More It's A Wired World (page 2)
Look at an electrical appliance or tool that you family uses. Answer these questions.
What electrical safety warnings are given? If available, check the written operating instructions for more safety warnings.
What might happen if the safety instructions aren't followed?
Do you think you could do a better job of warning people? How?
Can you think of any ways to help more people understand the electrical hazards associated with this tool or appliance?
Imagine you're an inventor or scientist from 200 years ago who has time traveled to a present-day house. What explanations might you give for what makes electrical appliances and lights work? What might you do to figure it out? Would you survive your explorations? Write or draw your ideas.
More Let It Shine (page 3)
Look at all the things you have at home and at school that run on batteries. On the table below, show the item and what kind of work electricity does. (Hint: does electricity run a motor or a computer chip, give light, heat, sound or motion?)
Battery-Powered Item
Kind of Work
Could you run more than one item from your battery at the same time? Try it. Draw a diagram of the way you wired the circuits.
Convert the speed of electricity (186,000 miles per second) to something that people can understand. For example, if you traveled to the sun at the speed of light, it would take 8-1/3 minutes to get there (if you don't burn up first). That means that the sunlight we see at this moment left the sun about 8 minutes ago.
More Go With the Flow (page 4)
Good conductors share something in common--they have the same atomic structure. An atom is the basic unit of all elements. Everything on earth in made of elements. For example, water is made of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. That's why it's called H2O. So everything you can think of--from computers to trees--is made of elements and these elements are made of atoms.
Electrons orbit around the center or nucleus of atoms. When electricity contacts a conductor, it causes the electrons to move. The electrons don't move very far, just to the next atom, but the electric current travels at the speed of light. In good conductors, there is one electron that orbits very far from the nucleus. It's easy for this electron to move, making it easy for the electricity to pass through.
More Electricity and Water
When your bulb lights, slide one of the nails up and down in the water. What do you observe about the light?
Measure the amount of light given off by the light bulb and calibrate the dimmer (the nail that moves) to give full light, medium light, or low light.
What else did you observe about the water and nails? Did you see bubbles form around one or both nails? Why do you think they are forming?
Try several different kinds of nails and other metal objects. Which ones work? Which ones don't? Do bubbles form with any of the nails or objects? Can you make the bubbles form faster or slower?
Make a table to show your experiments and results.
RESEARCH QUESTION
The bubbling around the nail is caused by a galvanic reaction. Research galvanic reactions. What elements are needed? How might galvanic reactions be a problem on boats?
More Current Affairs (page 6)
Find out how many amps the electrical devices in your home draw. Either the amperage or wattage is printed somewhere on the device. Which appliances draw the most electricity? Which draw the least?
More Luck with Ben Franklin (page 7)
We did not always use as much electricity as we do today. Look at issues of old popular magazines from the 1900s to the 1930s. (Microfiche at your local public library may help.) Read advertisements for electrical appliances or articles about electricity. Copy and bring to class to share.
More Don't Get Grounded (page 8)
Draw a cartoon or write a description of a villain from TV or comic books being electrocuted or shocked. Explain how this could happen--how did he or she contact electricity and the ground at the same time? What caused the contact? If they did not die, what or who saved them and how?
More Switch Play (page 9)
Earlier in these activities, you found out how much electricity the appliances and equipment in your home use. Now, find the total amperage draw of the appliances on each circuit in your home. Is any circuit overloaded? If it is, talk to your parents about changing the way appliances are plugged in.
Are there any circuits that would be overloaded if you plugged in a hair dryer and ran it on the highest setting (for example, 1500 W)? Label the outlets on that circuit, so you and your family can remember not to use the hair dryer there.
More Back to the Source (page 11)
Draw a diagram of your shoebox cabin network. List here 4 or 5 incidents in real life that could cause a break in the network. (For example, a tree limb falling on wires and pulling them down.) Now list 4 things in imaginary life that could break the network, like King Kong walking into the scene.
Then demonstrate a break in your shoe box cabin network. What happens? Describe the results here or draw them on the diagram of your network.
More Shocks Happen
Write a movie script about an electrical accident. Use these questions
to help tell the story: 1) Who is the person and what is his/her
age? 2) How did he/she contact electricity? What was he/she doing?
Why did it happen? 3) What happened to the person? 4) Were there
other people there? How did they react? 5) What was the effect
of the experience on the person's life? 6) What could have been
done to prevent the accident?
Sample script:
Hi. My name is Amanda Gray. I got hurt one day when I was not
careful around electricity
Picture of girl in hospital bed:
Girl and friends at a pop concert
We were just going to see my favorite group, Return to Forever
Interview someone who has survived electrical shock. Make their story into a movie script and use the questions given above.
RESEARCH QUESTION
Go to the local library or use the Internet to find out more about the effect of electricity on a human body. What happens at high amperage and low amperage? How important is the length of time of contact? What determines the path that electricity will take through the body? Also find out how electricity can work to save lives at hospitals. How can electricity be used to get a heart beating again? Try looking in the health, first aid, or safety section at the library or talk to a doctor.
More What Would You Do
Let's say that your car has a downed power line on it and it is on fire. You must leave the vehicle. You jump and you do not touch the car and the ground at the same time. Now it is time for you to shuffle away. How far do you have to shuffle to be safe? That depends on a lot of things like:
- the VOLTAGE of the power line. The higher the voltage, the farther electricity could spread through the ground.
- the composition of the SOIL. Soil contains many different elements. If the soil has a lot of metals in it, it will conduct electricity very easily.
- the amount of WATER present.
Think of 3 to 4 ways water could affect how far electricity could travel in this situation. (Hint: think about the condition of the ground, the air, and your own body.)