Electricity & Electronics Project Ideas

A tried and true balloon activity is to rub a balloon on your head to make your hair stand up. How does the rubbing build up static electricity? Do this experiment to see if the number of rubs makes a difference.   Read more...

Want to know how electrical engineers "trap" the energy in a circuit to make your favorite electrical appliance? Video games, computers, phones, and many other electrical devices use "resistors" in different ways to control the electricity in a circuit. In this experiment, you can make your own resistors out of pencils, and test the effect a resistor has on a circuit.   Read more...

There are two main types of materials when it comes to electricity, conductors, and insulators. What are they made of? Find out by testing different materials in a circuit to see which ones conduct the most electricity.   Read more...

How can toilet paper help you understand the mighty power of magnetic induction? By wrapping each roll with more turns of wire, you can figure out the best way to light up a bulb.   Read more...

When your parents were kids, they probably wore polyester. Static cling was a major household issue! Now everybody wears cotton, which doesn't get static cling nearly as much. Why are some materials more susceptible to static cling than others? Learn how different materials react to static electricity in this experiment.   Read more...

You've seen that a magnet's attractive force can cause a small object (like a paper clip) to "jump" to the magnet. So a magnetic field can act through the air, but what about other materials?...   Read more...

"How do you frighten a grasshopper? And what does that have to do with light?" These are a couple of questions you're probably asking yourself after reading the title. Well, The Frightened Grasshopper Solar-Powered Bug is actually a toy grasshopper that vibrates when it is placed in sunlight or near a lightbulb. It stores up the energy from light, and converts it into motion. You will use this fun toy to explore how the brightness of the light affects the motion of the solar-powered insect.   Read more...

What do lamps, computers, televisions, printers, and kitchen appliances all have in common? They all need electricity to work. In order for electricity to provide power to these devices, it has to flow into and out of them. In this electronics science fair project, you will make your own simple circuit tester and use it to study how electricity flows through a lamp.   Read more...

This is a straightforward project that shows you how data can be digitized and stored on magnetic recording media. You'll learn how alpha-numeric characters are digitized, and you'll use bar magnets to represent the individual data "bits." You'll also learn about how much information can be stored in a small space (recording density), and how magnetic data can be erased.   Read more...

Did you know that you can get electricity out of a potato? In this project you will learn how do build a simple battery using a variety of different fruits and vegetables - REALLY! You'll be able to figure out things like: How many lemons does it take to turn on a light bulb? Does an orange make a better battery than a potato? Can you use each segment of a grapefruit to make a super-grapefruit battery? You will also learn some of the basics of electricity and circuits: What is voltage? What is current? What is resistance? How much power can you get out of a veggie battery? Does an orange battery run out of "juice"? So, do a little produce shopping and then learn about batteries and electricity.   Read more...

 

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