ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Vera L.Y. Uyehara, President
Quantum-Itch, Inc.
"Learning for a New Millennium"
5557 North Maria Drive
Tucson, Arizona  85704
(520) 408-1312 Voice and Fax
(520) 270-5265 Cell
[log in to unmask]



> From: Vera Uyehara <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Informal Science Education Network
> <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 11:29:42 -0700
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Conservation of Electricity exhibits
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Al, it is SO GOOD to be in contact with you again.  I hope you and Hazel are
> well.  Are you still going to ASTC?  I haven't been to ASTC for about 3
> years.  How is your science center at Oneonta going?  Are you still in the
> lower level of the building?  I remember your description of your wonderful
> place.
>
> I have been out of the science center world for about 3 years -- made a
> foray into the arts!  Now I'm trying to get back involved (and find a job!),
> and have been doing some consulting.  The project the electricity
> conservation question was about is for the Tucson Children's Museum -- the
> local electric company wants to give $$ for an exhibit on electricity
> conservation.  We're been racking our brains for something for 6 to 12 year
> olds, that is more exciting than just turning switches on and off!
>
> I have been so excited to be back in the science center world.  The science
> center people are just so interesting, optimistic, creative and just plain
> fun.  No comparison with some of the art types I was working with.
>
> Both my husband and I are unemployed, so we're going to Nicaragua over
> Thanksgiving to see if we like it.  We have to find a cheaper place to live
> than the US.  From the people we've contacted, we've found out that there is
> no science center in Managua (capital city, about 1.5 million people), and
> there is a tremendous need for children's education and general assistance.
> So maybe we'll be moving there.  Life is certainly interesting.
>
> Thank you for the ideas for electricity conservation.  It sounds like an
> interesting exhibit/activity.  But since we can't use matches on the gallery
> floor, is there anything else that will neutralize the charge to begin the
> activity?
>
> Again, it is so nice to be in contact with you.  Give my best to Hazel.  I
> hope to see you sometime at ASTC.
>
> Vera L.Y. Uyehara, President
> Quantum-Itch, Inc.
> "Learning for a New Millennium"
> 5557 North Maria Drive
> Tucson, Arizona  85704
> (520) 408-1312 Voice and Fax
> (520) 270-5265 Cell
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
>
>> From: [log in to unmask]
>> Reply-To: Informal Science Education Network
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 03:34:20 -0500
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Conservation of Electricity exhibits
>>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>> institutions.
>> *****************************************************************************
>>
>> Vera
>>
>> Greetings from a co-presenter at the Phoenix ASTC conference.  Hazel and I
>> are
>> still grateful to you for helping us make non-destructive, minimum dynamite
>> choices among the restaurant hot sauces so casually ingested by inhabitants
>> of
>> the Southwest.
>>
>> Here is an old-fashioned but rather simple way to demonstrate "conservation
>> of
>> electric charge", the idea that electric charges cannot be created or
>> destroyed, but can be transferred from one object to another.  The activity
>> will show that if two objects are initially uncharged or neutral and they are
>> rubbed together, one will usually take surface electrons from the other, and
>> the quantity of electric charge one gains will exactly match the quantity of
>> electric charge the other one loses, but they will have opposite kinds of
>> charge, one positive and the other negative.
>>
>> Apparatus needed:
>> ---sensitive electroscope, typically gold leaf, with a hollow metal can
>> mounted on its knob
>> ---postage-stamp-size piece of fur or wool glued to one end of a pencil-sized
>> clean and dry glass tube or rod
>> ---small piece (about 20 mm  long) broken off the end of a plastic or
>> hard-rubber comb, glued to one end of a pencil-sized glass tube or rod, clean
>> and dry.  Use these glass rods as insulating handles for the comb and wool
>> (or
>> fur).
>>
>> Initial understanding needed:  that the gold leaf rises when  an
>> electrically-charged object is inserted into the metal can mounted on the
>> electroscope's knob.  The charged object should not touch the can, just be
>> held inside it.
>>
>> The activity:
>> 1. Start with both the comb and the wool uncharged (neutral), as can be shown
>> by inserting each one separately into the can and observing no rising of the
>> gold leaf.  If either should be charged it can effectively be neutralized by
>> passing a lighted match underneath the comb and/or wool.  (The copious supply
>> of plus and minus ions in the heated air rising from the flame will supply
>> whatever charge is needed to neutralize the comb or wool....remember,
>> opposite
>> charges attract.  The ions are produced by neutral molecules colliding
>> vigorously enough at high temperature to knock electrons off each other.)
>> 2. Holding them outside the can, rub the comb and wool on each other.
>> 3. Insert the comb fragment into (but not touching) the can on the
>> electroscope.  If it is charged, as it usually has become, the gold leaf will
>> rise a certain distance and stay there as long as the charged comb is inside
>> the can.
>> 4. Take out the comb fragment and insert the wool or fur.  It should also be
>> charged, and the gold leaf should rise  just as far as it did with the comb.
>> 5. To show that these two charged objects, the comb and the wool (or fur),
>> have equal amounts of charge but one is positive and the other is negative,
>> is
>> to put one inside the can (leaf rises) and then also insert the other.  The
>> leaf should fall to its original uncharged position, hanging limply down.
>> Taking either one out and leaving the other in causes leaf to rise.
>>
>> With the proper theatrical treatment by a dramatic presenter, the marvel of
>> step 5 can be made quite impressive.
>>
>> Enjoy.
>>
>> Al Read, Director, Science Discovery Center of Oneonta (NY)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Informal Science Education Network on behalf of Vera Uyehara
>> Sent: Sun 11/7/2004 9:13 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Conservation of Electricity exhibits
>>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>> institutions.
>> *****************************************************************************
>>
>> Has anyone seen an exhibit on the conservation of electricity?  If yes, what
>> components did it include?  V
>>
>> Vera L.Y. Uyehara, President
>> Quantum-Itch, Inc.
>> "Learning for a New Millennium"
>> 5557 North Maria Drive
>> Tucson, Arizona  85704
>> (520) 408-1312 Voice and Fax
>> (520) 270-5265 Cell
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> ***********************************************************************
>> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
>> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at
>> http://www.astc.org.
>> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
>> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>> ***********************************************************************
>> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
>> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at
>> http://www.astc.org.
>> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
>> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
>> [log in to unmask]
>
> ***********************************************************************
> More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
> Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
> To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
> message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
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To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
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