicago, IL
Fort Wayne, IN
Greenville, SC
Hammond, IN
Hattiesburg, MS
Houghton, MI
Houston, TX
Indianapolis, IN
Kansas City, MO
Lehigh Valley, PA
Lexington, KY
Long Beach, CA
Madison, WI
Meridian, MS
Millersville, PA
Naperville, IL
New Orleans, LA
Newark, DE
Newark, NJ
Ottawa, Canada
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA (specialty)
Richmond, VA
Salt Lake City, UT
Sammamish, WA
San Antonio, TX
Tuscaloosa, AL
Urbana, IL
Virginia Beach, VA
Washington, DC
Let’s do some SCIENCE!
Group UFO Ball
Four Stations:
• Fruit Battery
• Build a Light Bulb
• Squishy Circuits
• Electrolysis of Water
Squishy Circuits – Recipes
Conducting Dough
Insulating Dough
1 c water (hot!)
1 ½ c flour
1 ½ c flour (approximately)
½ c sugar
¼ c salt
3 T vegetable oil
3 T cream of tartar
½ c distilled water
1 T vegetable oil
food coloring
food coloring
1. Mix hot water, 1 c flour, salt, cream of tartar, vegetable
oil, & food coloring in metal bowl on hot plate.
2. Stir and mix thoroughly. Continue to stir as it heats – it
will get chunky.
3. It should form a ball in the middle of the bowl.
4. Dump onto floured table and flatten with spoon – let it
cool before handling!
5. Knead in remaining flour until the dough reaches good
consistency.
1. Mix 1 c flour, sugar, food coloring, and vegetable oil together
in a bowl.
2. Add a small amount of water (about 1 T) and stir together
until completely mixed.
3. Continue step 2 until most of mixture is sticking together in
clumps.
4. Knead into a lump.
5. Add remaining water to make a sticky dough.
6. Knead in remaining flour to reach good consistency.
Squishy Circuits
Use the conducting dough and insulating dough to make a simple circuit.
Use an LED, Christmas tree light, or multimeter to see if your circuit is complete.
Draw your circuit.
Is it a series circuit or parallel?
How could you show this?
Use the dough to make a series circuit.
Test to be sure your circuit is complete.
Draw your circuit.
Use the dough to make a parallel circuit.
Test to be sure your circuit is complete.
Retest to be sure it is truly a complete parallel circuit.
Draw your circuit.
Show how and where you tested to be sure your circuit was truly a parallel circuit.
Electrolysis of Water
When you pass an electric current through water, you cause the water to
decompose, creating hydrogen gas and oxygen gas. (You can see the gas
as bubbles!)
It only takes some wire, a few paper clips or other metal items, a battery,
and some salt water.
Directions:
• Connect one wire to each of the battery terminals.
• Be careful not to touch the wires to each other – you will short out the
battery if you do that.
• Connect the other end of the wire to the metal items (graphite rods,
nails).
• Put the two metal rods into the water, not touching.
• Watch the bubbles form!
Electrolysis of Water
Modifications
1. Add sugar. Then add salt. What do you observe?
2. Add phenolphthalein and note what happens.
3. Capture the gases in test tubes and compare the relative amounts of each.
4. Test the captured gases with a burning splint.
5. Change the metals being used.
Questions:
1. What do you notice about the amount of gas bubbling off of each electrode? What
might explain this? How do the gases from the two electrodes react to the burning
splint?
2. Which types of metal makes better electrodes?
3. What do you notice when you add salt to the water? Why might this occur?
4. How is the battery terminal related to the gas being produced? What does this
help you understand about the movement of electrons?
Building a Light Bulb
Build a Light Bulb
1. (Teachers – You will need to make a simple circuit board.)
2. Cut a 10 cm length of wire. Strip the coating off.
3. Twist the wire to represent a light bulb filament.
4. With the variac unplugged, attach the wire to the wing-nuts on the board and place a
beaker over it.
5. Slowly ramp up the variac, watching the wire.
6. Note the color changes as the voltage through the wire increases.
7. Repeat with different lengths of wire (20 cm, 30 cm, etc). Note any differences.
8. Quantitative – Use a multimeter to measure the output of the variac through the circuit.
Qualitative – Note the different color changes at different voltages.
Modifications/Questions
1. Try different gauges of wire.
2. Try different wire materials.
3. Does the twisting/wrapping of the wire make a difference?