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Energy Ball
This is a great little device to use when describing open and closed circuits. This 38 mm (1.5 in) ball contains two small metal electrodes. When the electrodes are touched simultaneously, the Energy Ball flashes and makes a buzzing sound. A great group activity is to have the participants hold hands. Have one participant touch one of the electrodes while another person at the other end of the circle touches the other electrode. Two people can touch the electrodes and make the Energy Ball buzz as long as everyone around the circle is holding hands. Recommended for children ages 4 and up.
How many people can “connect”?
This is a fun experiment to try. We gathered up the entire staff of Steve Spangler Science outside, held hands in a big circle, and it still worked! As soon as we came back inside, the nerd side came out of us and we started hypothesizing about how many people it would take for the ball to not work. If such a simple activity gets a handful of adults into a discussion about their beliefs, imagine what would happen to your little scientists. You wouldn’t believe some of the ideas that they would come up with to support their hypotheses. It might also be a great activity to see who admires who and a great excuse for little lovebirds to hold hands.
The experiment described on this page is copied with the permission of the Steve Spangler website. A full description of the experiment is available plus purchase options at: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/category/electricity-energy which has literally dozens of Electricity and Energy based experiments. There are also may other categories of experiments such as Anatomy, Chemistry, Magnetism and Solar Energy just to name a few.