When you are conducting experiments and demonstrations using electricity, you’ll use the science of circuits. Amazing things are possible with circuits including alarms, radios, and lights. In the Build a Light Bulb experiment, you’ll use household items to construct a complete circuit that results in a homemade light bulb.
Using electrical tape, fix eight D-sized batteries together, end-to-end, with the positive ends connected to the negative ends.
Use scissors to cut a toilet paper tube to a height that will fit comfortably inside of a mason jar or other clear glass (leave plenty of room).
Tape one positive and one negative alligator clip to one end of the toilet paper tube. Make sure the clip is facing up, away from the rest of the toilet paper tube.
Tape the tube with the clips attached to a pie pan (or other heat resistant surface) so that it stands upright, with the clips facing up.
Carefully clip a mechanical pencil refill between the two alligator clips. The pencil refill needs to be in one piece, so be gentle.
Place a mason jar or clear glass over the top of the toilet paper tube stand.
Touch the other positive and negative ends of the alligator clips to the ends of your super battery.
Give the circuit a moment to circulate the electricity and… voila! The pencil refill begins to glow.
When you touch the free ends of the alligator clips to your “super battery,” you form a complete circuit. That means electricity flows freely through the entire apparatus that you have just built. This flow of electricity channels through the graphite-based mechanical pencil refill that is connected by alligator clips. The flowing electricity has a noticeable effect on the pencil refill, as it begins to glow and give off smoke. This happens because the electricity heats the graphite refill to an incredible temperature.
You enter a dark room and reach for a switch to turn on the lights. In fact, most off the time, you don’t even think about it; you just […]
The Energy Stick makes quite the “buzz” when you’re using it. To the untrained eye, it appears to be a plastic tube with a jumble […]
You probably know that voltaic batteries come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, from tiny button batteries to car batteries to huge industrial heavy-weights. […]
We heard that it’s possible to actually make a light bulb light-up without any electricity. We figured it out.
Voltaic batteries of all shapes and sizes are devices that convert chemical energy into electrical energy. You probably use batteries to power your cell phone, iPod, […]
Electric motors are devices that turn electrical energy into motion. They are remarkable machines that come in all sizes and do all kinds of work […]
