How dependent we are on electricity usually only becomes clear when there is a power outage. All of a sudden, all kinds of devices no longer work and charging phones or laptops is impossible. Our life revolves around electricity. Reason enough to teach children how to handle electricity in a safe way, so that they see how it works and what you can do with it. And that starts at the beginning: a simple circuit.
Electricity
You can hardly imagine it anymore, but over a hundred years ago there were hardly any useful applications for electricity. It was not until the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century that the incandescent lamp was invented, but it would be a long time before an electric lamp became commonplace in all households.
A circuit and a light bulb
The principle of a working light bulb is simple. A circuit is formed in which the electricity is conducted through a thin wire of tungsten in an airless glass bulb. The wire is so thin that it starts to glow because of all those racing electrons. The result: light. Such a simple circuit with a working light is easy to make yourself. Of course we never use the power from the socket for this, that is dangerous to life. Incidentally, you still come across light bulbs in hobby circuits, but less and less in electrical circuits in the house. This has everything to do with the environment, an incandescent bulb actually produces little light, most electricity is consumed because a lot of heat is also produced.
Photos and diagrams
With the help of a photo you can see exactly how everything should be put together. That works fine with simple circuits, but when it gets more complicated you can no longer see how everything works from the tangle of wires. That is why diagram drawings are often used.
What do you need
You will need a number of materials to make a simple circuit. Below you can see them, with a brief explanation. You can also see which symbol is used in schematic drawings.
Name | Description | Photo | Symbol |
---|---|---|---|
Battery | Use a flat battery of 4.5 volts. The advantage of this battery is that you can easily attach power wires to the tabs of the battery with a clip. | ||
Two insulated cables | It is best if you have cables with a clip at the end, also called a crocodile mouth. This allows you to easily attach the cord to a contact point. The cords must be insulated so that they do not accidentally contact each other and cause a short circuit. The current cannot pass through the insulation material of the cable. | ||
A fitting | There are two contact points on the fitting, to which you can clamp a wire with the crocodile mouth. Those contact points will provide the power connection. As soon as a lamp is placed in the fitting, the two contact points connect to the lamp. Only the interior of the fitting and the contact points are metal, the rest is insulating material, so that the power stays safely in the right place. | ||
Lamp | A light of 3.5 volts. You can screw this light into the fitting. |
How do you go about it
- You start by gathering all the things you need: the battery, two insulated crocodile-mouthed wires, the socket and the 3.5 Volt light.
- You screw the light into the fitting.
- Take the first insulated cord. With the crocodile clip you can clip it to the short tab of the flat battery.
- Attach the other end of the cord to one of the screws you see on the fitting.
- Take the second insulated cord. First, attach one end of the cord with the alligator clip to the second screw on the fitting.
- Attach the other end of this second cord to the long lip of the battery. The moment you do this, the light will come on. You have made your first circuit!
Below you see two images, one shows the entire circuit, the other shows the same circuit, but now in schematic.
A little more difficult
You can make the whole thing a bit more fun and exciting. For this you need two more things:
Name | Description | Photo | Symbol |
---|---|---|---|
Cord | A third insulated cord (with crocodile clips) | ||
(Toggle) switch | You can interrupt a circuit with a switch. By turning the handle of the switch, a piece of metal is shifted in such a way that there is no contact anymore, the current cannot flow. The result: a lit light goes out immediately. Fortunately, you can also turn the switch to the other side so that the power is restored and the lamp turns on again. |
How do you go about it
We start from the circuit as you made it above.
- Disconnect one of the wires from the battery, and clamp this wire to the contact on one side of the switch using the alligator clip.
- Take the third insulated cord. Clamp it with the crocodile clip on the other side of the switch.
- Attach the other end of the insulated cord to the empty tab on the battery.
- The circuit is now complete. Use the switch to turn the light on or off.
Below you can see the final circuit and the associated schematic.