Teachers TryScience

Estimated time: Depends on level (For high school, 60-80 minutes)

1. Take a kit which will include: wires, a light bulb and housing, a resistor, electrical tape, a battery and housing, and a switch.
2. Using only the materials in your kit, find a way to make the light bulb light up; use the least number of components.
3. Draw, using the correct symbols, the setup you have constructed.
   • Use the voltmeter to get a reading of the system.
4. Modify your setup to include the switch, draw the new setup, and explain what it does and hypothesize how it works.
   • Use the voltmeter to get a reading of the system.
5. Modify your setup to add the resistor to your current setup. Draw the new setup and hypothesize how it works and what it does.
   • Use the voltmeter to get a reading of the system.
6. We have been using a battery as our source of power, hypothesize different power sources that would be more environmentally friendly, and explain why this would be a more environmentally friendly power source.
7. Recreate the setup your constructed in procedure number 2. Remove the battery and add in one of the available renewable resources. Then, draw the setup and explain why adding it improves your system and how it inhibits your setup. For information on how to add in the renewable resources, you could purchase a kit like http://www.pasco.com/featured-products/horizon-alternative-energy-sparklabs/index.cfm You could also read and use the Teachers TryScience lessons Wind Power: Creating a Wind Generator or Racing with the Sun: Creating a Solar Car.