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Thames & Kosmos Electricity and Magnetism 620417, Experiment Manual

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Thames & Kosmos Electricity and Magnetism 620417 Experiment Manual Download Page 21

EXPERIMENT 16

WHAT’S HAPPENING

Only objects made of metal will make the bulb light up. The 

connectors also contain metal wire so that the current can flow 

through them.

Conductors and 

insulators

Up to now, you have used the wires and 
green connectors to conduct electricity 
from the battery case to the lights with-
out really thinking about it. But what 
kinds of materials will conduct electrici-
ty, anyway? One thing you already know 
is that air will not conduct electricity — 
otherwise, you wouldn’t need any connec-
tors at all!

HERE’S HOW 

Clamp the red alligator wire to one of the 
battery terminals. Attach the light to the 
other terminal using the X-connector.

Clamp the blue alligator wire to the free 
prong of the light. When you press the two 
free alligator clips together, the bulb will 
light up. 

Now, you can try connecting the two alli-
gator clips to all sorts of objects. If the 
bulb lights up, you know that they con-
duct electricity.

Try it, for example, with a metal pot, a 
wooden spoon, aluminum foil, a metal 
fork, coins, teacups, paper, plastic, nails 
and glass. 

CONDUCTORS 

AND 

INSULATORS

Materials that conduct 
electricity well are 
called 

conductors. 

Materials such as plas-
tic, which will not con-
duct electricity, are 
called

 insulators.

Your wires contain 
copper inside them. The 
plastic covering 
prevents the current 
from jumping from one 
wire to another if they 
happen to touch — 

which would cause a 

short circuit.

Electricity

19

Summary of Contents for Electricity and Magnetism 620417

Page 1: ...TITELSEITE U1 EXPERIMENT MANUAL ...

Page 2: ...used batteries in accordance with environmental regulations Make absolutely sure that metallic objects such as coins or key chains are not left in contact with battery terminals Do not bend warp or otherwise deform batteries Individual parts in this kit may have sharp edges or corners Do not injure yourself Safety Information for Parents and Children This experiment kit will teach your children ab...

Page 3: ...rties and you will learn about all the things you can do with switches and lights Electric Motor 24 Electric motors produce rotation from electric current You can also use your electric motor to tell the direction in which current is flowing through your circuit Magnetism 32 How would you like to explore the secret powers of mag netism Dive into this mysterious world which has been put to use by e...

Page 4: ... electrical current is flowing Green light Item No 706417 This is just like the red light except it s a differ ent color Yellow light Item No 706416 Again this is just like the red light except it s a different color Motor Item No 706414 When electrical current flows through it the motor and its yellow propeller will turn quite quickly Two way switch Item No 705055 Quantity 2 Depending on the sett...

Page 5: ... as T connectors for short because their shape is simi lar to a T Component Description Illustration Red connecting wire with plugs Item No 706428 For connecting the electronic components At the ends there are contacts that fit into the green X connectors Re ferred to as redconnecting wire in the instructions Blue connecting wire with plugs Item No 706429 Like the red connecting wire with plugs bu...

Page 6: ...rent flows through it Component Description Illustration Small parts in pouch Item No 772180 Various metal parts for the experiments such as screws nuts washers and colored disks with a thin iron ring that you can use for the mag net games Base Item No 706419 Belongs to the three part magnet hanger consisting of a base an arm and a cord with rings Arm Item No 706420 The L shaped arm is part of the...

Page 7: ... a bulb Was a switch installed in the wrong position or the wrong way around Could the light bulb be dead Test it with the battery or try a different one Is one of the connections loose Push them all together again one more time Don t worry If you start with the first experiments in this manual you will soon have enough practice handling the components that everything will become clear to you Fore...

Page 8: ...d refrigerators electric ovens and stereo systems Electricity from batteries powers flashlights transistor radios and MP3 players You too no doubt have electric lighting in your room that you can turn on and off with the flick of a switch But how does it actually work How does this mysterious electrical current make light bulbs glow That s what you ll find out in the experiments in this chapter 6 ...

Page 9: ...lways has to flow in a circle or circuit If this kind of circuit is broken in just one place the flow of electricity immediately stops the bulb will go out or not light up at all if the light and battery case are connected with just one wire Circulating current HERE S HOW Use the red alligator wire to connect one of the battery case s terminal prongs to one of the prongs of the red light Does the ...

Page 10: ...h the current is now flowing in the opposite direction Light bulbs such as the ones in your kit are among those electronic components that work equally well regardless of which direction the current flows through them But as you will discover later on there are also components for which the direction does matter Reversed connections Does it make any difference which direc tion the current flows th...

Page 11: ...wires with plugs at their ends You will have to push an X connector onto each of the wire s plugs so that they can be attached to the light and battery case Then push the X connector slots onto the light and battery case prongs In addition to the wires with alligator clips attached to them you will also find some wires in your kit with green cubes at their ends Try seeing what you can use them for...

Page 12: ...ery pow ered device Don t forget to re in sert the second battery for the next experiments With half the force Your battery case holds two batteries which join forces to power your circuits Do you think the bulb will light up if it is supplied with current from just one of them HERE S HOW Open the battery case cover and remove one of the batteries Connect the battery case to the light using the tw...

Page 13: ...ricity instead of one HERE S HOW Assemble a circuit with X connectors and one plug wire This time insert two lights in a row so the current has to flow through both one after the other CURRENT STRENGTH Current strength or amperage is a mea surement of how many electrons run through a wire per second comparable to the number of liters of water flowing through a pipe per second Current strength is m...

Page 14: ... the battery using four X connectors and six I connectors The picture shows the simplest way to hook up the circuit How brightly do the bulbs light up now Do you know another way connect two lights to a battery Exactly You can try connecting each light directly to the battery terminals If you let the bulb shine for a long time the batteries will get used up On the other hand it can be inconvenient...

Page 15: ...s is an AND circuit too Switches in lockstep If you can arrange lights in a series you should also be able to do that with switches See how the current behaves when you do that HERE S HOW Insert the two switches into the circuit directly behind one another in series This way you can more easily compare their settings Try different settings for the two switch buttons How many different possible com...

Page 16: ...ched off will it fail to shine figure 1 One or the other Of course you can also hook up the two switches in parallel How does the current behave when you do that HERE S HOW Assemble the illustrated circuit figure 1 Try all the different switch settings again With which ones will the bulb light up now Trace the course of the current with the help of figure 2 EXPERIMENT 11 SWITCH SETTINGS Switch 1 S...

Page 17: ...ton and light By pressing briefly or longer you can make the bulb light up accordingly This is how you transmit the Morse code signals TIP Only let the current flow for a brief time a few sec onds or the battery will quickly get used up TIP If you really want to use the circuit to send messag es you should get your self a few meters of dou ble cable wire Use the alligator wires to hook up the circ...

Page 18: ...ending on its setting the switch connects first one and then the other light to the lower battery terminal This kind of red green switch is very use ful If you have a model train set you can use it as a railway signal Or you can use it as a signal to tell visitors whether they are allowed to enter your room or not Choice between red and green You have probably been asking yourself what you can use...

Page 19: ...reet Traffic lights also use the color yellow Would you like to be able to control three differ ent lights HERE S HOW Assemble the circuit exactly as shown in figure 1 If you do it right you can choose whether to have the green red or yellow bulb light up Trace the course of the current with your finger In the traffic lights used in some coun tries the yellow light can shine at the same time as th...

Page 20: ...lack or the red route figure 2 This method of connecting two switches in a house or apartment is known as a three way switch Light from the end of the hallway In long hallways or in apartment building stairways you can usually turn the light on or off from two different places That isn t as easy to do as you might think But here s a trick you can use HERE S HOW Assemble the circuit shown in figure...

Page 21: ...ght to the other terminal using the X connector Clamp the blue alligator wire to the free prong of the light When you press the two free alligator clips together the bulb will light up Now you can try connecting the two alli gator clips to all sorts of objects If the bulb lights up you know that they con duct electricity Try it for example with a metal pot a wooden spoon aluminum foil a metal fork...

Page 22: ...ach oth er without quite touching Now push one book the window sash against the other so the strips briefly touch What happens What if you want to be able to open the window during the day without setting off the alarm In that case install another switch between the light and the battery image 2 That way you can turn the sys tem on and off EXPERIMENT 17 TIP If you can get a few meters of dual cabl...

Page 23: ... will light up Now imagine that a razor thin aluminum strip is attached to a windowpane Then if the pane were broken the strip would tear Try it with your strip tear it What do you notice EXPERIMENT 18 WHAT S HAPPENING As long as the aluminum strip is intact the bulb will light up when the alarm system is turned on because the circuit is closed If it tears the light goes out this is the alarm sign...

Page 24: ...water into motion so that it flows around in a circle through the pipe In another location there is a small wa ter wheel that is turned by the flowing water and imagine further that this water wheel drives say a propeller on the out side of the pipe In this model of a cir cuit the pump corresponds to your battery which makes electrons flow The elec trons move through the wires which correspond to ...

Page 25: ... and simple way of repre senting components and their connections Each component is shown as a symbol or circuit symbol The symbol for an elec trical wire is particularly easy a single line When a wire is thickened with a dot it represents a place where two wires are joined or connected 23 Battery Two way switch L connector Lamp Push button T connector Motor X connector I connector ...

Page 26: ...rk for example in mixers and drills vacuum cleaners and ventilators CD players and computer hard drives lathes and countless other machines and they power subway cars and streetcars locomotives and submarines Even in a gasoline powered car all kinds of electric motors are at work in fans power windows and windshield wipers Electric cars of course even use an electric motor as their main drive sour...

Page 27: ... HERE S HOW Connect the motor to the battery case with the alligator wire Note the rotation direction Now reverse the alligator wires at the battery case This will make the cur rent flow the opposite direction through the motor How does it turn Now switch the wires at the motor termi nals What direction of rotation does the fan have now WHAT S HAPPENING The electric motor converts the electrical c...

Page 28: ...tors Try different switch settings and compare the motor s direction of rotation for each one Trace the current path for each switch setting EXPERIMENT 21 BATTERY POLES Each of your batter ies has two different shaped terminals One of them is the source from which the current will flow out into a circuit while the other is where the current flows back in These two terminals are known as poles One ...

Page 29: ...ow you can choose whether to make the bulb light up or the motor run HERE S HOW You can see that the circuit matches the one in Experiment 21 Quick change except in this case a light is attached directly to one of the battery terminals On the other side you will insert an I con nector to make the components fit together again Try all the switch settings When does the bulb light up Does anything oc...

Page 30: ...ee lights as well as run the motor Do you think it can handle all that Motor at full brightness HERE S HOW This circuit is just an extension of the par allel circuit from Experiment 24 Motor plus light with the two extra lights con nected up with two extra connectors Turn on the current with the switch Do the bulbs light up Does the fan turn 28 WHAT S HAPPENING Apparently the battery has no proble...

Page 31: ...h Sometimes you might also like to be able to turn a motor on and off from two dif ferent locations This circuit can do that HERE S HOW Assemble the circuit Try the different switch settings Follow the path of the current for each setting Figures 1 and 2 with their different cur rent paths indicated by broken lines should help you here EXPERIMENT 26 Electric Motor 1 2 29 ...

Page 32: ...probably the showiest electrical phenom ena in nature Inside a thundercloud there are areas with a huge excess of electrons and other areas where there are too few So just like between the poles of a battery there exists electrical tension or voltage between these areas In a thun dercloud though the voltage doesn t amount to just a few volts Often it will be over 100 million volts So it discharges...

Page 33: ... with one of the metals gradually dissolving in the process The dissolution of the metal is what supplies the energy from the battery And that s also why the battery becomes used up or dead after a while Why is it that electricity can be dangerous If electrical current flows through your body and blood it de composes the blood with heat and toxic substances produced in the process On top of that o...

Page 34: ... this section you will be investigating the mysterious invisible forces emanating from a magnet And you will learn how seafarers in earlier ages of exploration used these forces to find their way over seemingly endless expanses of ocean ...

Page 35: ...sed and the watch might not work properly any longer HERE S HOW Spread out all the pieces from the kit s small parts pouch on the table Hold one of the cylindrical red and blue bar magnets above them Pay attention to the distance between them and the mag net When do the metal parts jump up and stick to the magnet Repeat the experiment with a ring magnet Now place the magnets on the table and hold ...

Page 36: ... a lot of iron containing objects end up in the trash With the help of a magnet you can separate those objects from the rest of the trash in order to recycle the iron Apparently magnets are capable of monitoring their surroundings sensing the presence of iron and pulling it close with invisible arms How far do you think those arms might reach WHAT S HAPPENING The strength of the magnetic force dep...

Page 37: ...ouch They will be attracted to it If you remove the magnet from the screw the other pieces will fall off again See how many of the little pieces the screw can hold Is a magnet capable of altering the iron that it attracts It may look no different from the outside but do you think it might have acquired special properties Contagious magnetism Penetrating effect HERE S HOW Move various objects betwe...

Page 38: ...But because the ring magnet is not very strong the disks can easily fall off again which makes the game more challenging and more fun Magnetic fishing HERE S HOW Take a 50 cm piece of twine and tie one end tightly to a ring magnet and the other end to the handle of a cooking spoon This will be your fishing rod Spread the plastic disks across the bottom of a box Now without looking into the box tak...

Page 39: ...moved close to it You will investigate this phenomenon in the next experiment Magnetism 37 WHAT S HAPPENING In fact any magnet has two locations where its magnetic force is greatest These are called the magnetic poles With the bar magnet the poles are at the ends and the magnetic force is much weaker in the middle With the ring magnet it s the ring shaped surfaces that repre sent the poles Centers...

Page 40: ...th pole while the blue end is the south pole Magnetic friends and foes You have already tested a lot of materials to see how they behave in response to magnets But how do magnets behave with each other HERE S HOW Hold the two bar magnets close to each other What do you feel Turn one of the magnets around What do you notice Pay attention to the colors of the ends Repeat this experiment with the rin...

Page 41: ...other Instead of moving on wheels magnetic levitation trains float a few millimeters above the track That helps them stay quiet and vibration free even as they reach speeds of over 500 kilometers per hour The secret lies in using the repelling forces of magnets to help them float on a cushion of air Can you do the same trick with your ring magnet WHAT S HAPPENING The magnets don t touch each other...

Page 42: ...rs HERE S HOW Attach the two bar magnets to each other by bringing the opposite poles together Now test to see where the areas of stron gest magnetic force are What can you determine Pull the magnets apart and test them again Repeat the experiment with the ring magnets WHY DOES A MAGNET ATTRACT IRON OF ALL THINGS It s because iron con sists of countless tiny magnets due to its spe cial atomic stru...

Page 43: ...x a few millimeters above the magnets which creates clearer patterns than when you hold the magnet directly against the box Tap gently on the box The iron particles will form a picture as if painted by the hand of a ghost figure 1 You might have to perform this experi ment a few times before you get the hang of making a really nice looking pattern Stand the bar magnet upright figure 2 and repeat t...

Page 44: ...e In reality a magnet is altering the space around it by giving it the property of being able to exert force on pieces of iron Physicists call this kind of altered space a field So there s a magnetic field all around the magnet with the strength of the field falling as you get farther away from the magnet WHAT S HAPPENING As the iron particles show the mag netic force seems to pour out of the pole...

Page 45: ... ring magnet past the suspended bar magnet from a certain distance away If you coordinate the movements of the ring magnet and the pair of bar magnets skillfully enough you will be able to get the bar magnets to rotate rapidly Dancing magnets Hanging magnets HERE S HOW Mount the hanger arm on the base Hang the cord with rings from the hook by the small ring Insert the two bar magnets into the larg...

Page 46: ...much more accurately WHAT S HAPPENING Two magnets stuck together are no ticeably stronger than one and they will make the bar magnets move from a greater distance away On the other hand the magnetic force is greatly reduced when you push the ring magnets together with their equal poles facing each other Then you can bring the ring mag nets quite close before the bar mag nets respond 44 Intensified...

Page 47: ...ing magnets along the rulers toward the hanger To let you see a difference hold one magnet ver tically and the other horizontally If you have other magnets of course you can try them too Push the first magnet forward until you see a slight reaction from the bar magnet Then push the other magnet along until you see the bar magnet regain its earlier position 45 WHAT S HAPPENING You can use this meth...

Page 48: ...refully Do you notice anything Look for a notable landmark some distance away say a tall building or a mountain in the direction in which the magnet is pointing Also try going outside to see what direction the magnet points Researchers tend to have excellent powers of observation Are you a good observer Let s find out Birth of a magnet HERE S HOW Start by using the iron pieces to test the needle f...

Page 49: ...ck together bar magnets on a saucer and let your boat float freely don t let it get caught against the edge After a few seconds the bar magnet and the saucer along with it will turn in a certain direction Turn the bar magnet in a different direction What do you notice Perform the experiment again with two ring magnets standing upright Do you think the fact that the bar magnets always point in the ...

Page 50: ... the ring magnet or bar magnet close to it WHAT S HAPPENING If the polystyrene foam floats freely the nee dle always points in a north south direction Slender arrows and needles let you detect a northerly direction more precisely In fact early compasses really were made out of a magnetized needle and cork float ing in a bowl of water marked with a scale 48 N N S S ALWAYS TO THE NORTH A compass nee...

Page 51: ...rs such as Christopher Columbus and James Cook would never have been able to cross the world s oceans since they never would have been able to find their way across the seemingly endless expanses of water IN EVERYDAY LIFE compasses are incredibly important even if you can t always see them You probably know that magnetic compasses have been guiding ships across the oceans for hundreds of years But...

Page 52: ...ctricity and magnetism related Or are they completely dif ferent natural phenomena In the following experiments you will be exploring the strange connections between them and you will learn about some of their useful applications ...

Page 53: ...self at right angles to the wire Note the side to which the red end moves Unfasten the clip turn the battery case around and attach one of the clips again Tap briefly against the free battery termi nal again Now the current will be flow ing in the opposite direction through the wire Does that have an effect on the direction that the magnet turns Electromagnetism CAUTION You should only tap the cli...

Page 54: ...agnet and briefly touch the alligator clip at the free end of the blue wire against the free battery terminal The red end of the bar magnet will turn toward or away from the spool Reverse the direction of current flow and repeat the experiment In what direction does the magnet turn now TIP Only let the current flow very briefly a few sec onds or the battery will quickly get used up 52 WHAT S HAPPE...

Page 55: ...ou notice Electromagnetism TIP Only let the current flow very briefly a few sec onds or the battery will quickly get used up Strength from electricity Electromagnets have two other distinct advantages over permanent magnets First You can turn them on or off when ever you like Second You can construct them in such a way that they can handle very strong electrical currents These currents can in turn...

Page 56: ...press briefly on the button to make current flow through the horse shoe The pieces of iron will be attracted to it What happens to the iron pieces sticking to the magnet when you switch the current off Test the strength of the magnet How close do the iron pieces have to get for them to react Are both poles equally strong Try carrying out the experiment using the colorful disks figure 2 EXPERIMENT ...

Page 57: ...e poles You may be wondering why the poles of a mag net are called the north and the south pole There are historical rea sons for it In earlier times people were familiar with com passes but didn t know anything else about magnetic forces People thought it was Earth s poles or gigantic magnetic mountains near them that were attracting the compass s needle The ends of the compass needle that were p...

Page 58: ...s and five X connectors Set it next to the hanger device with one of its poles a few centimeters away from the bar magnet Switch on the electro magnet for a few sec onds What happens Now push the other pole closer to the bar magnet and briefly switch on the current again What do you notice Test the needle again What does it show Do you think an electromagnet also has a north and a south pole You c...

Page 59: ...l enough to make the bar magnet react noticeably when you switch on the current Now try holding objects made from a variety of materials such as glass por celain wood paper cardboard textiles plastic your hand an aluminum pot an iron baking sheet between the horse shoe electromagnet and the bar magnet Which materials will the magnetic force penetrate and which materials block it EXPERIMENT 58 WHAT...

Page 60: ...rrent on and off Stator Stator Rotor 1 2 3 58 WHAT S HAPPENING What you ve built here is a very primitive electric motor It works on the same principle as the small motor in this kit as well as the huge engines that drive electric trains and all electric cars INSIDE AN ELECTRIC MOTOR Equal magnetic poles re pel each other while op posite ones attract That is the basic principle behind an electric ...

Page 61: ...tor clip and move it gently across the battery terminal What kind of noise comes from the paper Electromagnetism SPEAKER A speaker also contains a cardboard mem brane and two magnets Usually a tiny spool of wire will be attached to the cardboard membrane into which the oscillations of elec trical current will be fed In this way the spool is turned into an electromagnet This spool is surrounded by ...

Page 62: ...ires One of the alli gator wires will lead from the light to one of the bare poles of the horseshoe electromagnet Clamp one end of the other wire to the battery s second terminal and the other end to the metal fastener strip near where you attached it Arrange the horseshoe electromagnet and the hanger in such a way that the magnetic poles and the strip are at the same height Place a book under the...

Page 63: ... shown in figure 1 will power the motor and contain the two way switch and two I connectors The other will supply current to the horse shoe electromagnet and it will have a push button so you can switch the current on and off Again attach the metal prong fastener strip to the hanger device so that it can swing freely but without slipping at a height of about three centimeters figure 2 Tape the hor...

Page 64: ...romagnet poles fig ure 4 This will prevent the metal strip from sticking to them after you switch off the current Now mount the hanger base on the cardboard such that the metal strip swings a few millime ters in front of the poles of the horseshoe elec tromagnet as shown in figure 5 Test to see if the strip moves toward the magnet when you press the push button and that it swings back again when y...

Page 65: ...ithout risk of exaggeration you can truly say that our world would be a very different place without electromagnets How is electricity produced on a large scale If you wanted to use batteries to power subways streetlights electric ovens or the electric engines in factories you wouldn t get very far Fortunately people discovered another way to pro duce electricity over 150 years ago by using an alt...

Page 66: ...k solar cells like the ones you may have seen on roofs They convert the light of the sun directly into electricity as long as the sun is shining of course None of the electrical or electronic components in this kit should be disposed of in the regular household trash when you have finished using them Instead they must be delivered to a collection location for the recycling of electrical and electr...

Page 67: ...9 tr all previous wikipedia com All other photos rayhle designstudio c r 1 de Package Design Concept and Layout Peter Schmidt Group Hamburg Package Photography cabania Reinhold Foeger beide shutterstock com Package Illustrations rayhle designstudio c r 1 de The publisher has made every effort to identify the owners of the rights to all photos used If there is any in stance in which the owners of t...

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