Building a Simple Electric Motor
This is a really simple electric motor that only requires some wire, a battery, and a magnet. Simon Quellen Field has a wonderfully detailed description of how to build the motor, and some elegant tips...
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Electromagnets
Electric Currents Generate Magnetic Fields (36.5) An electric current in a wire creates a magnetic field around the wire. Image adapted from Wikimedia Commons User:Stannard. Moving charges create...
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Generating Electricity
Magnetic fields and electric fields are directly related: We saw before that a current moving through a wire creates a magnetic field.* The opposite is also true. A moving magnetic field induces an...
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Making Motors
A simple electric motor. Our exercise in building simple electric motors was quite a success. Students enjoyed doing it, even though it was challenging making the coil just right so it would spin...
View ArticleThe Physics of How Microwaves Work
An excellent explanation of how microwaves work. It talks about waves (how to determine the frequency and wavelength of microwaves), electricity (magnetrons), heat and temperature. Citing this post:...
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Electrolysis with Universal Indicator
The universal pH indicator turns red for acids and blue for bases. Ms. Wilson’s chemistry class did a beautiful electrolysis experiment by mixing a universal pH indicator into the salt solution. The...
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Copper Plating
As an introduction to ionic compounds, my chemistry students hooked up a dime to an electrode in a copper chloride solution. It’s not exactly copper plating, but the color is quite interesting. A...
View ArticlePrinciples of Generators
Please don’t take this as an endorsement of energy drinks, especially not for adolescents; they don’t need the extra sugar, caffeine, and who-knows-what. However, it does take a little knowledge of how...
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Static Electricity
The attraction of opposite charges. Balloons are the best way to demonstrate static electrical forces. Hair attracted to a balloon by static electrical forces. Electrical charge forces pull against...
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Circuit Basics
Studying voltage and current in circuits can start with two laws of conservation. KCL: Current flow into a node must equal the flow out of the node. (A node is a point on the wire connecting components...
View ArticleInteractive Electric Fields (with Paper.js)
Drag the charges around. The force field created by the interaction of two electric charges (one positive and one negative). The source is at http://soriki.com/fields/electric/. Citing this post:...
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Drawing Electrical Circuits (Symbols)
Symbols used in schematic diagrams. From Sparkfun. Sparkfun , which is an excellent purveyor of microelectronics (including Raspberry Pis and Arduinos), has a very nice tutorial that useful...
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