Electricity Project Week - Circuits, Switches and Electromagnets

Today we made our own switches from a paper-clip and 2 pins held in place with a little balsa wood. We incorporated them into an electrical circuit.

We used some copper wire and an iron nail to make an electromagnet. We needed to up the battery power to make it work. We found out what can happen if wires are overloaded as smoke came from the battery pack! Our electromagnet worked well though.

Lastly the children added a piece of bent copper wire into their circuit to make a game. They needed to guide the wire over the curled and bent piece without touching it. If the bulb lit they knew they had made contact.

Check out this video from The Royal Institution for more fun circuits.