Generate your own electricity with some wire, a magnetic field, and the relative movement between the two of them… “the phenomenon at the heart of all electricity power stations.” Science teacher, writer, and filmmaker Alom Shaha explains electromagnetic induction using this hand-powered—or perhaps more accurately, bacon-sandwich-powered—generator. He writes:
“The ‘generator’ is a home-made prop, a prototype that doesn’t work very well. I had it built because I felt it was a more effective demonstration than getting an ammeter needle to flicker as is done in traditional classroom demonstrations of this effect…
I use the prop to introduce EM induction to students – it is genuinely surprising to some of them to see that you can generate electricity in this way and for them to learn that this is essentially the same thing that goes on in a power station. I feel this works better than diving straight into talking about wires cutting lines of flux etc.
Of course, I then go on to explain the topic in more detail, but this simple demonstration serves to supply the basic points they need to learn at GCSE in a memorable way.”
Related watching: magnetic fields, probably one of the more awe-inducing subjects on this site.
via Science Demo.
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