A flashlight runs on electricity---but you don't have to plug it in. It carries its electric current in a \"package"---a battery. A battery is made of layers of chemicals inside a metal can. When...
Making electricity safe
A light bulb uses only a little electricity. But electric stoves, refrigerators, and frying pans use as much electricity as dozens of light bulbs. Can you use too much electricity? What happens if...
A pull from electricity
You can build your own electromagnet---and you can find ways to make your magnet stronger. This project will show you how. Ask a grown-up to use the knife to scrape about an inch (2.5 centimeters)...
An on-off magnet
Large electromagnets can lift heavy loads. This one picks up and stacks big blocks of crushed iron and steel in a junkyard. Electricity can make light and heat. It can also make a magnet---one that...
It’s hot!
When you use electricity to make toast, pop corn, iron clothes, or dry your hair, two things happen. Electricity makes a strong push in a wire---and the wire pushes back! Electricity makes the...
It’s light!
Electricity traveling through the thin wire of a light bulb makes the bulb glow. When you turn on a lamp, electricity makes the bulb light up. But the whole bulb isn't really glowing. The part...
Starting and stopping the push
You want your electric clock to run day and night. But you wouldn't want your doorbell ringing all the time! Things like doorbells, lamps, and radios work only when you turn them on. Most things...
What makes the push?
Electricity is a push in a wire---the push of moving electrons. But what makes the electrons start to push through the wire? Where does electricity come from? Electricity is made in a kind of...
Current conductors
Materials What kinds of materials will conduct, or - bell wire (6 feet; 1.8 meters) - dry cell (No. 6) - flashlight bulb (1.5 volts) - knife - porcelain or plastic socket (small, for...
A push in a wire
should go. Click! The minute you turn on a lamp or a radio, something happens---a light bulb glows or sounds come out. But electricity doesn't jump into the lamp or the radio. It flows through...