Middle School, Electricity & Electronics Projects, Lessons, Activities (84 results)
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When your parents were kids, they probably wore polyester. Static cling was a major household issue! Now everybody wears cotton, which does not get static cling nearly as much. Why are some materials more susceptible to static cling than others? Investigate how well different materials produce static electricity by making a homemade electroscope and testing it out in this science project.
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The electricity you use to power everyday devices is generated by electrical generators. These fascinating and powerful machines rely on magnets to function. Though they might seem extremely complicated, once you finish this science project, you will understand how, why, and when they generate electricity.
You will build your own generator, make small changes in how exactly the magnets are placed, and test when moving magnets generate electricity.
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How do you make a spacecraft land safely on the Moon or another planet like Mars? It probably helps to know how far away the ground is so you can deploy landing gear, activate a parachute, or fire thrusters to help slow down. In this project you will build your own "lander" vehicle with a sensor that can measure distance to the ground, allowing you to program outputs like blinking lights or an audible alarm.
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Wouldn't it be nice to avoid those nasty electric shocks you get after you have walked around on carpet and then touch a doorknob? These shocks are caused by static electricity. In this project, you will build a super-sensitive charge detector to investigate the electric fields created by static electricity. The detector can sense invisible electric fields before you touch something and get zapped, so try this project to avoid the shock of shocks!
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Have you ever had lights turn on automatically when you walked into a room? Have you turned on a light with your voice instead of a switch? Maybe you have even seen lights that change color depending on temperature, ambient sounds, or how close you are to something. In this project you will design and build your own smart LED lighting system that can change colors and react to various things in the room. The possibilities are endless! Check out this page for more LED science projects.
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We take it for granted that computer screens can update the text on their displays. What about braille, the writing system used by blind and visually impaired people? Braille writing usually consists of a series of permanently raised bumps on a surface like a piece of paper or a sign. How can you make these bumps change or "update" to display different text? Find out in this engineering project as you design and build your own refreshable braille display.
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Have you ever wondered why silver jewelry that starts out nice and shiny turns brownish-black and dull over time? The brownish-black stuff is called silver tarnish, and it is the result of a chemical reaction on the silver's surface. Luckily, there are many ways to clean tarnished silver and make it shiny again! In this science project, you will explore how to clean tarnished silver using electrochemistry. The electrochemical silver cleaning reaction requires aluminum and a salt solution. Your…
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Have you ever used a video game or virtual reality (VR) controller that vibrates? The controller might vibrate when your character gets hit or when you crash in a racing game. This vibration provides additional information to your senses to help you understand what is happening in the game. What if you could feel these vibrations at different points on your skin through something you wear, like a glove? In this project, you will learn how to build and program your own customized glove with the…
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Have you ever noticed how magnets appear to have no effect on each other when they are far apart? Then, when you slowly move them closer together, you will start to feel a gentle pull until they suddenly snap together? How exactly does the strength of a magnet change with distance, and how would you measure it if you wanted to find out? In this project you will build a circuit that can measure the strength of a magnetic field and see how the field strength changes with distance.
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"Paper circuits" are a fun way to mix electronics and art by adding lights directly to a painting or drawing. These lights need a battery to power them, and typically you would use wires to connect them. In paper circuits, though, many materials can be substituted as "wire," including special types of paint, ink, and even aluminum foil. There are also different options for what type of battery you can use. Which materials do you think will work best? Try this project to find out!
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