Use simple projects to take the mystery out of electronics.
Stick a penny and a nail into a lemon and it becomes a battery. Use an old rusty nail to draw music out of the air or build simple electronics projects with Lego blocks. Simple projects like these are useful tools for teaching the basic concepts of electricity and electronics. Fundamental concepts like "Ohm's Law," amperage and voltage can all be demonstrated by building simple devices. You can even incorporate history and science into one project by doing experiments with coils, crystals and magnets.
Electromagnetism
Coils of copper wire and magnets can demonstrate Faraday's Law.
The relationship between electricity and magnetism provides a lot of possibilities for learning activities. Building simple generators using magnets and coils of enamel coated copper wire exposes students to the basic principles of magnetic fields and electricity. Instruct the students to measure the voltage induced in the coil and the resistance of the wire using a volt-ohm meter. According to the Georgia State University website, moving a magnet in and out of a coil of wire demonstrates Faraday's Law, which states that any change in the magnetic environment of a coil induces voltage, or electromotive force, in the coil.
Resistance and Ohm's Law
You can use a test meter to demonstrate resistance.
There are several easy-to-do activities for demonstrating the property of resistance. Use a volt-ohm meter set to the lowest-resistance reading to measure resistance in your body by holding one of the meter probe tips in each hand. If you wet your fingertips the resistance reading changes. This simple experiment is a good way to begin explaining Ohm's Law of Resistance. According to the University of North Carolina website, a pencil and paper can also be used to measure resistance. Draw a heavy black mark on the paper with the pencil and place one of the meter probes on each end of the black mark. Read the resistance value on the meter and then move the probe tips closer together and read it again. You can use this part of the project to explain the relationship between resistance and the length of a conductor.
Building Crystal Radios
Building your own crystal radio is an interesting and educational electronics project. It is also a good way to teach kids the history of communications and some basic electronics skills. Doing this project helps teach about how radio frequency waves are broadcast and how the different parts of your radio receive the AM radio signal and convert it into sound waves. According to Cornell University, this project demonstrates how electromagnetic radio waves are intercepted by the antenna wire and how they are divided into frequencies. The components in your radio set allow you to tune the radio to select the signal you want to listen to. You use coils, resistors and variable capacitors to make the radio work and learn how they work together in the radio.
Tags: black mark, copper wire, measure resistance, probe tips, relationship between, this project, volt-ohm meter
