Light Your Way: Design-Build a Series Circuit Flashlight
During a power failure, or when we go outside at night, we grab a flashlight so we can find our way. What happens inside a flashlight that makes the bulb light up? Why do we need a switch to turn on a flashlight? Have you ever noticed that for the flashlight to work you must orient the batteries a certain way as you insert them into the casing? Many people do not know that a flashlight is a simple series circuit. In this hands-on activity, students make sense of the phenomenon of electricity when they build this everyday household item. They use the science and engineering practice of defining a simple design problem and the disciplinary core idea of designing solutions to design their own operating series circuit flashlights. By exploring electricity and how flashlights work, students engage with the crosscutting concept of evolving technologies.
Students explore how a flashlight worksCopyright http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/048/7/1/glowing_flashlight_by_vitapiscana-d4q0swf.jpg
When engineers design electrical equipment, they figure out the optimum circuitry design for the situation, whether it is the installation of solar panels, design of electric cars, behavior of traffic signals, hair dryer on/off switch, turn indicator lights on a vehicle or even a simple flashlight. They decide between creating a parallel or series circuit, or they often create a complex circuit system composed of both types.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Design and construct a working portable flashlight.
- Define, recognize and assemble series circuits.
- Explain the path of electrical charge through their circuit.
- Describe the engineering process behind designing a flashlight.