Electricity for Beginners - Fun-ducative Experiments

Class 4 Program
© 2014 ADD-on-GYAN Educational Services Pvt. Ltd

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This book has been produced for Gyan Lab Programs. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
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mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the copyright owner. Published in India by ADD on
GYAN Educational Services Pvt. Ltd
© ADD on GYAN Educational Services Pvt. Ltd

Material Required
GRAB THESE:
[ Green Board ]
[ Metal Plate ]
[ Wire ]
[ Brackets ]
ket]
[ Nut ]
[ Battery Holder ]
[ Bulb ]
[ CopperPlate ]
[ Long Bolt ]
[ Short Bolt ]

1: Shine a Light
(Build a Simple Electric Circuit)
Ever imagined what life was like before the
invention of the LIGHT BULB? It was rather dim
and definitely smoky due to the burning
candles and gas lamps. Then in 1879, Joseph
Swan and Thomas Edison both had the same
bright idea...
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Hey Anna, I am planning
to make a circuit today.
Do you want to come?
Yes, yes! I have
always wanted to
make my own circuit.
Let‟s go!

Place the bulb
holder on the
green board.
Fix the bulb into the
bulb holder. Use the long and
thin bolt to fix the
bulb holder on
the green board.
Use a nut to tighten the
bolt. Use the screwdriver to
hold the bolt in position.
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Loosen the screw of one of
the ends of the bulb holder
as shown.
Who invented the bulb?
And, this is what Anna and Bulb made!

Connect one end of the wire to the
bulb holder as shown.
Tighten the screw such
that the wire is fixed
Similarly connect another wire
to the other end of the bulb
holder.
Loosen the outer nut
of the battery end.
Connect the wire from
the bulb holder to the
battery end and tighten
the nut to secure the
wire.
Fix the battery in the battery holder as
shown. Observe the “+” (positive) and “-“
(negative) signs on the battery.
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Remove the battery
from the battery
holder to avoid
drainage of the
battery.
Similarly connect the other wire from the bulb holder to
the free end of the battery holder. You‟ll notice that the
bulb glows.
Remove all the connections one by one and keep
the materials back in your Gyan Lab Kit Box
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When your circuit is complete (i.e.) the bulb is
connected to the battery, electricity begins to flow
through the filament, which starts to heat up. This
makes the electrons in the filament of the bulb
excited. A filament is a thin coil of metal that glows
brightly when heated. Can you notice the filament
in the bulb that you have in your kit? So, as the
electrons move, they give out energy in the form of
heat and light. Thus, the bulb glows!!!
Super Inventor
Benjamin Franklin
Do you know about him?
Try finding his contribution
to the electricity we use
today.

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2: Who can Resist?
(Conductors & Insulators)
Why does a
screwdriver have
a plastic handle?
Well, this is because plastic is
an insulator.
Insu..? What?
What is that?
Let us do something
interesting to learn
more…

Place the bulb on the bulb
holder and connect the
wires to it as you had done
in the previous chapter.
Place the L bracket on the
green board with the holes
aligned as shown in the
image
Insert a bolt
through one of the
holes as shown
Connect the free end
of the wire from the
bulb holder under the
bolt.
Secure the bolt using a
nut as shown in the figure.
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Did you Know?
The awesome Empire State Building in New York City uses 3,194,547 light
bulbs! The top floors are on display and you can see them from long distances
as well due to 204 flood lights and 310 fluorescent lamps!

Place the copper plate on the green
board right next to the bulb as shown
in the figure.
Turn the green board upside down
while holding on to the copper
plate and insert a bolt through the
hole such that it passes through the
copper plate.
Turn the board upwards
again while holding on
to the bolt and use a nut
to tighten it.
Take an
additional wire
and place it on
the nut used to
tighten the
copper plate
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Use a second nut to fix the wire.
Connect the free end of this wire to the
free end of the battery holder.
Place the
battery in the
battery holder.

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The set up is ready.
Use a pencil to connect the L
bracket and the metal plate. You‟ll
notice that the bulb doesn‟t glow.
Use a screw driver to connect the L bracket
and the metal plate. You‟ll notice that the
bulb glows this time.
Remove the connections from the
battery holder. Remove the wires and
other matherials. Keep back the material
in your Gyan Lab Box.
Now try this activity using other
things such as a pen, other metal
pieces, spoons, etc and note the cases
in which the bulb glows. Make a list
of these items and show it to your
Lab Teacher.
Did you Know?
Lightning is a discharge of electricity in the atmosphere. Lightning bolts can
travel at around 210,000 kph (130,000 mph), while reaching nearly 30,000 °C
(54,000 °F) in temperature.

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The bulb didn‟t glow
when the pencil was
there!
Yes! Because the pencil is made of wood.
Wood is an insulator. It doesn‟t allow
electricity to pass through. But the screw
driver lets the bulb glow. This is because the
material is steel - a good conductor of
electricity.
Materials which easily allow the passage of
current through them are called conductors
of electricity and the ones which don‟t are
insulators.
Safety First: You must have seen wires in the kit as well as other wires having nice
colourful material. This is a plastic covering on the wire which is a copper material. The
plastic acts as insulator and protects us from touching the copper which is a conductor.
Human beings are conductors which is why we are prone to getting electric shock. Do
you know why? (Hint: Human Body comprises of 70% water) Now you must try and
find more about this.
Think: Why is it advised to wear rubber slipper while working with electrical
appliances?

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3: Battery Bank
(Batteries in Series)
Why does my TV
Remote Control have
two AA batteries?
That is because it needs 3V
rating to work and each
battery provides 1.5V only
What is this „V‟ that you
are talking about,
Bulb?
Well, V is Volt and
the unit of Voltage
which is the
potential
difference between
the bulging
positive end and
negative end of
the battery. I
know it is difficult
to understand.
Come!!! Let us find
three batteries and
have some fun...

Place the bulb on the bulb holder
and connect the wires to it as you
had done in the previous chapters.
Connect a free wire to one
end of the battery holder.
Similarly connect the other end of this
wire to one end of another battery
holder.
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Connect one end of a free wire to the free end
of one of the battery holders mentioned in the
previous step.
Now, connect the free end of this
wire to the one of the ends of
the third battery holder.
Super Inventor
James Watt
A Scottish inventor, his Steam Engine
work changed many things and led to
Industrial Revolution. Try finding more
about this genius.

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Connect the free end of one of the
wires from the bulb holder to the free
end of the third battery holder
You‟ll notice that the bulb glows.
Connect the free end of the
other wire from the bulb holder
to the free end of the first
battery holder.
Insert the batteries into the
battery holders as shown.
Note the positive and
negative terminals of the
batteries while inserting.
Remove the batteries from the
holder and dismantle the circuit.
Now, carefully put all the things
back into your Gyan Lab Box

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So, this means that since I had put three 1.5
Volt batteries together, I got a total of 4.5
Volts (1.5 x 3 = 4.5) due to which I had more
power and, hence, the bulb glowed stronger!
Yes absolutely correct! Infact, if
you just keep two AA batteries,
the total voltage will be 3V as
needed by your television
remote and other devices. Also,
did you know that in order to
get a supply of 220 Volts, we
would need nearly 150 such
batteries! It will be so expensive
as an alternate to our household
power of 220 V AC (Alternating
Current)
Did you Know?
Benjamin Franklin carried out extensive electricity research in the 18th century,
inventing the lightning rod amongst his many discoveries. Lightning rods protect
buildings in the event of lightning by conducting lightning strikes through a
grounded wire.
Super Inventor
Thomas Alva Edison was one of
the greatest inventors of all times.
His inventions included a
commercially viable light bulb,
motion picture camera,
phonograph, etc. He was also a
successful businessman setting up
power stations to generate and
supply electricity! Check the
number of patents he had.

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1: Battery Bank
4: Circuits in Your House A
(Batteries in Parallel)
Oh! I feel a little silly. I just told
you about batteries in series.
What if we want more current
and not more voltage? Come,
I will show you the new circuit
with the same three batteries.
Bulb, I went and showed my battery bank
to some people. They asked me what
happens if we connect batteries in parallel.
What is that? You did not tell me about it!
Let us quickly see what is this new circuit that Bulb showed Anna which is called
Batteries in Parallel!
Did you Know?
Electricity travels at the speed of light more than 300,000 kilometres per second!

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Connect the third battery holder to the
second one as shown. Note that the
connections are being made on the same
side of the battery ends and two wires
are meeting at the battery holder in the
middle.
Connect two battery holders as shown using a
free wire.
Place the bulb on the bulb holder
and connect the wires to it as you
had done in the previous chapters.
Similarly make the connections
at the other end of the battery
holders.
Did you Know?
Thomas Edison didn't invent the first light bulb but he did invent one that
stayed lit for more than a few seconds. Thomas Edison invented more
than 2,000 new products, including almost everything needed for us to
use electricity in our homes: switches, fuses, sockets and meters.

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Connect one of the wires from the bulb
holder to the top end of the leftmost battery
holder. Similarly connect the other wire from
the bulb holder to the bottom end of the
rightmost battery holder.
Place the batteries in the battery
holders. You must place this in a
way that the positive end of one
battery is connected to the negative
end of the second one and so on.
This is what the circuit looks
like. You'll notice that the bulb
glows
Remove the batteries
from the holder and
dismantle the circuit.
Now, carefully put all
the things back into
your Gyan Lab Box

1: Battery Bank
5: Lit Up Diwali
(Bulbs in Series Circuit)
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Bulb, Diwali is coming
up and I did not get
any Diwali lights in the
shop. What do I do
now?
I have an idea!!! Let us
make our own Diwali
light using the concept
of series circuit.
And let us see
the concept as to
how Bulb taught
me to make
Diwali lights

Now, you will need
two additional bulb
holders with bulbs
and two new pairs
of long bolts with
nuts.
Use a thin & long bolt to
place the bulb holder on
the green board.
Use a nut to tighten it.
Similarly fix the other bulb holder on the green
board such that it looks just like in the figure
as shown.
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Super Inventor - Nikola Tesla
Back in the 1880‟s there was even a „war of currents‟
between Thomas Edison (who helped invent DC) and
Nikola Tesla (who helped invent AC). Both wanted their
system to be used with AC eventually winning out due to
the fact that it is safer and can be used over longer
distances. You should try and read about the works of this
genius.

Loosen the screw of one of the ends of the
rightmost bulb holder.
Place a free wire under the screw and
tighten it.
Now take a wire attached to the central bulb holder and connect it to the
rightmost bulb holder as shown.
Repeat the same process
for the leftmost bulb
holder
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Super Inventor
Michael Faraday
Do you know about
him?
Try finding his
contribution to the
electricity we use today.

Connect a free wire to one end of the battery
holder. Similarly connect the other end of this wire
to one end of another battery holder as shown.
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Do the same with another wire as shown
Connect the free end of the wire
from the rightmost bulb holder to
the free end of the rightmost
battery holder.
Similarly, connect the free end of the
wire from the leftmost bulb holder to
the free end of the rightmost battery
holder.
This is what the complete circuit looks like.
Did you Know?
A spark of static electricity can
measure up to three thousand
(3,000) volts.

Insert the batteries into the battery holders.
Note the positive and negative terminals of
the batteries while inserting.
You‟ll notice that the bulbs glow.
Remove the batteries
from the holder and
dismantle the circuit.
Now, carefully put all
the things back into
your Gyan Lab Box
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While series circuit did help Anna and me
build a Diwali light successfully by adding
more bulbs to the circuit and using a more
powerful car battery, you would have noticed
that the the bulbs are very dim and the glow
reduces from the first bulb to the second and
second one to the third. Also, if you remove
the first bulb in the circuit, the other two will
also go off. How do you think can we solve
this problem? Let‟s think!!!

1: Battery Bank
6: Circuits in Your House B
(Bulbs in Parallel Circuit)
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I am wondering that on
removing the first bulb in series
circuit in our Diwali light, all
other lights also went off. So,
shouldn‟t it happen at my
home as well that when I
switch off one light, all others
also go off?
That is a good question, Anna.
But, the circuits in our house is a
parallel circuit. Come, let us
make one such circuit and see
the difference!

Fix the three bulbs and bulb holders as
you had done in the previous activity.
Connect a free wire to the same end of the
central bulb holder.
Connect a free wire to one of the
ends of the rightmost bulb holder
as shown.
Connect the other end of this wire to one
end of the central bulb holder.
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So, come let us again
make the circuit which
Bulb and I made.

Connect one of the free ends of the wires
from the battery holders to the same end of
the left bulb holder that has been connected
to the central bulb holder.
Connect the other end of this wire to the
one end of the leftmost bulb holder as
shown.
This is what the circuit will look like
Connect a free wire to one end of the battery
holder. Similarly connect the other end of this wire
to one end of another battery holder as shown.
Do the same with another wire as shown
which makes the connections look as seen in
the figure.
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This is what the circuit would look
like now.
Connect a free wire to the
free end of the leftmost bulb
holder as shown.
Connect the other end of this wire
to the free end of the central bulb
holder.
Connect a free wire
to the same front
end of the central
bulb holder. Connect the other
end of this wire to
the free end of
the rightmost
bulb holder.
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Connect the only free end of the wire
from the rightmost battery holder to
the same front end of the rightmost
bulb holder.
This is what the circuit looks like
Insert the batteries into the
battery holders as shown. Note
the positive and negative
terminals of the batteries while
inserting.
You‟ll notice that the bulbs glow.
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Did you Know?
If you had a light bulb on the
moon connected to a switch
in your bedroom, it would
take only 1.26 seconds for
that bulb to light up, 384,400
kilometres away.

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So, Bulb and I also tried
and tested this circuit by
removing one of the
bulbs and the other
bulbs still glowed. And,
now I am very clear on
how does our household
circuit work. I am sure
you are as well!
So, we hope you
learnt a lot
about electricity
and are now a
Gyan Lab Expert
on Electricity!

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+91-99861 79531, +91-7795023071 |
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I invent. I innovate. I create

Electricity for Beginners - Fun-ducative Experiments

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