Newton Wheel
This activity, from Solar Spark, allows students to investigate light and the eye. A template is provided that students can colour to produce a Newton Wheel. White light is made up of lots of different colours and by spinning the colours on the disc, the eye combines the spinning colours and sees the disc as if it were white. The…
Plastic from Milk
Produced by Solar Spark, this activity allows students to make their own plastic from vinegar and milk. Milk contains casein in a form that is soluble in water. Making the milk acidic by adding vinegar makes the casein insoluble so the milk separates into a solid and a liquid known as curds and whey. Removing the water by filtering…
Make Your Own Spectrometer
From Solar Spark, this simple activity allows students to make a spectrometer using a card box and a compact disc. The compact disc acts as a diffraction grating and splits the light being observed into its constituent wavelengths. This gives the colours of the rainbow when viewing white light. This type of analysis is applied in…
Hand Battery
Produced by Solar Spark, this activity shows how two metal plates and a person, can make a battery (cell). This helps to demonstrate how a solar photovoltaic cell works. A solar cell has two electrodes. These have to be connected up to make a circle which we call an electrical circuit. One side is connected using wires and the…
Energy and Appliances
Produced by Solar Spark, this short activity challenges students to put a variety of common appliances into the order of their electricity consumption. The activity can be used to stimulate consideration of issues such as: • energy generation and consumption • renewable energy • carbon dioxide • emissions…
Energy Connections Card Sorts
Produced by Solar Spark, this activity uses the format of a well-known TV game. Students are given collections of cards and they need to make the connections between them. Each set has a theme. The cards can be used to consider: • photovoltaic cells • solar energy • energy transfers • renewable energies.
Impact of Solar Power
Produced by Solar Spark, this activity allows students to consider the impacts of an available source of electricity on communities in developing nations. People who have unreliable or no access to electricity find their lives changed for the better if they do have access to reliable electricity. One of the ways of providing them…
Magic Dye
This activity, produced by Solar Spark, uses "magic dye", a mixture of three different dye molecules. The mixture contains a yellow disperse dye, a direct blue dye and an acid red dye. When a fabric is put into the mixture, the dyes only attach to the types of fabrics they can bond well with. For example, the blue and yellow…
Colour Mixing
From Solar Spark, this simple demonstration shows the effect of adding colours. Photos and pictures are often made up from just four colours black, cyan, magenta and yellow. Different amounts of each colour combine to get all the colours of the rainbow and make the complete picture. Solar cells are optimised so that they are…