Project 30: Electricity!

We bought a few science kits in the Maplin closing down sale, and Solomon chose to use the electricity kit for this week's project.

The Thames & Kosmos Electricity Master Lab (I think it cost about £70 in the shop) consists of 88 pieces that are used in 119 experiments. It starts with simple circuits with light bulbs and slowly builds up to introduce diodes, resisters, potentiometers, transformers, and a myriad of other components.

119 electricity experiments

The kit is designed for 10 years and up, but Solomon didn't have any trouble putting together the circuits. They don't clip together as easily as something like LittleBits, however, and his father managed to accidentally bend the connector on the meter. It bent back easily enough, but we're a bit wary of that particular connection point now, thinking it may break at some future point.

Unsurprisingly, with 119 experiments, we didn't work our way through all of them. We finished the first 3 sections (37 experiments): current flows in a circle; measuring the invisible; and mysterious magnetic forces. Solomon's favourite part was the magnets, so he's looking forward to the next section when we return to it, electric current and magnetism make a great team.

In an attempt to have a more craft-focused activity, we also made conductivity testing bugs from Usborne's 100 Science Experiments. It was a nice little project, although struggling to get clean connections served as a reminder of how much easier electronics kit can be!

Conductivity testing bugs

As well as the usual BBC videos on the topic, there was also a really good Royal Institute video which kept them engaged throughout: Zap, Crackle, and Pop - The story of electricity. 

Next week's project: Minecraft and Redstone (which Solomon insists builds upon his electricity work).