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UnitGrades 3 - 5

Put a Spark in It! - Electricity

Four images: Representative drawing of an atom with nucleus and three orbiting electrons, photo of a person's hand pushing a pronged-electrical cord into a wall socket, close-up photo shows etched lines and components of an integrated circuit board, photo of a woman and young girl each holding controllers and playing a videogame together.Learn about energy, electrons, charge, electricity, current, circuits — and how important they are to our everyday activities.

Overview of topics by lesson: 1) introduction to electricity, both static and current, as well as electrons and atoms, 2) static electricity, including inducing electrical charge, repulsion and attraction, 3) current electricity, including voltage, current and resistance, 4) electrical conductors and insulators, including material properties, 5) series circuits, including resistance and circuit components, and 6) the composition and practical application of parallel circuits, including Ohm's law.

Electrification is FIRST on the list of the National Academy of Engineering's top 20 engineering achievements of the 20th century (see https://www.teachengineering.org/curricularunits/view/cub_electricity_curricularunit). After Edison's 1879 invention of the light bulb, electrification boosted America's economic development and quality of life, soon becoming pervasive in both urban and rural communities to provide lighting, power for home appliances, and in later years, computers and communication devices, as well as the widespread production of goods and services.

If electricity is the workhorse of the modern world, then engineers hold the reins. Beginning with their understanding of atoms and electrons, engineers exploit scientific principles of voltage, current and resistance to create the circuitry and batteries found in electronic devices. They create circuit diagrams to communicate their designs to others. Over the years, and continuing today, engineers invent new equipment, tools and products that use electricity and provide capabilities for people, including electronics, radio, TV, household appliances, telephones, refrigeration, air conditioning, computers, internet, imaging, health technologies, laser and fiber optics, spacecraft.

We now demand so much electricity that engineers are asked to invent new ways to conserve it and generate it, for example, the invention of photovoltaic cells that use sunlight to make electricity. Through the smart use of materials, for their conductivity and insulating characteristics, engineers design devices and appliances that operate correctly, dependably and safely. Engineers are creative with their inventions; using static electricity, engineers devised industrial air filters that clean the air. The engineering design of integrated circuits combines thousands to millions of parallel and series circuits working together. The resulting central processing units (CPUs) have become essential in modern vehicles, video games, smoke detectors, DVD players, garage-door openers, cordless phones, clocks and calculators—useful devices and inventions that improve our lives.

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