We depend on electricity. Many appliances we use everyday are powered by electricity supplied by the local electric power company: hair dryers, electric mixers, electric floor heaters, irons, clothes dryers, washing machines. However, many of the devices we use every day can be powered instead by batteries: digital watches, electronic toys, radios, CD players, tape players, portable computers. One of the simplest devices for providing light in common use is the flashlight. How does a flashlight work? What is electricity? What is an electric circuit?
Purpose
To light the bulb in as many ways as you can by using only one battery and one piece of wire.
Materials
Wire (stripped on both ends, 6") (1)
Bulb (#48)
Battery (1.5 volt) (1)
magnifying lens
Procedure
1) Arrange the wire, bulb and battery in as many configurations as you can to make the bulb light.
2) Record sketches showing the different configurations you try in you Lab Book. Indicate each successful (and unsuccessful) arrangement you try.
Questions
1) Make sketches which show the arrangements among the battery, the bulb and wire for each arrangement in which you succeeded in lighting the bulb.
2) Make a general statement that describes the connections required for the bulb to light.
3) How do you think a flashlight works? If you have one, take a flashlight apart and examine its parts to test your hypothesis.
4) Suggest a model which might explain how the filament in the bulb produces light.
5) State a hypothesis that might explain what a battery does?
Last modified 9 Aug 1997
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