4.

ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETS

CONCEPT MAPS

ELECTRICITY
is obtained from

has
is a flow of is stopped by INSULATORS

is carried by
ELECTRIC CURRENT CONDUCTORS POWER

flows around have parts which are indicates

ELECTRIC CIRCUIT have parts which are VOLTAGE

has components have a

WIRE BULB SWITCH CELLS several make

represented by represented in used in BATTERY

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM can be represented by TORCH LIGHT

MAGNET attracts MAGNETIC MATERIALS

has end

used in effects felt in area called

NORTH POLE SOUTH POLE

repels attracts repels MAGNETIC COMPASS MAGNETIC FIELD

NORTH POLE SOUTH POLE

points points indicates direction has a

NORTH SOUTH has directions EARTH

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4.1 INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETS

Aims:
To bring to students' minds some of the ways in which modern life depends on electricity.
To warn students of the danger of mains electricity.
To introduce students to the idea of magnets and encourage them to look for, and experiment with,
magnets.
To provide information to help students organise ideas about the topics to be covered in the chapter.

Activities:
Discuss with students some of the ways in which modern life depends on electricity.
Look at and handle a wide range of everyday electrical items, especially those using batteries.
Encourage students to look for, make and experiment with magnets.

Answers:
Q1. Torches, radios, cassette/CD players etc, pocket calculators, watches and clocks, automatic cameras,
some children's toys, remote controls for TVs etc, cars and trucks (for starting and lights etc).
Q2. A magnet is a piece of metal that pulls certain other small metal objects towards itself and clings on
to them.
Q3. Electric lights, air conditioners, fans, heaters of many kinds, hair dryers, radios, televisions, videos,
record/CD/cassette/DVD players etc, irons, cookers, refrigerators and freezers, washing machines (for
clothing), dish-washers, computers. The big difference between the electricity from a battery and mains
electricity is that mains electricity is MUCH more powerful (it has a much higher voltage) - mains
electricity can kill.

4.2 THE ELECTRIC CIRCUIT

Aims:
To introduce the idea of a complete electric circuit and an electric current flowing around it.
To show students where contacts have to be made on bulbs and batteries, and how two batteries (cells)
are connected together (in series).
To establish that (i) a bulb lights up when an electric current flows through it, and (ii) an electric current
can flow around a circuit only if the circuit is complete, (iii) the current leaves one terminal of the
battery and returns to the opposite terminal.

Activities:
Connecting up bulbs and batteries with wires (using one bulb, 2 batteries and 2 wires).

Answers:
Q1. One must touch the metal tip at the bottom of the bulb, and the other must touch any part of the
metal side below the glass bulb. It make no difference which wire touches which place.
Q2. (i) The top of one battery must touch the bottom of the other. (ii) One wire must touch the top of
one battery, and the other wire must touch the bottom of the other battery.
Q3. An electric circuit is a path which electricity flows around. A complete, unbroken circuit is needed
before electricity can flow.
Q4. (i) Only B lights up (it does not matter which wire is connected to which terminal on the bulb). (ii)
A will not light because there is no wire going to the metal at the bottom tip of the bulb. C and D will
not light because the circuits are broken - they are not complete. In C the wire stops short of the battery,
and in D the two batteries are not touching.

4.3 CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS

Aims:

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 To introduce students to the ideas of electrical conductors and insulators.
To encourage students to think about the materials that some common objects are made of, and help
them to classify such materials as conductors or insulators.
To establish as a generalisation that metals and graphite are electrical conductors and most other
materials are insulators.

Activities:
Testing different materials (using the simple circuit shown) and classifying them as conductors or
insulators.

Answers:
Q1. The blade (but not the handle) of the bush knife, the food tin, the iron from the roof, the cooking pot
and bucket if they are made of metal (but not otherwise), the gold ring.
Q2. An insulator is something that does not allow electricity to pass through it. Most materials except
metals and graphite are insulators.
Q3. The plastic is there as an insulator. It keeps the electric current in the wire and does not allow it to
flow out into other conductors. In the home, the plastic covering on the wire also protects us from
dangerous electric shocks.

4.4 MAKING GOOD CONNECTIONS

Aims:
To make students aware that the success of most electrical devices depends on good electrical
connections, and to show them how these can be made with wires, terminals and batteries.

Activities:
Stripping wires and making various electrical connections.
Examining the battery clips in as many different devices as possible. Students could be encouraged to
make battery clips for themselves or for the school if necessary.

4.5 LIGHT BULBS

Aims:
To inform students about the structure of a simple bulb and bulb holder, and to help them understand
how they work.
To encourage students to observe and experiment with bulbs and bulb holders.

Activities:
Handling and observing different kinds of simple filament bulbs and bulb holders as available.
Observing what happens if we try to use a bulb without the glass.

Answers:
Q1. Check the drawing with the diagram at the top of Module 4.5.
Q2. The filament is made of the metal tungsten. It glows white hot and gives out light when an electric
current flows through it.
Q3. If the base of the bulb holder was made of a conductor, the electricity would take a short cut
through the base and not flow through the filament at all! (Electricity always takes a short cut if it can
find one!).

4.6 CELLS AND BATTERIES

Aims:

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 To enable students to distinguish between the terms cell and battery.
To inform students about the structure of a simple dry (Leclanch) cell.
To inform students about the voltages of common cells and batteries and that this relates to the "power"
they produce.
To make students aware that the voltage produced by cells connected + to - (top to bottom) is equal to
the sum of the voltages of each cell.

Activities:
Examining as many different kinds of cells and batteries as may be available; include a car battery if
possible.
Taking apart an old dry cell. If the top is crushed slightly (for example between two stones) the metal
and plastic covers can easily be levered off and the graphite rod removed. The electrolyte is harmless,
but very dirty! The zinc cases and graphite rods could be washed and kept for other activities.

Answers:
Q1. (i) The positive terminal is made of graphite and the negative terminal is made of zinc metal. (ii)
The positive terminal is at the top of the battery (the graphite rod); the - terminal is at the bottom (the
zinc metal case). (iii) 1.5 volts.
Q2. The voltages add together when the cells are connected together + to - (top to bottom).
Q3. To get 4.5 volts, we need 3 cells (1.5 3 = 4.5). To get 12 volts, we need 8 cells (1.5 8 = 12).

4.7 SWITCHES AND CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS

Aims:
To help students understand how a switch works.
To show students how to draw and interpret simple circuit diagrams (six given symbols only).

Activities:
Making simple circuits with switches; making and testing simple switches; taking apart and examining
any switches available.
Drawing and interpreting circuit diagrams.

Answers:
Q1. This is almost the same as Q3 in Section 4.5 (page 42). If the base of the switch was a conductor the
electricity would flow straight through it. The switch would be on all the time.
Q2.

Module 4.2 Module 4.3

Q3. Circuit A: 2 cells, switch, bulb, 3 wires

Circuit B: 4 cells, switch, bulb, variable resistor, 4 wires
Q4. (i) Circuit A: 3 volts (2 1.5) Circuit B: 6 volts (4 1.5)
(ii) Circuit A: the switchCircuit B: the variable resistor

4.8 TORCHES

Aims:
To help students understand exactly how a torch works.

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Activities:
Taking apart and examining a torch (As a project, students could be encouraged to make their own
torches using discarded materials to make the case and the switch).

Answers:
Q1. (i) The spring, (ii) the terminal at the bottom of the bulb, (iii) a circular metal plate, (iv) one end
connects with the circular metal plate, the other with the spring.
Q2. Bottom terminal of bulb, support wire, filament, support wire, metal side of bulb.
Q3. The curved reflector reflects the light from the bulb into a strong beam of light.

4.9 MAGNETS AND MAGNETIC MATERIALS

Aims:
To introduce students to (permanent) magnets and to making magnets by stroking.
To establish that magnetic materials are materials which are attracted by a magnet, and that iron (and
steel), nickel and cobalt are the only magnetic materials.

Activities:
Playing with magnets; making magnets by stroking; testing various small objects/materials to find out
which materials are attracted.

Answers:
Q1. Steel.
Q2. Attract means to pull towards without physical contact.
Q3. It is a common mistake to think that all metals (which are conductors) are magnetic, but that is not
true. Only iron, cobalt and nickel are magnetic. Graphite, which is a conductor (but not a metal), is not
magnetic either.

4.10 MAGNETIC POLES

Aims:
To help students learn that a freely suspended magnet will swing so that one end points north.
To help students understand, and correctly use, the terms north and south poles as applied to magnets.
To help students generalise correctly about attraction and repulsion between north and south magnetic
poles and make sure they understand, and correctly use, those terms.
To give students practise in using the above ideas in solving simple problems.

Activities:
Suspending bar magnets in paper slings and floating magnetised needles on corks.
Hanging strings of pins or paper clips from different parts of magnets.
Bringing together pairs of like and unlike magnetic poles.

Answers:
Q1. (i) The magnet would be attracted to the iron or steel and would be deflected away from pointing
north. (ii) A twist in the string might cause the magnet to spin round or it might twist the magnet away
from pointing north.
Q2. Repel is the opposite of attract. It means to push away (usually without physical contact).
Q3. (i) If you have only the one bar of metal, the easiest way to find out if it is a magnet would be to try
picking up small iron or steel objects such as pins or paper clips. (ii) To find which is the north pole,
you would have to suspend it so it could swing freely and see which end points to the north. (iii) If you
have a magnet with the north pole marked, it is very easy to test an unknown bar. Try bringing first one
pole of the magnet, then the other, towards the same end of the unknown bar! (a) If there is no

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 attraction or repulsion, the bar is not made of a magnetic material at all. (b) If the bar is attracted by
both poles of the magnet, then the bar is made of a magnetic material, but it is not a magnet. (c) If one
end is attracted and one end is repelled, then the bar is a magnet, and (d) the end repelled by the north
pole is the north pole.

4.11 THE MAGNETIC COMPASS

Aims:
To help students learn some basic principles of the construction and use of the magnetic compass.
To remind students about, and give them practise in using, cardinal points and degrees for stating
geographical directions.
To introduce students to the idea of magnetic variation.
To inform students about the composition, and the historical use, of lodestone.

Activities:
Playing with magnetic compasses; using compasses to find north and other geographical directions;
using compasses to take bearings. (If the magnetic variation for the region is known, students could be
shown how to correct bearings for variation).
Studying any available maps or globes on which magnetic north or magnetic variation are marked.

Answers:

Q1. (i) Taking a bearing means using a magnetic compass to find the exact direction of a distant object.
(ii) Any compass bearing should be corrected for variation because the compass needle does not point
exactly north. A small angle has to be added or subtracted depending on the magnetic variation in a
particular region.

Q2. (i) 45o (ii) 180 o (iii) 225 o (iv) 315 o

Q3. 135 o or South-east

Q4. Iron and steel are not used to make the case of a compass because these metals would attract the
compass needle and might deflect it from pointing north.

4.12 MAGNETIC FIELDS

Aims:
To help students understand the idea of a magnetic field.
To introduce students to plotting magnetic fields with plotting compasses and with iron filings.
To show students the magnetic field of a bar magnet and between pairs of bar magnets.
To reinforce students' ideas about (i) attraction and repulsion between magnetic poles, (ii) magnetic
variation.
To introduce students to the idea that the earth has a magnetic field, and to make them aware (without
any details) of alternative explanatory models.
To give students an opportunity to use their knowledge of magnetism to predict a magnetic field.

Activities:
Plotting magnetic fields with plotting compasses and with iron filings (or black, magnetic sand).
Looking at any available maps or globes on which magnetic north and variation are marked.

Answers:
Q1. A magnetic field is the area in which the force of a magnet can be felt. Magnetic fields can be
plotted using small compasses (plotting compasses) or iron filings.
Q2. The earth's magnetic field is caused by streams of tiny electrical particles from the sun as they shoot
past the earth.

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 Q3. In a horse-shoe magnet, the north and south poles are bent round so they are close together. They
are unlike poles so the attraction between them will be shown by many lines of force joining them.

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