A comprehensive course that teaches the big ideas behind Faraday and Maxwell’s ground-breaking work. Students will discover how to design and test circuits, detect electric charge, learn about electrochemistry as they construct batteries, play with the static electric field, and uncover the mysterious forces that redefined the entire field of chemistry and physics when they were first discovered.

Step 1. Click Here to download your copy of the Ultimate Science Curriculum Electricity 1 Student Guidebook. To download the Parent/Teacher Guidebook, Click Here.

Step 2. Watch the videos that go with it below.

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Lesson #1: Static Hair

Overview: Greetings, and welcome to the study of electricity! This first lesson is simply to get you to play with static electricity and decide what it is that you want to learn about electricity so we can do the really cool stuff later on.

What to Learn: When you are done today, you will need to know that electrons are too small for us to see with our eyes, but there are other ways to detect something’s going on. You’ll also get to learn that inside the atom, the proton has a positive charge, and the electron has a negative charge. By doing your experiments, you’ll discover how like charges repel and opposite charges attract each other.

Materials

1 balloon
Clock with second hand (or stopwatch)

Lesson #2: Electric Fields

Overview: Did you know that you can make things move using static electricity? You’re going to be a detective and figure out how different objects interact when you stick them in an electric field.

What to Learn: We’re going to use the concept that like charges repel (think two electrons, or two minus charges) and opposite charges attract (think plus and minus). You’re also going to play with the idea of a force field, which can pull an object towards it or push an object away. A force field is an invisible area around an object within which that object can cause other objects to move.

Materials

7-9” latex balloon
One full water bottle
One tub or pie plate to catch the drips
Ping pong ball
Bubble solution with wands for blowing bubbles
10 packing peanuts
Wool cloth or sweater
Paper confetti

Lesson #3: Triboelectric Series

Overview: Today you are going to take a second look at static charge, exactly how it builds up, and which way the electrons move when materials are rubbed together.

What to Learn: When you finish today, you will need to know how a static charge is created and how to tell if it’s a positive or negative charge that you’ve built up. Since you already know the hair-balloon experiment builds up a negative charge, you can use this to help you figure it out. Scientists do this experiment to create the Triboelectric Series, a chart that lists how the electrons tend to move, whether to or from the material.

Materials

Styrofoam plate
Wool sweater or cloth
2 plastic bags (clear plastic grocery bags work well)
Cotton cloth
Formica table or countertop or scrap piece
7-9” latex balloon
Scissors
Tape

Lesson #4: Visible Electric Fields

Overview: Time to figure out not only which way those electrons are moving, but what fields they are creating when they pile up. You know how to build up a static charge (balloons, anyone?), and how to tell if it’s a positive or negative charge (gliders, anyone?), but now we’re going to sneak a peek at the electrical field those pesky electrons generate. This is going to be important to know, especially when we get to magnetism.

What to Learn: Did you also know that electrical charges have an electrical field, just like magnets have a magnetic field? Its easy to visualize a magnetic field, because youve seen the iron filings line up from pole to pole. We’re going to do a similar experiment with electric fields.

Materials

1 teaspoon dried dill (spice), depending on the size of your cup
Vegetable or mineral oil (about ½ cup)
1 disposable cup
2 alligator wires or 2 strips of aluminum foil
1 balloon and/or other items to build up a static charge from previous lessons

Lesson #5: Electroscopes

Overview: Learn how to build a simple instrument for detecting electrostatic charge, either positive or negative, so you’ll always have a way to know if you’re in an electric field.

What to Learn: When high energy radiation strikes the Earth from space, it’s called cosmic rays. To be accurate, a cosmic ray is not like a ray of sunshine, but rather is a super-fast particle slinging through space. Think of throwing a grain of sand at a 100 mph… and that’s what we call a ‘cosmic ray’. Build your own electroscope with this video!

Materials

1 large paperclip
1 piece of aluminum foil
Tape
Index card
Small glass jar (like a pickle or jam jar) with lid
1 balloon and/or other items to build up a static charge from previous lessons
Scissors

Lesson #6: Electrostatic Motor

Overview: Did you know that you can make a motor turn using static electricity? We’re going to use the concept that like charges repel (think two electrons) and opposite charges attract.

What to Learn: How to make an electrostatic motor using the ideas of plus and minus charges to attract and repulse a charged object.

Materials

Balloon (one per student)
Soup spoon
Flat table
Yard stick

Lesson #7: Advanced Static Lab

Overview: Today is the day we pull all the pieces that we’ve been talking about together to make a really neat electrostatic lab. You’re going to discover how an electrostatic motor can really spin fast by using both plus and minus charges, how to create a charge difference to ring Franklin bells, make pie plates fly, and how to light up a bulb without using batteries.

What to Learn: Pay special attention to see how a difference in charge can make things move, roll, spin, chime, fly, light up, and rotate. Plus and minus charges can be used as a push-pull force that works together in tandem.

Materials

sheet of paper
two empty, clean steel soup cans
aluminum foil
neon bulb
small foil ball with fishing line or sewing thread attached
foam cup
dozen small aluminum pie tart tins
foam meat tray or slab of Styrofoam
Fun Fly Stick (also called “Wonder Fly Stick”) OR a balloon and one piece of shaped tinsel

Optional: Electrostatic Motor If you’re making the electrostatic motor, you’ll also need:

three film canisters or M&M containers
long straight pin
penny
2 paper clips
hot glue gun with glue sticks
drill with small drill bit
scissors
tape

Lesson #8: Alien Detector

Overview: This experiment is for advanced students. This simple circuit can detect electric fields. Remember the electroscope experiment? This is an electronic version of it! After you’ve build one, hand it to your friends and announce that you’ve just been told there’s an alien presence in the room, and challenge them to try to figure out where the aliens are hiding. (Let them know that aliens, like kids, never stay in one place either.)

What to Learn: This detector finds areas of positive charge, and is so sensitive that you can go around your house and discover pockets of static charge… even from your own footprints!

Materials

9V battery
9V battery clip with two wires (Radio Shack part #270-325)
MPF 102 (Radio Shack part #276-2062)
LED (any regular LED works fine, or Radio Shack part #276-012 is a great choice, because it will light up in both directions in case the kids hook it up backwards)
3 alligator clip leads (Radio Shack Part #278-1156)

Lesson #9: Cosmic Ray Detector

Overview: You get to build a special cloud chamber that will make invisible particles visible. This cloud chamber works because it’s filled with a super-saturated alcohol-water vapor mix. The alpha particles (ions) turn the vapor into microscopic clouds.

What to Learn: A cosmic ray is not like a ray of sunshine, but rather is a super-fast particle slinging through space. Think of throwing a grain of sand at 100 mph - that’s what a ”cosmic ray” is. Since these are tiny, charged particles and not grains of sand, we built the electroscope back in Lesson #5 to detect electrons. The Cosmic Ray Detector is a much better device for finding cosmic rays because it’s going to catch negatively-charged particles (electrons, also called ‘beta particles’) and positively-charged particles (called ‘alpha particles’). You’ll actually get to see the thin, threadlike vapor trails appear and disappear, marking the path left by the particles. This type of detector was created by Charles Wilson in 1894, and Wilson later received a Nobel Prize (along with Arthur Compton) for their work on cloud chambers.

Materials
Safety Alert! You’ll be working with hot glue guns, toxic chemicals, glassware that can shatter, and finger-burning-cold dry ice. This is no time to mess around in the lab. Stay alert and work carefully to get your experiment to work.

rubbing alcohol
clean glass jar
black felt
hot glue gun
magnet
flashlight
scissors
dry ice
goggles
heavy gloves for handling the dry ice (adults only)

Lesson #10: Basic Circuits

Overview: This lab will get you familiar with how to hook up a simple circuit so we can move to more complex stuff soon, like motors, switches, and remote controls. But first… the basics.

What to Learn: Remember when you scuffed along the carpet? You gathered up an electric charge in your body. That charge was static until you zapped someone else. The movement of electric charge is called electric current, and is measured in amperes (A). When electric current passes through a material, it does it by electrical conduction. There are different kinds of conduction, one of which is called metallic conduction, where electrons flow through a conductor, like metal.

Materials

2 AA batteries
AA battery case
2 alligator wires
LEDs

Safety Tip: I recommend using the super-cheap kind of batteries (usually labeled “Heavy Duty” or “Super Heavy Duty”), usually found at dollar stores. These types of batteries are carbon-zinc, which do not contain acid that can leak and expose you to toxic chemicals. When you short the circuits and overheats the batteries (which you should expect, by the way), it’s not dangerous. Alkaline batteries (like Energizer and Duracell) will get super-hot and leak acid, so those aren’t the ones you want to play with.

Lesson #11: Conductivity Testers

Overview: Today you get to wire up a simple circuit and test a variety of objects to figure out if they are insulators or conductors of electricity.

What to Learn: Take special note as to which kinds of materials are insulators and which are conductors of electricity. Metals are conductors not because electricity passes through them, but because they contain electrons that can move.

Materials

2 AA batteries
AA battery case
3 alligator wires
LEDs

Lesson #12: Switches & Motors

Overview: When you turn on a switch, it’s difficult to really see what’s going on. So you’re going to make your own from paperclips, brass fasteners, and index cards. And you get to play with real motors, too. What to Learn: Think of this switch like a train track. When you throw the switches one way, the train (electrons) can race around the track at top speed. When you turn the switch to the OFF position, it’s like a bridge collapse for the train – there’s no way for the electrons to jump across from the brass fastener to the paper clip. When you switch it to the ON position (both sides), you’ve rebuilt the bridges for the train (electrons). Materials

2 AA batteries
AA battery case
2 alligator wires
5-3V DC hobby motor
1 index card
2 brass fasteners
1 large paperclip
propeller or piece of tape for the motor shaft

You decide if you want to complete Part 3. If that’s the case, you’ll also find these items set out for you:

6 brass fasteners
1 index card
2 large paper clips
6 alligator clip lead wires

Lesson #13: Digital Multimeters

Overview: Today you’re going to learn how to use one of the most important tools that scientists use. You’ll get to “see” electricity as you test them. And you’ll never have to wonder if a battery is good or bad again.

What to Learn: Although these are the most common electrical testers, there’s more than one device in that box. It measures volts, amps (current), and resistance (how easy it is for electricity to get through a wire). We’re going to learn how to use it in a useful, practical way to measure volts and detect problems with non-working circuits.

Materials

Circuit equipment from Experiments 10-12 for testing
Digital Multimeter (DMM)

Lesson #14: Motor Speed Controllers

Overview: You already know how to turn the LED on and off. You can even make a motor go forward and reverse. But what if you want to change the speed of the motor? Or how bright or dim the LED lights up. Today you’ll be able to do just that.

What to Learn Once you understand how to use this potentiometer in a circuit, you’ll be able to control the speed of your laser light show motors as well as the motors and lights on your robots.

Materials

2 AA batteries
AA battery case
3 alligator wires
potentiometer (1k works best)
5-3V DC hobby motor
LED
Optional: DMM

Lesson #15: Electric Eye Sensor

Overview: Photoresistors are very inexpensive light detectors, and you’ll find them in cameras, street lights, clock radios, robotics, and more. We’re going to play with one and find out how to detect light using a simple series circuit.

What to Learn: This is the first of many different burglar alarms we’re going to make with our simple circuits and switches knowledge. Pay special attention to how this gets inserted in your circuit. Notice any similarities to the switch circuit? We’re going to use the idea of wiring up components in series over the next couple of Burglar Alarm lessons.

Materials

AA battery case with batteries
one CdS cell
three alligator wires
LED
Optional: Laser pointer or flashlight (or both)
Optional: DMM (Digital Multimeter)

Lesson #16: Trip Wire Burglar Alarm

Overview: This alarm has a thin wire that someone “trips," which pulls out the paper, closes a switch, and lights up the LED!

What to Learn: This particular burglar alarm is an NC (Normally Closed) switch, and today you get to learn how to wire it up in a circuit and pull the trigger.

Materials

AA battery case
2 AA batteries
3 alligator clip wires
wood clothespin
4-6″ piece of steel wire, like picture hanger wire OR use un-insulated copper wire
2 unpainted steel tacks scrap of paper
LED

Lesson #17: Pressure Sensor

Overview: You’ve about to make an NO burglar alarm switch, which is similar to the Trip Wire Burglar Alarm, only this one is triggered by squeezing it. If you’re using the special black foam without the hole, it works because the foam conducts more electricity when squished together, and less when it’s at the normal shape.

What to Learn: Switches control the flow of electricity through a circuit. There are different kinds of switches. NC (normally closed) switches keep the current flowing until you engage the switch. The SPST and DPDT switches are NO (normally open) switches. Today’s switch is also an NO switch.

Materials

thin sponge or foam square (about 1″ square)
AA battery case
2 AA batteries
3 alligator clip wires
2 large paper clips
scissors
aluminum foil
LED

Lesson #18: Latching Circuits

Overview: Once you’ve made the Pressure Sensor burglar alarm, you might be wondering how to make the alarm stay on after it has been triggered, the way the Trip Wire Sensor does naturally. That’s what we’re going to do today using another type of switch and a more complex circuit.

What to Learn: A relay is a switch you can turn on and off using electricity. It uses an electromagnet to activate the switch inside of it.

Materials

relay (you’ll want one that has a coil voltage of 12V DC or less)
your completed Pressure Sensor circuit
3 AA battery packs with 6 AA batteries
7 additional alligator clip wires
Optional: SPST switch

Lesson #19: Nerve Tester

Overview: Today’s lesson is mostly playtime, since you already know everything you need to in order to create this project. You’re going to start with a simple circuit, then modify it a bit and turn it into an electrical roller coaster.

What to Learn: How to modify your simple circuit into something fun and entertaining! And probably hone your troubleshooting skills when things go wrong.

Materials

AA battery case
2 AA batteries
2 alligator wires
LED
bare wire OR you can use a wire coat hanger, but be aware you may have to use sandpaper if it’s is coated with clear enamel
popsicle stick
paperclip
tape
wood block with wood 2 wood screws and a drill and/or screwdriver OR dense foam block

Lesson #20: Electrolytes

Overview: Electricity. Chemistry. Nothing in common, have nothing to do with each other…right? Wrong! Electrochemistry has been a fact since 1774. Once electricity was applied to particular solutions, changes occurred that scientists of the time did not expect… and you get to play detective again and figure out what’s going on.

What to Learn: An electrolyte is any substance (like salt) that becomes a conductor of electricity when dissolved in a solvent (like water). This type of conductor is called an ”ionic conductor” because once the salt is in the water, it helps along the flow of electrons from one clip lead terminal to the other so that there is a continuous flow of electricity.

Materials

2 AA batteries
AA battery case
3 alligator clip wires
LED
Water
Sugar
Salt
Vinegar
Baking soda
Lemon juice
Oil
Soap
10 disposable cups
10 popsicle sticks for stirring
Optional: DMM

Lesson #21: Electrolysis

Overview: This lab is a lot of fun, because we’re breaking apart molecules and setting them on fire. Pay close attention to how to do this one safely so your eyebrows stay attached.

What to Learn: A water molecule is two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. You’re going to use electricity to split apart the water molecule into smaller pieces: hydrogen ions (positively charged hydrogen) and oxygen ions (negatively charged oxygen). The positive hydrogen ions zip over to the negative terminal and form tiny bubbles right on the wire. Same thing happens on the positive battery wire. After a bit of time, the ions form a larger gas bubble.

Materials

2 test tubes, glass or plastic
2 alligator clip leads
1 disposable cup
Distilled water
One 9 volt battery with battery clip
Salt or sodium sulfate

Lesson #22: Electroplating

Overview: People use this technique to add material to undersized parts, for placing a protective layer of material on objects, and to add aesthetic qualities to an object.

What to Learn: You’re going to use electrolytes to deposit metal ions and make them stick to objects by using by positive and negative electrical charges.

Materials

one shiny metal key (ask for these at a hardware store that makes keys and keeps a bucket of mistakes)
copper strip, copper pipe or shiny copper penny (shine it up with ketchup and a toothbrush)
2 alligator clips
9V battery with clip
water
copper sulfate
disposable cup
paper towel
popsicle stick

Lesson #23: Fruit Battery

Overview: Today you get to raid the refrigerator and test several different kinds of fruits and veggies to create the best battery with the highest voltage. Do not eat anything that was used in the lab.

What to Learn: This experiment shows how a battery works using electrochemistry. The copper electrons are chemically reacting with the lemon juice, which is a weak acid, to form copper ions (cathode, or positive electrode) and bubbles of hydrogen. These copper ions interact with the zinc electrode (negative electrode, or anode) to form zinc ions. The difference in electrical charge (potential) on these two plates causes a voltage, which kids will measure with your digital multi-meter.

Materials

zinc strip
copper strip
two alligator wires
digital multimeter (DMM)

You can use a galvanized nail and a copper penny (preferably minted before 1982) for additional electrodes and connect them all the way around the fruit.

Fruit to experiment may include:

lemon
lime
apple
potato
tomato
bananas
grapes
pineapple
oranges
tangerines

Lesson #24: Salty Battery

Overview: In the last experiment (Fruit Batteries), we experimented with different electrolyte solutions for the electrodes. This time, we’re keeping the solution the same, but changing the electrodes. What to Learn: The basic idea of electrochemistry is that charged atoms (ions) can be electrically directed from one place to the other. If we have a glass of water and dump in a handful of salt, the NaCl (salt) molecule dissociates into the ions Na+ and Cl-. When we plunk in one positive electrode and one negative electrode and add electricity, we find that opposites attract: Na+ zooms over to the negative electrode and Cl- zips over to the positive. The ions are attracted (directed) to the opposite electrode and there is current in the solution. Materials:

water
salt
distilled white vinegar
Goggles and gloves if you have an adult to handle bleach (do not handle this yourself – your adult will do this part for you)
Disposable cup
Popsicle stick

Electrodes to experiment may include:

real silverware (not stainless)
shiny nail (galvanized)
dull nail (iron)
wood screw (brass)
large paper clip
copper penny or copper pipe
graphite from inside a pencil
2 alligator wires
digital multimeter (DMM)

Lesson #25: Silver Battery

Overview: We’ll be using electrochemistry to make a battery that reverses the chemical reaction that puts tarnish on grandma’s good silver. Never polish your tarnished silver-plated silverware again! Instead, set up a ”silverware carwash” where you earn a nickel for every piece you clean. (Just don’t let grandma in on your little secret!) It’s safe, simple, and just needs help with the stove.

What to Learn: This is a very simple battery that works using electrochemistry.

Materials

stove (with adult help)
skillet
aluminum foil
water
baking soda
salt
real silverware (not stainless)

Lesson #26: Air Battery

Overview: It’s easy to use chemistry to generate electricity, once you understand the basics. With this experiment, you’ll use aluminum foil, salt, air, and a chemical from an aquarium to create an air battery. We’ll be using a digital multimeter to find out just how much voltage your battery cell generates (and this will also tell you how many of these batteries you need to make to power a LED or motor.)

What to Learn: This “aluminum air battery” uses a chemical reaction between the foil and air (well, specifically the oxygen in the air). The combination of oxygen and foil produces aluminum oxide and energy. If you build your battery well, you can see the energy when this battery lights up an LED or turns a motor shaft, but the oxide layer will be invisible to your eye.

Materials

salt
bowl of water
activated charcoal (from an aquarium supply store)
aluminum foil
paper towel
2 alligator clip leads

Want More Science Activities?

These videos are samples from my online eScience Learning program. Its a complete science program for K-12. Plus, its self-guiding, so they can do it on their own.

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Thank You!

Thanks for the privilege as serving as your coach and guide in your science journey. May these videos bring you much excitement and curiosity in your learning adventure!

~Aurora

Supercharged Science

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