Santa Maria Academy

Santa Maria, Laguna

Proposal for
Physics
Experimentation
Presented by:
Michael Adrian Aspan
Jesthonie A. De Chavez
Presented to:
Mrs. Edlyn De Jesus

Making Lightning
Objectives:
To bend electricity in order to make lightning
Materials

Rubber glove

Plastic fork

Tin Foil

Wood or plastic cutting board

Styrofoam plate or rubber balloon

Head of hair or wool

Cool, low-humidity day (< 45% humidity, < 75 F temperature)

Procedure
1. Fold tin foil around your plastic fork so that it looks like a big
spatula. Make sure its as flat as possible with no sharp
corners.
2. Put on the rubber glove and use your gloved hand to rub the
Styrofoam plate or rubber balloon on your hair or wool.
3. Place the plate or balloon on your cutting board, and use the
gloved hand to pick up your tin foil spatula.
4. Place the tin foil part of your spatula on the balloon or plate.
Touch the foil with your other hand. What happened? How can
you explain what you saw?
5. Pull the spatula up from the balloon or plate, and touch it
again. What happened this time? Did you expect that?
6. Experiment with other materials. Recharge your charged
object using your hair or wool if necessary. Does your hand
spark when it touches the balloon? Why do you think this is so?

Homemade Battery
Objective:

to know how a battery works

to make other uses of everyday things

Materials:

A lemon, or other citrus fruit

18 (or smaller) gauge copper wire

Wire stripper/clipper

A grown-up or older friend

Steel paper clip, small galvanized nail (one that is covered in zinc), or a piece of zinc
(ideal)

Procedure
1.

Ask your grown-up to use the wire strippers to first strip about 2 1/2 inches of plastic
insulation off the copper wire. Then, request that the grown-up clip that piece of stripped
wire off of the main roll.
2. Carefully straighten the steel paper clip. Use the wire clippers to cut it to the same length
as your copper wire.
3.

Use the sandpaper to rub out any rough spots in your wire or paperclip. You are going to
be touching the wire ends to your tongue, so you want them to be smooth. If you are using
the zinc covered nail or piece, scratch it lightly with the sand paper to expose a fresh
surface.

4.

Roll the lemon gently on a table to break the cell walls and loosen up the juice inside. The
sour juice is needed for the chemical reaction that you are about to start. The fact that
the juice is sour should give us some hints about what kind of chemicals make up lemon
juice. What do you think the sour flavor might tell us?
5. Carefully stick the copper wire about 1 inch into the lemon.
6.

Make sure your tongue is moist with saliva, or spit. Touch your tongue to the copper
wire. Do you notice anything?
7. Stick the paperclip, zinc covered nail or zinc strip into a spot in the lemon about 1/4 inch
away from the copper wire. Make sure the wires dont touch. The wires need to be close to
each other because they will be swapping matter in the chemical reaction. If they are too
far apart, the matter might lose their way.
8.

This time, touch your moistened tongue to both wire ends. What do you notice?

Results
When you touched your tongue to just the copper wire, you most likely would not have noticed
anything unusual. When you touched your tongue to BOTH of the metal ends, you might have
felt a tingle, or noticed a metallic taste.

Magnetism from Electricity

In 1820, the Danish physicist Hans Oersted (17771851) noticed that a
compass needle was deflected at right angles to a wire carrying an electric
current. Since a compass needle is deflected by a magnet, he concluded
that the electric current somehow caused a magnetic field around the wire.
Further studies by Oersted proved that any wire carrying an electric current
has a magnetic field around it. Oersted's discovery started the study of
electromagnetism and the use of an electromagnet (device that uses an
electric current to produce a concentrated magnetic field).
In this project, you will determine the direction of a magnetic field around a
current-carrying wire. You will determine the effect of the direction of an
electric current in a current-carrying wire on the pattern of the magnetic
field around it. You will also make an electromagnet, determine its polarity,
and test its strength.
Objective:
To determine the direction of a magnetic field around a current-carrying
wire.
Materials

pencil

ruler

sheet of copy paper

compass

1.5-volt D battery

wire stripper

18-inch (45-cm) piece of 20- or 22-gauge insulated singlestrand wire

Procedure
1. Use the pencil and the ruler to draw two perpendicular lines in the
shape of a plus sign across the center of the paper. Label the longer line
N, S, and the short one E, W as shown in Figure 50.1.
2. Place the paper on a wooden table and set the compass in the center
of the paper, where the lines cross.
3. Allow the needle to come to rest in line with Earth's magnetic field.

4. First rotate the compass so that N on the compass is in line with the
needle pointing north. Then lift the compass and rotate the paper so
that its compass directions match those on the compass. Replace the
compass on the paper.
5. Place the battery on the east side of the paper, with the negative
terminal of the battery pointing south.
6. Using the wire stripper, remove about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of insulation
from each end of the wire.
7. Bend the wire so that it has a straight center piece slightly wider than
the battery's length.
8. Holding the insulated part of the end of the wire, position the wire so
that the center section is about 1 inch (2.54 cm) above the compass,
and across the compass from north to south. Then touch the bare ends
of the wire to the ends of the battery for about 1 second. Notice the
direction in which the north end of the compass needle moves.
CAUTION: For your safety, hold the insulated part of the current-carrying
wire so that you do not get burned or shocked. Holding the wires against
the battery terminals for longer than 3 seconds can result in the wire
becoming hot enough to burn your skin.

9. Move the battery to the opposite (west) side of the compass. With the
negative terminal of the battery pointing south as before, repeat step 8.