Let‘s Walk Through a Project
Still nervous about working on a project? This article will be a walk through of a project that will help you understand the process and get you started on your own. The first thing you need to do is to decide on a project question. Check out the article on this site entitled “Science Fair Project Ideas“ for some inspiration. In this article we have chosen to walk through the problem of how an electrical circuit works.
Problem or Hypothesis:
How does an electrical circuit work? Step one- go to the library or research on the net the subject of electrical circuits.
Hypothesis:
Next you need to “guess” how a circuit works using knowledge you have gained by reading about electrical circuits. Maybe.....electrons race from the battery, through the wire, past the switch, though the next wire, to the light bulb, though the next wire and back to the battery. Sound right? What changes would make a circuit not work?
Materials needed:
Now you need to decide what materials you will need to test your hypothesis.
Coated wire
Batteries and a battery compartment (Radio Shack, electronics store...or steal one out of an old toy)
A simple switch (make one out of a piece of cardboard, two brass brads and a paper clip)
A little light bulb (Radio shack and electronics stores sell them with the wires already attached)
Scissors (ones your Mom will allow to be ruined by cutting that wire)
Your project journal ( a notebook) and pencil
Procedure:
Now you have to figure out how to perform this experiment to prove or disprove your hypothesis. You may want to make a working circuit and make a circuit that is wired incorrectly. This will demonstrate how a circuit will only work when all the pieces are put together in the correct order. The beginning of your procedure report might say something like this:
- Cut four pieces of wire 3 inches in length.
- With adult supervision, strip the plastic coating off the ends of all the wires.
- Attach one end of the first wire to the battery compartment.
Continue to describe how you correctly put together the working circuit. Then describe how you changed the order of the circuit to see what would happen.
Results:
Describe how the circuit worked when wired correctly and why it worked. Then describe how you changed the wiring and why the circuit no longer worked.
Next Time:
Describe what you could change the next time you performed this experiment to obtain different results. Maybe change the length of the wire, the type of bulb or the type of battery to see if the circuit acts differently. Perhaps make a parallel circuit next time using one battery and then two.
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