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Electrical Experiment Ideas — Parallax Forums

Electrical Experiment Ideas

piguy101piguy101 Posts: 248
edited 2011-09-04 19:51 in General Discussion
For school, we have to design an experiment to follow the scientific method, I've decided to do something about electricity, but I'm not sure what to do. We must follow the scientific method i.e. have a control, independent and dependent variables, hypothesis, conclusion, and other stuff. I can do the experiment with the Basic Stamp if needed and any experiment that can be graphed on Microsoft Excel is better. Please give me your ideas, thank you.

Comments

  • UnsoundcodeUnsoundcode Posts: 1,532
    edited 2011-09-03 08:05
    Hello piguy101, measuring RC time using a pot and capacitor would be ideal for this experiment. The results could be calculated and predicted and represented visually in the Debug window. Measurements can be taken and plotted in an Excel sheet using different value components.

    It's presentation would be educational have variation and be timed to a length where people would remain interested and go away with a good impression.

    Jeff T.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2011-09-03 09:02
    piguy101 wrote: »
    ...I've decided to do something about electricity, but I'm not sure what to do. ....

    It might help to know what grade level this is for.

    You might look at how different forms of carbon conduct electricity, or not.
    Graphite and diamond are pretty good conductors. But what about charcoal or soot? What if you compress the soot or make soot from different sources - candle wax vs. acetylene vs. whatever?

    You might look at electrolysis of water - does pulsing the water change the output of gas production?
    Does using different types of electrodes alter the gas output?

    You might look at the Barkhausen Effect. Look at hooking up a coil to an audio amp so you can listen to the magnetic domains of an iron bar "flip" as you pass a magnet nearby. I suppose you could use a Stamp to create a frequency counter to count how many flips you detect like copper vs. steel, etc.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy0E3gjm59w

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkhausen_Effect
  • bill190bill190 Posts: 769
    edited 2011-09-03 10:57
    Does water conduct electricity?

    Hint: Salt water yes, distilled water no, chemicals or minerals in water maybe...
  • Beau SchwabeBeau Schwabe Posts: 6,568
    edited 2011-09-03 11:02
    bill190,

    ... but yet water, distilled or not can be used as a dielectric in-between two 'insulated' parallel plates forming a healthy capacitor. In that case does the water still conduct? ... remember the parallel plates are insulated and submerged in the water. :-)
  • piguy101piguy101 Posts: 248
    edited 2011-09-03 15:14
    I will tell you high school, but I don't care if not one other student understands me, as long as I seem smart when presenting.
  • bill190bill190 Posts: 769
    edited 2011-09-03 18:05
    Beau Schwabe (Parallax) wrote: »
    bill190,

    ... but yet water, distilled or not can be used as a dielectric in-between two 'insulated' parallel plates forming a healthy capacitor. In that case does the water still conduct? ... remember the parallel plates are insulated and submerged in the water. :-)

    I think I will stay out of trouble and just leave these two links :smile: ...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_conductor

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric

    And maybe this...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_hole
  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2011-09-03 19:19
    I'd go with some kind of solar experiment. You will get the "Green" factor on your side.

    Bean
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-09-03 20:25
    One idea: a small solar cell from Radio Shack, a series of potato batteries, and a study of the effects of storing sunlight into potatoes. You could try other vegetables, fruits, i.e. lemons, watermelon, large plums, is a lime better than a lemon..
  • Ron CzapalaRon Czapala Posts: 2,418
    edited 2011-09-04 07:40
    piguy101 wrote: »
    I will tell you high school, but I don't care if not one other student understands me, as long as I seem smart when presenting.

    Just make sure you know what you are talking about.

    Too many people (including some forum members) subscribe to the
    If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull----
    philosophy...
  • Zap-oZap-o Posts: 452
    edited 2011-09-04 19:51
    Beau Schwabe (Parallax) wrote: »
    bill190,

    ... but yet water, distilled or not can be used as a dielectric in-between two 'insulated' parallel plates forming a healthy capacitor. In that case does the water still conduct? ... remember the parallel plates are insulated and submerged in the water. :-)

    The answer is no, the outer valance electrons is not acceptable as a conductor. Hydrogen has 1 valence electron, Oxygen has 6 this makes 8 valence electrons, insulators are over 4.

    Could you make a processor using digital logic ic's as your project?
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