A girl named Francesca from Lifetime Labs came into our classroom at 9:30 am. She had met us before when we were in fourth class. We all got some boxes and when the box gets opened it would turn into a house. There would also be three plastic bags with some things inside. She told us to open one of the bags. In the bag there were crocodile clips a battery as well as a battery box a bulb a bulb holder and some tin foil. She wanted us to make the light bulb light up by using the battery. First we would have to put the battery in the battery box and then we would have to put the light bulb in the bulb holder. We would have to connect the clips on these little metal points that would poke out of the sides of the battery holder. Then we would connect the clips to another two points metal points poking out of the bulb holder. The energy from the battery would go to the clips and then the energy would transfer from the clips to the light bulb which would light the light bulb up. Some of us already knew how to do this since we did it before in third class but it was through a video call because of Covid. After we lit our light bulbs she gave us a challenge. She wanted us to try lightning the light bulb with only one clip. We quickly found out that we could put the battery on one of the metal points then we could press the clip against the battery and clip the second point which would make the light bulb light up. On the top of the house there were three holes. One of them was for the light bulb. The second is for a motor. The third was for a buzzer. She told us to put the light bulb through the hole and it would look like it was hanging from the roof. After the light bulb we were making a motor. We got a shamrock and put it on the motor. The motor gets powered in the same way the light bulb gets lit up. The motor acts like a ceiling fan in the house. Now our goal was to find out what conducted and insolated electricity. First I tried a coin. I connected a clip to one of the points of the battery holder and then I connected it to the coin. I got another clip connected it to one of the battery holder then to the point of the motor. I got a third clip connected it to the coin and to the second point of the motor which made it work because metal is a very good conductor of electricity. There were more items that conducted electricity like a metal spoon tin foil and a broken wire. I also helped other people to get their items working. There was one more thing a switch. When we would connect ether the light bulb or motor with the switch when ever we would flip the switch the light bulb or motor would stop working. Whenever we would flip the switch again it will turn back on. The last thing she wanted to do was to make the light bulb and motor to work at the same time. I was able to make it work but my method wasn’t very good. On top of the house there was a third hole for a buzzer. When I asked Francesca about it she explained that they were planning on making a buzzer but never got around to doing it because of time problems. After we did everything we had to put everything back in the bags and put them in the box.
By Mak Ropac
Togher Boys' National School 