This week's experiment is one that I have been playing with for quite some time. It is something that I first noticed when I was a child in school. Way back then, we watched educational movies sometimes in class. There were no VCRs or video tapes. Instead, the film was on big reels and fed through a movie projector. When the movie was over, you would rewind the film back onto the reel, and as the reels were spinning quickly, you could see bands of yellow and blue light, like the spokes of a wheel on the reels. Since then, I have found several other ways to see these blue and yellow bands. For this demonstration, you will need:

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We are used to associating electricity with light bulbs, but most people expect it to take a lot of power to light them. For incandescent bulbs, that is true, but with fluorescents, things are a bit different.

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For this experiment, we will make one of the easiest electromagnets that I have seen.

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Have you ever noticed that when you bring your hand near the television screen that it sometimes makes the hair on your hand stand up? It has a charge of static electricity, and that charge can be strong enough to produce a spark.

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Use the compass you constructed in Video 149 to explore magnetic fields, from electric wires to your kitchen cabinets.

This project has Science Fair potential

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How can birds sit on powerlines without being shocked?

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No Dented Cans

Why do people say not to purchase dented cans?

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Potato Clicks

Can you hear the sound of a potato producing electricity?

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The Speed of Electricity

How fast does electricity travel through your wires?

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Potato Polarity

Use a potato to identify the positive and negative wires in a circuit.

Using LEDs as a way to get started learning about electricity.

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Construct a simple circuit and use it to test conductors and insulators.

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