Electricity - light bulbs, conductors, insulators, and the nervous system

A world without electric light would be a very different world. It was fascinating to look into the creation of light bulbs and how they work. It was interesting to discover that Thomas Edison is not the only person who should be given credit for it. Joseph Swan also played a significant role.

How a light bulb works: Electricity travels through a wire into the bulb but it reaches a part where it has to travel through a filament. The filament resists the flow of electrons and so all the extra work it has to do starts to heat the filament up and it starts glowing - light.

We have also been looking at conductors and insulators. All materials in the world can be classified as insulators or conductors. A conductor allows electricity to flow easily as its electrons are not bound to the protons as tightly. Metals are good conductors, especially copper, gold, and silver. An insulator restricts the flow of electricity. Glass, plastic, and rubber are common insulators.

We created circuits to illuminate a light bulb and then interrupted the circuits with different objects to discover which objects were insulators and which were conductors. We discovered that generally the conductors were metals and other objects were insulators.

The bodies electricity: Another fascinating discussion we had was around our bodies and electricity. It all started with the question of why we use a defibrillator to shock someone. You wouldn't be reading this if it wasn't for electricity. Our bodies use electricity to operate.  Every message your brain sends is using electricity. The nervous system is what carries the messages. A part of the heart creates electricity to cause the heart to pump.


We are discovering more and more just how central electricity is to our world and existence.