First they made a small complete circuit and watched the light bulb illuminate. They then removed a connector to see what would happen to the circuit.
Proving that if electricity is to flow around a circuit the circuit must be complete.
We then set about finding out if materials other than metal can be used to make an electric circuit. The children tried, wood, aluminium foil, and a pen. Only the aluminium foil worked. It was great seeing their faces when the light bulb worked with the foil.
Series and Parallel Circuits
Series:
For our next experiment we added a bulb and a motor to the circuit. For the first time we connected the circuits in series and the second time we connected them in parallel.
Questions we asked:
How bright was the bulb and how fast was the motor.
To do this we looked at how bright the bulb was with the motor in the same circuit. Then we removed the motor and replaced it with a connector. It was brighter without the motor.
This was then repeated but this time we replaced the light bulb with a connector. The motor was much faster. The motor went going so fast it made the fan spin up into the air, the children absolutely loved this part (and was repeated lots of times, with lots of laughing).
Parallel Circuits.
We found out when connected in parallel the bulb lit up brightly and the motor ran faster than when connected in series. Also if one component breaks the others will continue to works as the electricity is still able to flow back into the battery.
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| building the circuit |
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| does string conduct electricity? |
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| it works. |
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| waiting for the fan to spin off |
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| serious concentration. |
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| feeling the motion of the fan. |
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| series circuits |
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