Supported Projects For Grades 4-6

(Elementary Projects)
An Electromagnetic Crane
Introduction:

Cranes with electromagnetic lift are also

known as electromagnetic cranes. Such
cranes are used widely in lifting and
moving scrap metals. Even in a
production line of many products,
electromagnetic lifts are used to lift and
move metal objects.

Electromagnets have special simplicity

and many advantages to other lifting
tools. They are faster and easier to work Mechanical Crane
with.
Material and instructions
In this project you will make a working model of a electromagnetic lift and a
electromagnetic crane. Materials needed for this experiment such as metal parts,
wood and magnet wire can be found at home or purchased locally.
Details of this project
More information or support for this project is available at members section of
ScienceProject.com. You may also find a Science kit for this topic at
MiniScience.com.

How Electricity is made? (Generator)

Introduction:

Electricity that we use at home is produced by electric generators. Do you know how
a generator works? or how it creates electricity?

An electric current is created when a

magnet is spun rapidly inside a coil of
wire. As you see in the conceptual
diagram in the right, a turbine (usually
powered by water or wind) spins a
magnet inside a coil. This action induces
an electric current in the coil that can be
used to power a light bulb.

In this project you will study to find out

what happens that a magnet can create
electricity. You may also construct an
electric generator that will power a light
bulb.
After you construct a working electric generator, you may study any additional
questions concerning factors affecting the function of an electric generator. Following
are two sample questions that can be studied:

• How does the speed of turning rotor affect the production of electricity?
 • How does the number of wire loops around the stator affect the production of
electricity?

Material and instructions:

Materials for this kit may be ordered online or purchased locally. Most Electromotor/
Generator kits have the necessary material and step by step instructions on how to
make a generator. Depending on how complete your kit is, you may need to
purchase or gather some additional items to complete your project. Knowledge of
electricity, electromagnets and electric motors is required prior to doing this project.

Which Metals Conduct Heat best?

Introduction:
Although all metals are good heat conductors, they are not
heat conductive at the same rate. Some metals are simply a
better heat conductor than others. For safety and energy
conservation reasons we may want to use metals that are not
good heat conductors. On the other hand for efficient heat
transfer from pipes and radiators to the air we may need
metals that are very good heat conductors.
Knowing the heat conductivity of different metals can help us
in selecting the right metal for different uses.
Material and instructions:
In this project you will compare different metals to see which one is a better heat
conductor. Materials and equipment needed for the experiments may be found at home or
obtained locally.
Make Electricity from fruits

Introduction:

This project is one of the most famous electricity projects that can be performed
successfully by most students in the age of 10 to 16. It helps students to learn about
producing electrical energy using chemical energy. Since the same method is used to
get energy from many fruits and chemicals, this project has many names. Following
are some of the other names or titles for this project:

1. Fruit power or fruit battery

2. Convert Chemical energy to electrical energy

3. Potato battery or Lemon battery

Procedure:

Making electricity from chemicals is based on the same scientific principles on which
all modern batteries work. You insert copper and zinc electrodes in an acidic liquid
and produce some electricity from the chemical reaction between your electrodes
and electrolyte.
The electricity produced in this way can be
displayed with a multi-meter that can show
millivolts. It may also be able to produce enough
electricity to get light. If you want to run or light
up a device you must consider the voltage and
current requirements of that device.

Picture in the right shows 3 potato batteries

connected in series so together they will produce
enough voltage to light up a super bright LED type
light source.

Making electricity experiment can be used for many different science projects.
Following are some additional research that you can perform in relation to making
electricity from fruits and chemicals.

4. Replace electrodes of your kit with

1. Experiment to see which fruits can other metals such as coins, nails to see
produce electricity. which other metals can be used as
electrodes.

2. Experiment to see which fruit juices 5. Test to see if such electrodes can light
can produce electricity up a bulb.

3. Experiment to see which other liquids 6. If you have access to a multi meter,
such as detergents and drinks can check to see how many volts electricity is
produce electricity. being produced by fruits.

Material and equipment:

Material and equipment that you need for this project are:

1. Copper Electrode
2. Zinc Electrode
3. Multi-meter capable of measuring low voltages
4. Flashlight light bulb 1.2 Volts
5. Screw Base or socket for light bulb
6. Wires
7. Alligator clips
8. Board for mounting the base and the bulb (optional)

Magnet Levitation:
The fact that same magnetic poles repel each other is the base for design of many
industrial equipments. Repelling magnets are often part of another electrical or
mechanical system. When you attempt to move the North pole of one magnet toward
the North pole of another magnet, initially the other magnet may be pushed away,
but soon it flips over and the South pole of that face and attract your magnet.
Many studies have been done on levitating objects with magnetic force, however it is
now proven that 100% levitation for a non moving object is impossible. Partial
levitation is now used in construction of high speed magnetic trains. Many other
instruments and equipment also use repelling properties of magnets.

Following are some of the projects that can be made using magnets with same poles
facing each other. They are all applications of magnet levitation.

Floating Rings:
In this project you will make a set of magnet rings to float above each other while
their balance is maintained using a wood dowel. You will then examine the flexibility
of the floating rings and propose uses for such a floating set of rings.

Material:

You will need a base board, a 6" wood dowel or pencil and six ring ceramic magnets,
make sure that the wood dowel or pencil fits the hole in the center of magnets. Also
try to get painted magnets. A layer of paint will protect ceramic magnets from
chipping.

Procedure:

Mount the pencil or wood dowel vertically in the center of the base board. If you use
glue, you will need to wait a few hours until the glue is fully dry. Place the first ring
magnet over the wood dowel and let it go down. Get a second magnet and bring it
close to the first magnet to feel the magnetic forces and find out which two poles
repel each other. Then insert this magnet in a way that when it gets to the first
magnet, same poles are faced each other and two magnets will repel. So the second
magnet will float.

Continue these steps with the other four magnets.

Finally you will have 6 ceramic ring magnets on a
column that can freely move up and down, but
gravity force is not able to pull them down because
the same poles of magnets are facing each other.
Push the upper magnet down. How much force do
you need to put all magnets together? Now release
it. What happens? Why?

Can you use this magnet levitation model to make

other products?
Magnetic Spring Scale:
One of the ideas have been a magnetic spring scale. As
you see a clear plastic tube is placed above the upper
magnet. Then another plastic tray is placed above the
plastic tube. You may use a paper tube and a paper tray
instead. When weight is placed on the tray, the tray goes
down. The amount that it moves depends on the amount
of weight. A piece of paper is used as the indicator hand.
Also a Popsicle stick is used to mark the weight.
As you see most of the material can be replaced by other
material that you may have around your home.

Electromagnet

An electromagnet is by far the most important

electrical structure that exists in almost all electronic
devices. Most of today's Radios, televisions, door bells,
telephones, telegraphs and computers could not exist
without electromagnets.

In an electromagnet project, you may make some of the simple devices that use
electromagnet; however the most important electromagnet projects study the
strength of electromagnet. There is an electromagnet kit available at
MiniScience.com; however, many students may just purchase the magnet wire (27
AWG) and find other material (nail, battery,..) at home.

Parts of An Electric Motor

Introduction:
Making an electric motor is easy, fun and an exciting
experiment. There are varieties of technologies used in
manufacturing of electric motors. You will identify and report
those as your project.

Material and instructions:

One battery and some wires is the minimum requirement for your experiment. Having
access to additional materials such as pieces of wood, paper clips, a magnet, a rubber
band and glue will also help. The purpose of the project is knowing the parts of an electric
motor and their functions. Your experiment will help you get a good understanding of the
mechanism in the operation of an electric motor.