National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Joseph John Thomson
Joseph John Thomson, better known as J. J. Thomson, was a British physicist who first theorized and offered experimental evidence that the atom was a divisible entity rather than the basic unit of matter, as was widely believed at the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Charge It!
Students use a balloon to perform several simple experiments to explore static electricity and charge polarization.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Whose Field Line Is It, Anyway?
Students teams each use a bar magnet, sheet of paper and iron shavings to reveal the field lines as they travel around a magnet. They repeat the activity with an electromagnet made by wrapping thin wire around a nail and connecting...
University of Kentucky
Elecroscope Lab
This site is actually a lab from the University of Kentucky Electrical Engineering Department. It is an excellent experiment that can be done at the high school level.
Concord Consortium
Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Wind Generator
Using a voltage sensor, students will measure how much "electricity" is produced by the wind turbine that they design and build. Students will experiment with blade designs to see which one collects energy from the wind the most...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's to the Mine We Go
This activity simulates the extraction of limited, nonrenewable resources from a "mine," so students can experience first-hand how resource extraction becomes more difficult over time. Students gather data and graph their results to...
Science Bob Pflugfelder
Science Bob: Build an Electromagnet!
This site presents a procedure for creating your own electromagnet using an iron nail, some wire, and a battery. The site illustrates a connection between electricity and magnetism.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Snacks
Exploratorium's snacks aren't edible, but they are good! Use your science skills to discover gravity, learn about biology, do fun experiments.
Ducksters
Ducksters: Environment for Kids: Wind Power
Kids learn about wind energy and how this renewable power can help the environment. Teach students about turbines that generate electricity from the wind.
Other
L in C Online: Three Little Pigs
An energy transfer project for junior high school students is presented and described. Takes the form of a teacher lesson plan. Students may be able to extract some ideas for a project or experiment.
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Nikola Tesla
Awarded more than 100 patents over the course of his lifetime, Nikola Tesla was a man of considerable genius and vision. He was reportedly born at exactly midnight during an electrical storm, an intriguing beginning for a man who would...
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Magnet Academy: Sulfur Globe 1660
In the 17th century, German scientist Otto von Guericke built and carried out experiments with a sulfur globe that produced static electricity.
Museum of Science
Museum of Science and Industry: Online Science: Cling to Me
A set of four station activities involving static electricity that can easily be done in the classroom.
PBS
Pbs Teachers: Hot Air Balloon Experiment
Explore how heat affects the density of air by building and flying a hot air balloon using large plastic bags and the hot air from an electric hairdryer.
Curated OER
Library of Congress: Everyday Mysteries: Static Electricity
A picture of two girls hair raising experience with static electricity.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Short Circuit
Learn how fuses and circuit breakers work to stop the flow of electricity in a circuit so as to prevent fires. This experiment requires caution.
Science is Fun
Science Is Fun: Conducting Solutions
An experiment where one must first build a conductivity tester, then use it to test how well water conducts electricity when different materials found around the home are each dissolved in it.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Conductor or Insulator?
In this investigation the students predict, experiment, and observe whether materials are insulators or conductors.
Creative Science Centre
Creative Science Centre: Soldering and Soldering Skills
Soldering requires more skill than it looks. As with a lot of practical skills one learns a lot by trail, error and experience. Some tips are discussed here. These notes were written before regulations were introduced requiring solder to...
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Galvanic Cell
Luigi Galvani discovered the galvanic cell by experimenting with nerves on a frog leg! This on-line encyclopedia discusses how to find the electric potential of a galvanic cell along with an explanation of how unwanted galvanic cells are...
PBS
Pbs: Scientific American Frontiers: Standing Tall
Experience FES or functional electrical stimulation, through the eyes of a patient who lives it. Learn how doctors gave a paralyzed patient control over her muscles.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Wave Interference
Conduct virtual experiments with water, sound, and light waves to determine the sine wave and patterns created in each.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Curie Temperature
In this experiment, students experience the Curie point--and what happens when a piece of iron gets too hot to attract a magnet.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Investigating Batteries: Building an Electrolytic Cell
In this inquiry, students will attempt to build an electrolytic cell which will cause a bulb to turn on then diagram the set-up. Included in this lab, students will experience voltage, solve a problem using the Nernst equation, and...