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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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.
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>
> ***********************************************************************
> 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
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To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
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