Electricity 6!

special flashlight edition!!!

by Josh, Declan and Arin

Electrician of the week is JOSH!!

We haven’t written in soooo long! Did Queen Scarlet melt us or something??? I thought she was dead… okay, getting off topic here, time for electricity…

Last week, Ms. Scott gave us some exciting news, we were making our own flashlights! We made the switches using instructions from Ms. Scott and a book! This week, we expanded. We actually made the flashlights. There were a variety of materials that people used for their flashlight outside, including legos, UNICEF boxes, cardboard and construction paper.

For this, we’ll focus on two flashlights, the I.C.LIGHT and the ReadingPro. The I.C.LIGHT was made by Declan and Arin, the ReadingPro was made by Josh and Levi! The I.C.LIGHT model is one UNICEF box and tinfoil and clear plastic covering the front. It uses two D batteries and one bulb.

The ReadingPro model uses two UNICEF boxes with clear plastic reflecting off the front. This model uses two D batteries and one bulb. Both the I.C.LIGHT and the ReadingPro can be used to read in a dark area.

Putting together all of our studies to make this amazing thing was an exciting thing to do!!!

Another model we will share is the QuadrupleAA.PLUS. This model was made by Taikoda, and is a very strong and unique one. It uses 4 Double-A batteries and one bulb. The bulb is covered in tinfoil. Tai’s case was made of LEGOS and had the strongest (and craziest) glare of all.

And now… the quote…

“Electricity’s always fun, but it’s not always simple!!!”

-Josh

ReadingPro

I.C.LIGHT (in action)

Mind Up!

by Annabel

In 4th grade every friday we do an activity called MindUP. Mind Up is a time that we calm our amygdalas down with mindfulness. The amygdala is part of your brain. Its job is to protect you from danger and from doing not right things. It's like your security guard. But it also stresses you out. For example, if you are walking on a trail and you see a rattle snake that you weren't expecting, your amygdala would have a freak out. 

It's just like a snow globe. When you shake a snow globe you can't see anything clearly. But when you put the snow globe down you can see inside. The snow globe is like your amygdala. When you see a rattle snake, it's like the snow globe got shaken up. When that happens, your job is to calm it down until you can see the picture inside.

Punctuation Humor 1

Electricity 5!

by Arin, Declan and Josh

Electrician of the week is ARIN!!

“So on Monday, we built a filament out of silver nichrome wire!” says Declan, remembering this cool day. “We awesome cause we make filament,” says Josh (geez, stop being funny!) In case you don’t know what a filament is, it’s that little wire inside of an incandescent bulb! And in case you don’t know what an incandescent bulb is, it’s: 

Below, there is a diagram of the circuit we made to use the filament with. Red clay held the wires together to stand up as we wound silver nichrome wire around the two standing-up-like wires. Then, we connected the last bit. The silver nichrome wire glowed! We all felt like we were actually creating a lightbulb!

And then, today, we looked at two different kinds of circuits. Series and parallel. Two batteries and one bulb. We predicted which one would be brighter, and why? Turns out, against most of our guesses, the series circuit was the brightest!

Now, after months of talking talking nonstop talking, it’s time for… MORE TALKING! No, the quote…

“In a parallel circuit, electricity has two paths, one from each battery. Therefore, it will have the brightness of one battery, and a longer life span”

-Arin

Next week, we’re starting to make switches and flashlights. Stay tuned…

SAVING RHINOS

By Alex and Declan and Joshua

Rhinos are in danger from poachers in South Africa because some people want their horns. They think it’s a good medicine but you can still help save them by making signs or posters and educate people about how to protect rhinos. There is also a group of women who are trying to save Rhinos by patrolling the national wildlife reserves. Poaching is horrible and it’s against the law. It needs to be stopped otherwise there won’t be any rhinos left on earth. One species, the Northern White Rhino has only 4 of them left in the world. People want their horns because they think it’s a good medicine but scientists have no proof that it does anything and here is a list of ways you can help save rhinos.                                                            

1. By making posters and signs and putting them around your neighborhood.

2. Send emails or letters to alert friends and family members about what poachers are doing to rhinos.

3. Give money to organizations that help save rhinos like savetherhino.org .

For more rhino info look at these websites

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/thorny_issues/poaching_crisis_in_south_africa

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/rhino_population_figure

https://www.savetherhino.org/rhino_info/poaching_statistics

Thank you for reading this and we hope you can help. 

Images from savetherhino.org

  

Electricity Four!

BY ARIN, DECLAN and JOSH

Electrician of the week is DECLAN!

Yesterday and continuing today, we made squishy, sushi, glowing, squeaking, spinning circuits. We started by making circuits that explained what we were doing. Here’s exactly what we were up to.

Some awesome scientist-mom invented this Play-and-make-electricity-doh. One dough had a lot of salt in it (like, a LOT A LOT) and water with lots of minerals that conduct electricity. The other dough had sugar, oils, and purified water. (Suggesting, don’t eat either). The first dough conducted electricity and the second dough was an insulator. 

We had LED’s, motors, noisemakers, and one battery pack per pair. Each partnership got one glob of each type of dough. We started by doing five assigned activities on a worksheet, conducting the electricity into the LEDs through the dough, and discovering  more about fascinatingness! Our favorite project was the SUSHI CIRCUIT!! 

Then we let our knowledge go wild!!

DECLAN AND ARIN’S EXPERIMENTS

First, we tried to make a dragon from Wings of Fire named Tsunami. Her stripes light up, and she roars. Operation failure. The current wouldn’t carry.

Then we tried to make the word Peril (after the dragon, we’re obsessed by the series). Same problem, it didn’t work.

Then, finally, we made an O with rocks. When the battery was turned on, the rocks glowed because of LEDs hidden under them and the dough of the O whistled.

JOSHUA AND LEVI’S EXPERIMENTS

First we made a Tsunami (same one by the way) with two glowing stripes and three LEDs on each stripe. Also, it had a working annoying squeaker. Then, we made a present that glowed!

Now, finally, for the quote of the week.

“If the electricity can only go one route, the bulb is either off or dimmer than it should be.”

-DECLAN

Photos and videos are on our photo page!

        

Electricity Three!

by Arin, Josh, and Declan

Electrician of the week is JOSH!!

Today, we learned a new language. Yeah, in, science class. We learned the language of the electricians. The language of symbols used in electricity when talking about bulbs and batteries and the like. Then we used it.

We made and drew circuits using this language. The circuits we made had to be made out of nine electric objects. We could chose from:

• Wires
• Batteries
• Bulbs
• Battery Holder
• Bulb Holder

Some images change when they are crossed or connected (wires) positive or negative up (battery) or on a holder or not (battery and bulb).

See the picture below for the key to the secret language.

AND NOW FOR THE QUOTE:

“The more batteries, the bigger the glow. This can be balanced out by the number of bulbs added to the circuit.”

-Josh

Next week we’ll be discussing conductors again, but this time with squishy circuits!