Today I introduced electrical currents to my students. We discussed how that electrical currents are much different from static electricity in the fact that it is a continuous flow of energy…as oppose to the build up and sudden release of energy that static electricity shows. We also talked about electrical currents and how they power our everyday items we use. After all the talking was over, it was time to play a little bit.

First I had my students create a simple circuit using two wires, a 9 volt battery, and a single light. This was a pretty simple task that they figured out in a matter of a couple of minutes. After that was over, I started giving each group of students more batteries, wires, lights, and simple telling them to “make it work”….and they did. Above is a short video of students from my 3rd hour class stringing together seven batteries, four wires, and two lights.

However, not all attempts were successful and the video above is a perfect example. My students took 14 batteries and tried to power one light…needless to say it didn’t turn well (watch the bottom left hand corner of your screen).

When we return to school, we will continue our conversations about electrical currents and more experiments are sure to follow.

Mr. McClung