.
.
Electricity
(current) is something that comes out of
a battery or out of a socket and makes light in a bulb. An electric
circuit is needed to let electricity flow.
Never ever
take electricity from a bulb for your experiments: THIS CAN BE DEADLY!
Materials
A piece of a Cola can made of steel (test by a magnet) and its closure, 2 insulated
copper wire with 4 crodile clips, a meter for electricity, 9-Volt battery Light-emitting
Diode(LED),
blister for salt water, Cola and tap water, a small
pencil which is sharpened on both sides.
Experiment
1 (Left): Make a "battery" from the two different
matals of a Cola can.
* Connect the closure of a Cola can with the negative terminal of your multimeter
(COM).
* Clean a piece of Cola by sandpaper and connect it with the positive
terminal (red). Switch in the meter: 20 V DC.
* Press the two metals between your thumb and forefinger. The meter reads 0.24
Volt.
Later on you will repeat such experiments
to learn about batteries.
Experiment 2 (Middle and right):
Test water samples using the battery and the LED
* Connect the negative terminal of your 9-Volt battery with the short
pin of the LED.
* The positive terminal of the battery is connected with one end of the pencil.
* Dip the other end of the pencil and the long pin of the LED into the blister
with 1 ml of sea water.
Observations
* Middle: The LED shows light because salt water conducts electricity
well.
* Right: In sea water gas bubbles can be seen at the pin and at the pencil.
* A smell of chlorine at the pencil.
* Less light in Cola, nearly no light in tap water, no smell of chlorine.
Explanation: You have
done a second chemical experiment:
Electric
current transformed salt into chlorine. Such a chemical reaction is called electrolysis.
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on...........first
publication: 26.10.2001 ............................last
modification: 18.12.2008