All labs ยท โก Electricity lab
How electricity really works
See electrons flow, discover Ohm's law, wire bulbs in series and parallel, work out your electricity bill, blow a fuse safely, build an electromagnet and make AC with a generator. (To build and program real circuits, use the Circuit lab.)
Voltage is the push (from the battery). Resistance is how hard it is to get through (the bulb). Current is how many electrons flow each second.
๐ฏ Mission
With a 6 V battery, choose the resistance that gives exactly 0.5 A.
Each dot is a reading you made. For one resistance they make a straight line โ that's Ohm's law: V = I ร R.
๐ฏ Mission
Light 3 bulbs, each as bright as one bulb on its own.
Power (watts) is how fast something uses energy. Energy = power ร time, measured in kWh โ the โunitsโ on your electricity bill.
| Appliance | Power | Use | Per month |
|---|
๐ฏ Work it out
๐ก Save money: switch off the AC 1 hour earlier and watch the bill change.
A short circuit is a path with almost no resistance โ the current becomes huge and wires get hot enough to start a fire. A fuse is a thin wire that melts first.
๐ฏ Mission
Choose the fuse that lets the bulb (1 A) work normally, but blows straight away on a short circuit.
๐งฒ Electromagnet
Current in a coil of wire makes a magnet you can switch on and off.
๐ฏ Pick up 5 clips using 2 A or less.
๐ Transformer
Two coils on an iron ring change the voltage: Vout = Vin ร turnsout รท turnsin.
๐ฏ Turn the 230 V mains into 12 V for a lamp.
๐ Generator: making electricity
๐ฆบ Electricity safety quiz
โ ๏ธ The golden rules
- ๐ง Water and electricity never mix.
- ๐ Pull the plug, not the cable.
- ๐ฅ Don't overload sockets with many adapters.
- ๐ช Stay far from power lines and substations.
- ๐ ๏ธ Damaged cable? Switch off and tell an adult.
- ๐ Only grown-ups open sockets or fuse boxes โ with the power off.