A comprehensive course that teaches the fundamental principles in work, energy, and power. Students will build several different kinds of batteries, learn how solar, wind, and water can be used to generate electricity, construct simple machines, race bobsleds, zoom roller coasters, build hydraulic-pneumatic machines and so much more.

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

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

Lesson #1: Can a Battery be used to Store Energy?

Overview: We start our unit on energy with some of the most common sources of energy in our lives: batteries! We’ll learn the basics of what makes them special.

What to Learn: Ask yourself how the energy is moved in this battery. What causes the electricity to flow?

Materials

  • Earphone or headset for a portable radio
  • Small piece of aluminum foil
  • Tomato juice
  • New, shiny penny
  • Two wires with alligator clips on each end of the wires
  • Plate
  • AA-size battery
  • Spoon

[am4show have=p120; guest_error=Guest error message user_error=User error message ]

Lesson #2: Salty Battery

Overview: Did you know that you can make electricity using a few common materials and even sea salt? We’ll find out how, and why chemicals have so much to teach us when it comes to energy.

What to Learn: How is the electricity being generated? Where does this current come from?

Materials

  • water
  • salt
  • vinegar (distilled white)
  • bleach IMPORTANT: WEAR GOGGLES!
  • glass container (like a cleaned out jam jar)
  • electrodes
  • real silverware (not stainless)
  • shiny nail (galvanized)
  • large paper clip
  • dull nail (iron)
  • wood screws (brass)
  • copper pennies minted before 1982 (or a short section of copper pipe)
  • graphite from inside a pencil (use a mechanical pencil refill)
  • 2 alligator wires
  • digital multimeter

Lesson #3: Do Plants Store Energy?

Overview: Put your safety goggles on for today’s lab, because we’re working with fire! You’ll be measuring how much energy a peanut holds by setting it aflame.

What to Learn: All our energy needs on earth come from somewhere. We cannot make our own food, but plants can. We are all connected to the plants and soils that they grow in because they provide our very basic needs, as well as some of our more modern needs.

Materials

  • Goggles
  • 2 shelled peanuts
  • Small pair of pliers
  • Match or lighter
  • Sink
  • Timer

Lesson #4: Can Electricity be made from Sunlight?

Overview: We’ll get some hands-on experience with a real solar cell to answer the question of today’s lab.

What to Learn: This lab will help you learn how and where most of our energy comes from - the sun!

Materials

  • Silicon solar cell
  • Two wires with alligator clips on each end of the wires
  • Earphone or headset for a portable radio
  • AA-size battery

Lesson #5: Solar Boat

Overview: Does it matter at what angle a solar panel receives incoming sunlight? If so, does it matter enough to make a difference? We’ll find out today in this clever experiment.

What to Learn: Sunlight is very important for all life on earth. Without it, we would not be able to survive. Thankfully we can use its energy in all kinds of ways, like we will today!

Materials

  • Solar Project Kit (Radio Shack #277-1201) or other solar cell with motor (usually sold in hobby stores)
  • Foam block (about 6” long)
  • Alligator clip leads (RS#278-1156)
  • Propeller (if your kit doesn’t come with one) – you can rip one off an old small personal fan or old toy

Lesson #6: Solar Car

Overview: We’re making our very own solar-powered cars as you discover important concepts about the sun’s energy and how to capture it.

What to Learn
Materials

  • Solar Project Kit (Radio Shack #277-1201) or other solar cell with motor (usually sold in hobby stores)
  • Foam block (about 6” long)
  • Alligator clip leads (RS#278-1156)
  • 2 straws (optional)
  • 2 wooden skewers (optional)
  • 4 milk jug lids or film can tops
  • Set of gears, one of which fits onto your motor shaft (most solar motor kits come with a set), or rip a set out of an old toy
  • Razor or scissors
  • Stopwatch

Lesson #7: Can the Sun be used to Heat Water?

Overview: Although you won’t need any lab coats, we are getting serious with our scientific skills here. We’re going to explore the sun’s energy potential in our experiment today.

What to Learn: You’ll explore how the sun affects what we see as energy every day.

Materials

  • Paint brush
  • Thermometer (outdoor type)
  • Newspaper
  • Aluminum foil
  • Water
  • Large plastic glass
  • Empty aluminum 12-ounce (355 milliliter) soft drink can
  • Black paint or spray paint (flat, not shiny)

Lesson #8: Marshmallow Roaster

Overview: Do you like marshmallows cooked over a campfire? I sure do. What if you don’t have a campfire? We’ll solve that problem by building our own food roaster that you can use to roast hot dogs, marshmallows, or anything you want. And it’s battery-free since this device is powered by the sun.

What to Learn: Again, you’ll see how the sun can directly meet our energy needs!

Materials

  • 7×10”page magnifier (Fresnel lens)
  • Cardboard box, about a 10” cube
  • Aluminum foil
  • Hot glue, razor, scissors, tape
  • Wooden skewers (BBQ-style)
  • Chocolate, marshmallows, & graham cracker
  • Thermometer

Lesson #9: Can the Sun be used for Cooking?

Overview: The first large-scale application of solar power generation involves the basic principle of what we’ll be using to heat our food. This type of energy collection, called solar thermal power, uses the heat energy from the sun to concentrate and convert sunlight into electricity. Usually this involves heating water into steam that turns a turbine. You may have seen these types of power plants as they involve collection towers with an array of mirrors arranged in a circle around the tower. The largest solar power plants in the world are solar thermal arrays, notably the Agua Caliente plant in the Mojave Desert, which generates up to 350 megawatts of power, enough to power thousands of homes.

What to Learn: This will help you understand how the sun’s energy is converted to meet our needs.

Materials

  • Three clear, clean plastic cups
  • Two small tea bags
  • Aluminum foil
  • Watch or clock
  • Measuring cup
  • Water
  • Two spoons
  • White sheet of paper
  • Plastic pan (4 inches deep and 12 inches across is a convenient size but other sizes can be used)

Lesson #10: Solar Cookies

Overview: By now you know how the sun’s energy can be converted to meet our energy needs. But can it be used to directly provide us with energy? Today we’ll find out how and make some treats along the way.

What to Learn: Ask how the sun can be used to provide energy directly, without being converted into electricity or other forms of energy first. Also, you’ll be able to name different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Materials

  • Two large sheets of poster board (black is best)
  • Aluminum foil
  • Plastic wrap
  • Black construction paper
  • Cardboard box
  • Pizza box (clean!)
  • Tape & scissors
  • Reusable plastic baggies
  • Cookie dough (your favorite)
  • Thermometer (preferably with a needle point reader)

Lesson #11: Buzzing Hornets

Overview: Energy isn’t just found in the sunlight or power plants that provide us with electricity, but in the molecules that vibrate as sound waves.

What to Learn: This lesson will show us how different materials transfer energy.

Materials

  • Popsicle stick (larger, like a tongue-depressor size)
  • Rubber band
  • Scissors
  • String or yarn
  • Hot glue gun
  • 2 index cards

Lesson #12: Harmonica

Overview: Move over Mozart! We’ll create our own musical instruments today and explore more about the world of sound. What to Learn: Ask yourself how this experiment is similar to the Buzzing Hornets lesson we did last week. How is it different? Materials

  • two tongue depressor popsicle sticks
  • three rubber bands, one at least 1/4″ wide
  • paper
  • tape

Lesson #13: Air Horn

Overview: We’ll be able to detect sound waves as you amplify a squeak into a really annoying sound loud enough to make the cat cringe.

What to Learn: Energy is transmitted through a variety of matter forms, and can be observed as the sound waves cause matter to vibrate.

Materials

  • 7-9" balloon
  • straw
  • film canister
  • drill and drill bits

Lesson #14: Seeing Sound Waves

Overview: You’ll quickly see a variety of ways that sound waves interact with different materials in our lab today.

What to Learn: Since we’re learning about energy in this unit, ask yourself where the energy is being created and transferred in each part of lab today.

Materials

  • Balloon
  • Water
  • Mixing bowl
  • Radio or music player

Lesson #15: Best Parent-Annoyer

Overview: Adults probably won’t appreciate this one, but we’ll end this part of our studies on sound waves by creating a one-of-a-kind, all purpose parent annoyer!

What to Learn: Try to imagine what is going on at the molecular level, and what all of this talk about sound has to do with our larger theme of energy.

Materials

  • water or violin rosin
  • string
  • disposable plastic cup of different sizes
  • pokey-thing to make a hole in the cup

Lesson #16: Inclined Plane

Overview: Energy allows us to do work. We’ve had to come up with ways to allow us to do this more easily with things called simple machines. The inclined plane is one example of a simple machine. We’ll learn why this is important.

What to Learn: You will learn how simple machines help us to do work, as well as some of the ways that they help us in our everyday life.

Materials

  • Short dowel or cardboard tube from a coat hanger
  • Tape
  • Sheet of paper

Lesson #17: Roller Coasters

Overview: Marbles can teach us a lot about energy, especially while they zoom down a custom-made coaster track! Today you’ll learn how energy can be transferred from kinetic energy to potential energy and back again.

What to Learn: You’ll discover important concepts about how potential energy is converted into motion energy.

Materials

  • Marbles
  • Masking tape
  • 3/4″ pipe foam insulation (NOT neoprene and NOT the kind with built-in adhesive tape)

Lesson #18: Bobsleds

Overview: We’ll get more kinetic energy practice in this fun lesson where we let our marbles fly again, this time down a handmade bobsled track.

What to Learn: We continue to explore the means by which energy is transferred and used according to the laws of physics.

Materials

  • aluminum foil
  • marbles (at least four the same size)
  • long tube (gift wrapping tube or the clear protective tube that covers fluorescent lighting is great)

Lesson #19: Go Go Go!

Overview: This experiment focuses on the energy transfer of rolling cars. You’ll be placing objects and moving them about to gather information about the potential and kinetic energy.

What to Learn: This will help us get in touch with the fundamentals of energy transfer, specifically how kinetic and potential energy are related to one another.

Materials

  • a few toy cars (or anything that rolls like a skate)
  • a board, book or car track
  • measuring tape

Lesson #20: Mystery Toy

Overview: This mystery toy will help us uncover the dynamics of energy transfer, and how kinetic and potential energy are related.

What to Learn: Ask yourself, “How is the energy moving through this system?” Where is the potential energy stored? Where is the kinetic energy interacting?

Materials

  • can with a lid
  • heavy rock or large nut
  • two paper clips
  • rubber band

Lesson #21: Pendulums

Overview: This is a very simple yet powerful demonstration that shows how potential energy and kinetic energy transfer from one to the other and back again, over and over.

What to Learn: Where does the energy go? You should know by now how kinetic and potential energy are related, but this experiment should help us remember well.

Materials

  • some string
  • a bit of tape
  • a washer or a weight of some kind
  • set of magnets (at least 6, but more is better)
  • metal sheet

Lesson #22: Catapults

Overview: Turns out the ancient people could teach us a thing or two about energy when they laid siege to an enemy town. Although we won’t do this today, we will explore some of the important physics concepts that they have to teach us. What to Learn: Energy can be found in many forms. Identify what kinds and where each type of energy are working in this experiment, and you’ll be ready to move on. Materials

  • 9 tongue-depressor size popsicle sticks
  • four rubber bands
  • one plastic spoon
  • ping pong ball or wadded-up ball of aluminum foil (or something lightweight to toss, like a marshmallow)
  • hot glue gun with glue sticks

Lesson #23: Levers

Overview: Simple machines convert energy also, but help us do work. We’ll explore the lever, a very common and surprisingly useful tool that helps us direct our energy to specific and helpful applications.

What to Learn: Today you’ll discover how we can use machines to convert energy into meaningful, usable forms.

Materials

  • A nice strong piece of wood. 3 to 8 feet long would be great if you have it.
  • A brick , a thick book or a smaller piece of wood (for the fulcrum)
  • Books, gallons of water or anything heavy that’s not fragile

Lesson #24: See-saw

Overview: We’re going to use everyday objects to build a simple machine and learn how to take data.

What to Learn: A lever is designed to take a force and apply it somewhere else so that we can do work.

Materials

  • A wooden ruler or a paint stick for the lever
  • Many pennies, quarters, or washers (many little things of about the same mass)
  • A spool, eraser, pencil (anything that can be your fulcrum)
  • A ruler (to be your um….ruler)
  • Paper cups
  • Optional: A scale that can measure small amounts of mass (a kitchen scale is good)

Lesson #25: Simple Pulley Experiments

Overview: Ever wonder how pulleys work, and how you can use them to lift ten friends with only one hand? We’ll explore this today.

What to Learn: Pulleys are like other simple machines in that they help us do work by changing the direction or strength of a force.

Materials

  • One pulley (from the hardware store… get small ones that spin as freely as possible. You’ll need three single pulleys, or if you can find one get a double pulley to make our later experiment easier.)
  • About four feet of string
  • 2 paper cups
  • Many little masses (about 50 marbles, pennies, washers etc.)
  • Yardstick or measuring tape
  • A scale (optional)
  • 2 paper clips
  • Nail or some sort of sharp pokey thing
  • Table

Lesson #26: Hydraulic Earth Mover

Overview: We’ll finish this unit on Energy by building a pretty cool hydraulic earth mover. You’ll be amazed by the power of liquid to help move the machine and help us to do work!

What to Learn: This lab shows us how fluids can specifically be used to help us to do work. This is a good example of the types of energy conversion that we use every day.

Materials

  • plastic cup
  • 20 tongue-depressor-size popsicle sticks
  • 6 syringes (anything in the 3-10mL size range will work)
  • 6 brass fasteners
  • 5’ of flexible tubing (diameter sized to fit over the nose of your syringes)
  • four wheels (use film canister lids, yogurt container lids, milk jug lids, etc.)
  • 4 rubber bands
  • two naked (unwrapped) straws
  • skewers that fit inside your straws
  • hot glue gun (with glue sticks)
  • sharp scissors or razor (get adult help)
  • drill with small drill bits (You’ll be drilling a hole large enough to fit the stem of a brass fastener.)

Want More Science Activities?

esci-sq

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.

Access over 800 more experiments! Includes our unconditional happiness money-back guarantee! Click here to learn more.

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

[/am4show]