Electricity and Magnetism Supplies

For this unit, we had some of the basic components we needed on hand, and I ordered a few more. I was wishing someone would tell me all the sorts of things I would need so I didn't have to figure it out myself, and so I wouldn't be caught without something we needed. For that reason, I give you this list. You can pull batteries out of flashlights and improvise bulb holders, etc., but if you're a beginner and need guidance, I think the following things made up a pretty good basic electricity exploration set:

Alligator clips--get several so you can make different kinds of circuits

Tiny light bulbs--These work well with D batteries as the power source, and light bulbs are the easiest way to test if a circuit is working or not! Again, getting several will let you construct parallel and series circuits, etc. Also, it's nice to have extra in case you burn some out.

Bulb holders--Not totally necessary, but so much easier than holding or taping the contact of the wire to the bulb base!

Insulated copper wire--Nice and safe, but you'll have to scrape the insulation off the ends for your contact points. If you have the right tool (wire stripper?) it's probably fine, but we didn't. I finally used a butter knife (too sharp of a knife will just cut the wire!) to scrape-scrape-scrape, and that worked pretty well.

Bare copper wire--sometimes you want bare copper wire, like if you're making a dimmer switch and want to be able to connect the circuit at any point along the wire.

Magnet wire--good for making motors

6-volt battery--I like this because the terminals are so accessible and easy to clip wires to! 

D batteries--It's good to have a bunch of these on hand

Carbon-zinc batteries--safe for dissecting!
LEDs and resistors--fun to use in circuits, but because they use so little voltage, you sometimes have to use the included resistors as well (a 9-Volt battery will burn them out instantly)
Mechanical pencil lead---for a homemade light bulb

For exploring magnetism, any old magnet will do, but we also found these supplies really fun:
Iron filings--for sprinkling on paper or putting into oil to make magnetic fields visible, or just for giving your magnets funny furry beards. They're kind of messy but SO fun! And much easier than the "steel wool shavings" many instructions suggest substituting
Basic bar magnets--marked with North and South Poles
Horseshoe magnet--stronger than the bar magnets, and makes a different kind of field

I generally think getting things in "sets" is a waste, since they inevitably include things you don't need/don't like/are flimsier than you would have gotten separately---but these both looked pretty good, so we also got these two sets:

Motors and generators kit--because making the coils of wire big enough and sturdy enough to work in a generator is pretty hard, and this has that part done for you. You can see how the motor and the generator work in reverse of each other, and the magnets snap on to the sides so nicely. We thought this kit was very easy to use, while remaining useful because you can tell what's going on!

Maglev Kit--This probably could be made without a kit, but there was no way _I_ was going to be able to figure out all the components. And because my children LOVE maglevs, and had been wishing and wishing to make one during our Train Unit, I thought this kit would be worth our while. The maglev was really fun to make, and although it needs some adjustment to run perfectly (sanding off the sides, making the weight balance perfectly, etc), the process itself is fun enough to be worth it.

Also contact cement--you need this to go with the Maglev Kit

We also have (and love) this Snap Circuit set---and there are lots of other sets that look fun too! Someone gave us this one specifically about electromagnetism, and it's fun, but not that great on its own. I'd recommend the set above instead, because it does a lot more.

Shape-memory alloys, postmodernism, and the Leonardo Museum

We quite enjoyed learning about all the strange new materials invented in the last half-century, and the structures that these materials have enabled us to create. We watched some videos about strange, postmodern buildings that have fun breaking all the "rules" of architectural eras before them. We also saw some beautiful examples of Organic architecture (I love that house!).

One of the most interesting materials we learned about was something called Shape-Memory Alloy. Basically, it's a metal whose molecules arrange themselves into a crystalline structure at a certain temperature---and then, after being disarranged, they re-assemble themselves into the same structure when they return to that temperature. I'm not sure I explained that very well, but it becomes clear when demonstrated in this video. Amazing, right?

Here's something kind of cool you can do with SMA wire in paper.

Or bigger sculptures like this.

But for architecture, these materials have really interesting potential. They can be useful in modeling and CAD of unconventionally-shaped buildings, as shown here.

Or they could be used in the structure of the building itself, for example to open and close window shades when room temperature reaches a certain threshold, as demonstrated here. I know that materials touted as "materials of the future" don't always end up being as useful as predicted, but these are such interesting uses, I hope they do actually become integrated into architecture someday!

This brings us to our field trip, which was to the relatively new Leonardo Museum in SLC, to see a sculpture called the "Hylozoic Veil." It uses these SMAs to respond to the environment around it, providing a commentary on our shared and fragile humanity---or some such thing---fill in the art-jargon catchphrase yourself---but I thought it would be interesting to see, and it was. [I enjoy having a good laugh at the pretentiousness of the Art World, but I enjoy much Modern Art, with its sometimes-inane commentary, just the same. And it often does make me think. :)]

Because museum admission was free with our passes, we went into the museum as well, rather than just looking at the sculpture (which was in the lobby). It was pretty fun, though not worth the normal steep admission price, in my opinion (this seems to be a pattern for new museums around here, and I guess I understand it---open up a museum with not a ton of exhibits, try to get some word-of-mouth going, and expand as you go. I'm happy to have lots of museums to go to, so I don't mind patronizing them when they're new, but I can't help rolling my eyes a bit when I read their effusive ad copy, e.g. "The Leonardo seeks to reflect and respond to this new world by creating an innovative, dynamic space that builds fluency and knowledge, ignites the creative imagination of visitors of all ages, and inspires them to see and act in new and powerful ways." Hmm. Really?). I'll share pictures of the other exhibits in a different post. They have some of the Dead Sea Scrolls there too, which would have been cool to see, but that exhibit wasn't included with our admission so we didn't see it.

Nice rainbow lights in the entryway

More of the hylozoic veil---the beakers contain carbon dioxide so the thing actually exhales, or something like that.

It is really quite lacy and delicate looking. Beautiful.

We made mosaics in the "Art Lab" after going through the museum, and Malachi made his own depiction of the Hylozoic Veil. It's quite a good likeness, I think. :)