ConductionOF ELECTRICITY – WEDNESDAY 5TH MARCH 2014

Starter:

Write down as much information as you can remember from your lessons on

conduction of heat as you can

If you finish this, list down as many materials you think are conductors

My name is

Introduction to me

I am

I am a 14 year old year 10 student

I am going to be taking part of your lesson today

Please just call me

What you will be marked on

Describe what conduction is (Level 4)

Explain the process of conduction using key terms [Level 5 ]

Relate conductors and insulators to function and properties. [Level6]

What is conduction?

Conduction is the transfer of an energy through a substance

The type of conduction we are looking at today is Electrical Conduction

There are two types of materials in regards to conduction; conductors and insulators

Conductors allow conduction very well and insulators do the opposite

Conductors & Insulators

Firstly, let’s talk about conductors

Conductors (in terms of electricity) are items which allow electricity to pass through them very easily such as metals.

They are used in many places to transfer electricity around like the national grid (the huge series of pylons and wires you sometimes see)

Now insulators

Insulators are items which do not allow easy movement of electricity through them

This means that they are used for things such as protecting sensitive equipment and saving you from an electric shock as they prevent the electricity from touching you

Now we split

Now we are going to split into your stages

Stage 1 is going to stay with Mr. and Stage 2 is coming with me

Makey-Makey

The Makey-Makeys are tiny circuit boards which you can use to control a computer’s basic functions

The Makey-Makeys will show you what kind of things are conductive

To use them, simply attach one end of the crocodile clip to a function (such as the space bar) on the Makey-Makey and then attach the other to any conductive item

The next step is to ‘Earth’ yourself, simply having another crocodile clip attached to ‘Earth’ on the board and holding the other end should work!

Another method is to make a ring of paper clips, put it on your wrist and then attach the other end of the paper clip to this ring

Split into 2 teams

We only have 2 of the Makey-Makey’s so you need to split yourself into 2 teams to be able to conduct this activity

How conduction works

Conduction in electricity is done by electrons passing through a substance

Metals as such allow this very well as the electrons they have are not bound to one particular atom

Items such as plastic however have the electrons bound to their atoms, meaning the new ones cannot pass through

See what items are conductive

Now you are free to explore with the Makey-Makeys

Try as many different of the materials available to you as you can and keep a list showing; the material, how well it conducted and whether or not you expected it to conduct (and why), here is a possible table

Material How well did it conduct?

Did you expect it to conduct? And why?

BONUS

For a bonus, see if you can make a fully

wired up Makey-Makey!

Timer

Now…

Now add an extra column labelled ‘Conductor or Insulator’ and work out whether the different items are a conductor or an insulator.

The table should look something like this

Material How well did it conduct?

Did you expect it to conduct? And why?

Conductor or Insulator?

A student has been learning about conduction in his science lessons.Conductors allow heat and electricity to pass through them from one side to the other.

Insulators do not let heat pass through them

Name Prediction on whether it will let heat pass through

Metal/non-metal

Is it wet to touch?

Conductor or insulator

Level 6

Explain why there are not any plugs to plug electrical equipment in bathrooms, with an explanation why?

Level 5

Explain how the electricity passes through the objects.Explain why it is possible to conduct through different objects and not just metals.

Level 4 Using your table of results describe what are conductors of electricity and what are not.

Vibrations carry heat through an object, but the electrons speed up the process.

Electricity is conducted by the electrons.

Objects that contain water also can conduct electricity, this is because parts of the water can

carry an electric current.

Now let’s take a look at your results

Now let’s take a look at, and compare, your results

Take a look at somebody else’s results and see how they found each item

Now write the answers to the following questions

Do your results look similar?

Did they expect the same as you and why do you think they did / didn’t?

Research

Now, using the spare laptops, research into conduction and find why different materials are / aren’t conductive

Here is a site you may wish to use

http://goo.gl/2lSRHJ

If you can find answers to what and why the materials are and aren’t conductive, list them down

The primary aspect

The primary aspect with today in regards to electrical conduction is the moisture

For any of the materials that are not metallic, they do not have the free electrons to enable the electricity to pass through

This means the items must have water inside

Water can allow some electricity through it if a high current is applied to it. This is due to the presence of a minute concentration of H+ and OH- ions in the water. This difference in the ions (1 positive and 1 negative) makes this possible. However, electrons cannot flow through water itself.

Now we regroup

Thank you for being such a good class

Now let’s go back to the classroom and regroup with the others

Thank you

Unfortunately this is the end of the lesson, I have enjoyed teaching you however and hope to get the chance again