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!

Electromagnet - Science

Hello, guys today I will be sharing what we have been doing in Science. We have been learning about electricity and electromagnetics. We did an experiment to see how an electromagnet works. 

What is an ELECTROMAGNET?

An electromagnet is a magnet that runs on electricity. Unlike a permanent magnet, the strength of an electromagnet can easily be changed by changing the amount of electric current that flows through it. The poles of an electromagnet can even be reversed by reversing the flow of electricity. 

EXPERIMENT

Step 1: Wrap a coil of insulated copper wire around the nail and make sure the ends are sanded down. 

Step 2: Create a circuit with a power supply, light bulb, switch and you're electromagnetic all connected in series. 

Step 3: Turn on your circuit and see how many paper clips you can pick up. 

What does the electricity do to make nails magnetic?

Wrapping wire that has an electrical current running through it around a nail, you can make an electromagnet, we used copper. When the electric current moves through a wire, it makes a magnetic field.

What is insulated wire? Why must we use wire that is insulated? 

An insulated wire is a non-conductive material or some kind of material that resists electric current. It surrounds and protects the wire inside. This protects the wire from the environment or the environment (like people) from the wire. It is a key safety feature in wiring.

At first, our experiment was not working because our wire wasn't working and when we got a better wire the paper clips were attached to the copper wire and nail. As we put the nail wrapped with copper over the paper clips the nail began to vibrate. I found that very interesting and it didn't take long for all the paper clips to be attached to the nail. In conclusion, this experiment was very excited my favourite part was when the nail started to vibrate and collect all the paper clips. Thank you for reading and have a lovely day. Bye! 

How To Score Points In Badminton?

For the past two weeks, we have been playing Badminton in P.E. Our task today is to tell you to have to score a game in Badminton.  Here are my rules on how to score in badminton. 

How To Score: 

1. You can play Badminton in singles and pairs. 
2. The badminton court for singles use the smaller lines and for doubles, we use the most wider or deeper line.  
3. If you hit the shuttlecock over the opposition side, they don't hit it, but it lands within the line, your score a point. 
4. If a server is unsuccessful in hitting the shuttlecock over the net, it's a point to the other team and they get the next serve. 
5. If you hit the shuttlecock out of the lines, it's a point to the other team. 
6. If you don't hit the shuttlecock, or don't hit it back over the net, it's a point to the other team. 
7. If you hit the shuttlecock out of the lines/court, it's a point to the other team. 
8. The first team to reach 21 points wins the game. 
9. There are usually 3 games played, so you might win 3-0, 2-1 or 2-0. 
10. If the teams are both on 20 points in a game, the winner must get to points ahead to win, eg, 22-20.  

Hope you learnt something about how to score points in badminton. Have you ever played Badminton and did you enjoy it? Bye! 

Sophie Pascoe - P.E

Hi, guys today I will be sharing what we have been doing for P.E while in lockdown. We had to research Sophie Pascoe the most successful Paralympian in New Zealand. I was actually really excited to learn about her life because I recently heard that she won two gold medals in Toyko 2020 Paralympic. I was able to put everything I read about Pascoe all in one slide of my presentation. Pascoes life is very interesting and seeing her success. Anyways here is my presentation about Sophie Pascoes Success.   

In conclusion, I have found Sophie Pascoe's life a great example of why you should keep trying until you make it. Thank you for reading my blog post. Bye, and stay safe. :) 

Badminton - P.E

Hi, guys today I will be sharing what we have been doing in P.E while in lockdown. We have moved on to a new sport in P.E which is Badminton. For this task we had to share 12 techniques how they work, what are they mainly used for and what grip to use. I have play badminton many times in school but this is the first time we are going in-depth into the sport. I am very excited to be learning about badminton, the next thing I would like to learn is the history of badminton and where it originated. Here is my presentation of the 12 badminton techniques, hope you enjoy it. Stay safe!   

Static Electricity - Science

Hi guys, currently New Zealand is in lockdown because of covid in our communities so we are studying and learning from home, again. For science, we are going on to a new topic which is electricity. I am personally excited to learn about how electricity works because we will learn about atoms, electrons, protons, neutrons and static electricity. Electricity is the movement of charged particles also known as atoms. For instance, electricity is the force that powers a light bulb. Anyway, our task was to answer these 4 questions.  

1. What are the 3 particles that make up everything? Which ones are positive and negative charges?

Three particles create an atom (the smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist), Electrons (-) are negatively charged and are located in shells around the nucleus. Neutrons have zero charges basically they are neutral, they are located in the nucleus in the centre of atoms. Protons (+) are positively charged and are located in the nucleus in the centre of atoms as well as neutrons. As you can see in this diagram where every particle is located. Fun Fact; Benjamin Franklin was the first who chose to call electrons negative and protons positive. Electrons can move from atom to atom, unlike protons. When an atom has the right balance of electrons and protons it has zero charges but when an atom gains extra electrons it becomes negatively charged and is an anion. When the opposite happens, so when an atom loses electrons its is positively charged and is a cation. 

2. Objects want to be "electrically neutral." What does this mean?

Electrically neutral means in an atom both electrons and protons are balanced. Protons and electrons have equal and opposite charges, so that results in no net charge. Ions are atoms that have either gained or lost electrons, this means ions have a net charge.

Difference Between

Atoms         &            Ions

- Electricity Neutral     - Electricity Charged

- Same Amount Of        - Different Amount Of

Protons and Electrons      Protons And Electrons

- Number Of Protons           - May Contain One 

Define Its Element             Or More Atoms 

3. When you rub two insulators you can get a static shock, so what are conductors and insulators?   

Conductors are materials that electricity flows through easily, this means atoms where electrons can move or jump off. For instance, copper(Cu), gold(Au), silver(Ag), water(H20) are all conductors. In fact, our bodies are conductors, electricity will try to find the easiest and fastest way to the ground because our body is mostly water we are good conductors of electricity. Let's take for example that a power line has fallen on a tree and you touch the tree you are a path or conductor to the ground but be careful you could suffer from an electric shock. 

Insulators help electricity from leaving power lines. Glass, plastic or ceramic insulators on power poles help electricity from travelling to the ground. Another example is rubber on the outside of an electrical cord which provides an insulator from the wires. When the wires are covered with rubber the electricity can't travel through the rubber so it is focused to follow the aluminium(Al) or copper wires.

4. What is an example of static electricity? 

Static means lacking in movement, action, or change, especially in an undesirable way. For example, when you walk across the carpet with socks on and get a shock from the doorknob when opening the door. Another example of static energy is when rubbing a balloon on your hair and the ends stand up. This is created by an imbalance in positive and negative charges. Static electricity is caused by two things rubbing and one supplying electrons to the other. Lighting is caused by a buildup of static electricity in a storm cloud.

I hope you have loved reading about how electricity works, I enjoyed learning about atoms and about static electricity. What do you know about electricity? Have a great day bye.

Music Test

Hello, guys today I will be sharing what we have been learning in music. We have been learning about sheet music and the three elements of music.   

What are the three elements of Music? 

• Harmony 
• Melody 
• Rhythm 

What music element is a chord? And name two instruments that play chords.

• Guitar
• Ukelele 

What three parts make up a chord and what are their functions?

Triad 

• The Root Note -  What names the chord.
• Interval Note - Major or Minor 
• A Fifth Above Note 

Name three of the four types of notes we've learnt about? 

• 1/4
• Whole
• 1/2
• 1/8