Lab 1: What Magnets Can Do

Key Question:
What are some properties of magnets?

Conclusions:
Magnets either attract or repel other magnets.
Magnets can attract or repel through certain objects.

Lab 2: What is Magnetic?

Key Question:
What materials are magnetic?

Conclusions:
Most but not all metals are magnetic. Most metals that are magnetic contain iron, and that is the most common metal that is magnetic. Iron (Fe), Cobalt (Co), or Nickel (Ni) are found in all magnetic materials.

Lab 3: Measuring Magnets

Key Question:
What can we learn by trying to measure the strength of a magnet?

Conclusions:
The more magnets, the stronger the magnetic force.

Lab 4: Using a Compass

Key Question:
How can we find the north and south poles on an unmarked magnet?

Conclusions:
Using a compass, the north pole of the magnet repels the north pole of the compass while the south pole of the magnet attracts the north pole of the compass.

Lab 5: A Look At Circuits

Key Question:
What is needed to make a light bulb light?

Conclusions:
In order to make a light bulb light, you must have a complete circuit.

Lab 6: Building A Circuit

Key Question:
What are the parts of a circuit?

Conclusions:
Complete circuits must have:

• Energy Source - battery
• Energy user (load) - bulb
• Conductor - wire

Lab 7: Light Bulb

Key Question:
How many batteries does it take to light a 60W bulb?

Conclusions:
A light bulb is part of a complete circuit.
When a complete loop is formed, you have a circuit.
Electrons (e-) flow from the positive (+) terminal of the battery, along the wire, through the bulb, to the filament, to the other wire, out the side metal to the other side of the battery.

Lab 8: Exploring Series and Parallel Circuits

Key Question:
What are the similarities and differences between serial and parallel circuits?

Conclusions:
There are two kinds of circuits: series circuits and parallel circuits.   Both are complete circuits (having at least 1 of each of the following components: energy source, energy use/load, conductor).

In a series circuit, there is only one path through which the electrons (e-) flow. When batteries are arranged in a series, the voltage across the bulb is increased, causing the bulb to glow brighter than it did with a simple circuit, but the batteries will drain more quickly.   When two identical bulbs are wired in series, they burn with uniform brightness, but they are not as bright as one bulb alone.   If you take out one component in the circuit, the circuit is open, electrons (e-) cannot flow, and the bulb will not light.

In a parallel circuit, electricity travels along more than one path around the circuit.   When batteries are arranged in parallel, the brightness of the bulb will be the same as it was with one battery, but the bulb will burn longer in this circuit than it will when the batteries are arranged in series.   When two bulbs are wired in parallel with one battery, each bulb burns as brightly as a one bulb/one battery arrangement.   Parallel circuits are more reliable; however, they are also more expensive.   If one component is taken out, it does not affect the others because it does not break the flow of electrons (e-).

The following circuits were series circuits:

The following circuits were parallel circuits:

* Lab 2: What is Magnetic?