Electricity Final Blog

Hi, guys, today was our last day learning about electricity. For our final blog, our teacher told us to study these topics and make a blog post showing was we have learnt. When learning about electricity we learnt about static electricity, current electricity and electromagnets. At the end of the topic, we also did an experiment about electroplating.   

SERIES Circuit

In a series circuit, there is only one path through which the whole current flows. Series circuits are used around the house for example water heaters, lamps, freezers, and refrigerators are some appliances. The electric current in a series circuit goes through every part of the circuit.

PARALLEL Circuit 

A parallel circuit is a circuit with many different paths for the electricity to travel from. The wiring system of a house is an example of parallel. One single electric power source supplies all the lights and appliances with the same voltage. If one of the lights burn out, the current will still flow through the rest of the lights and appliances, but if one bulb burns out in a series circuit, the entire circuit is broken. Parallel circuits can consume more power when compared to series circuits. 

How does LIGHTNING work?

If the ground is hot then the air will be hot as well. The warm air rises and as it rises water vapour cools it down and forms clouds. In the tops of clouds, the temperature is freezing and water vapours turn to ice. Now, these clouds become thunderclouds, lots of small bits of ice bump each other as they move around. All these collisions build up an electrical charge. When this happens the whole cloud fills up with electrical charges over time. Lighter and positively charged particles form at the top of the cloud. Heavier and negatively charged particles sink to the bottom of the cloud. The positive and negative charges grow larger and create a giant spark called lightning. Lighting occurs between the two charges within the cloud. This is like static electricity but much bigger. Mostly lightning happens inside a cloud but it happens between the cloud and the ground. A build-up of positive charges on the ground attaches the negative charges at the bottom of the cloud. The grounds positive charge focuses around anything pointing up like trees, lightning conductors and even people. The positive charge from the ground connects with the negative charge from the clouds and creates a spark of lightning. 

What is a MAGLEV train?

Maglev train is a system of transport that uses two sets of magnets. One to repel and push the train up the track and the other to elevate the train to go ahead. This is taking advantage of the shortage of friction (the resistance that one surface or object encounters when moving over another). Maglev technology was first developed by English inventor Eric Laithwaite and opened in 1984 in Birmingham. Maglev transport is operational in only three countries Japan, South Korea and China. 

How does a MOTOR work?

An electric motor works by converting electrical energy into mechanical energy this generates motion. Force is made inside the motor through the interaction between a magnetic field and winding alternating (AC) or direct (DC) current. Alternating Current (AC)  is an electrical current that directs the flow of electrons that are switched back and forth at regular intervals or cycles. Direct Current (DC) is an electrical current that flows consistently in one direction. You can use a motor to create an electric current.

How does a SPEAKER make a sound? 

Speakers convert electrical energy to mechanical energy or motion Mechanical energy compresses air and converts the motion into sound energy or sound pressure level (SPL). An electric current passes through a coil wire, this produces a magnetic field. In speakers, a current is sent through a voice coil which produces an electric field that interacts with a magnetic field of the permanent magnet attached to the speaker. Like charges repel each other and different charges attract. As an audio signal is sent through the voice coil and the musical waveform moves up and down, the voice coil is attracted and repelled by the permanent magnet. This makes the cone that the voice coil is attached to move back and forth. The back and forth motion creates pressure waves in the air that we perceive as sound.

 

Electroplating with Copper Experiment 

In science, we did an experiment called electroplating with copper. Electroplating is the process of using electrodeposition to coat an object in a layer of metals. There are also specific types of electroplating such as copper plating, silver plating, and chromium plating. The surface can be metal or even plastic.

Equipment:

1. Power Supply
2. 2 Wires with clips
3. Copper Sulfate Solution
4. Copper
5. Beaker
6. Something you want to plate. 

Method:

1. Put your Clips onto the positive and negative terminals of your power supply. Attach the copper to the positive wire and the metal you want to plate to the negative wire. 
2. Put the copper sulphate solution in a tall beaker and put the copper and item in the solution. Avoid the clips entering the solution. 
3. Set your Power Supply to 6 Volts and turn it on! Leave for several minutes and see the results.  

Results: After doing the experiment the results of the metal was coated. Here are our results.

Discussion: The copper in the blue liquid was Cu2+ with an electrical current turned into Cu (Orange Metal) on the negative electrode.

In conclusion, I found learning about electricity very interesting and I would love to learn more about how Maglev Train work and the history behind it. Thank you for reading my blog post about electricity and hope you learnt something new. Have a good day bye!