Comparing Energy Story 'And' Hands-On Science With Squishy Circuits

Have you ever wondered about energy and electricity? Well, the texts, “Energy Story”, “Conducting Solutions” and the video “Hands-on Science with Squishy Circuits” all demonstrate different views of energy and electricity. Each source has unique ways of showing the different aspects of energy and electricity.

In the text, “Energy Story” the authors provide insight into energy and its different forms, like heat, electrical energy, and mechanical energy. For example, the text states, “It is a situation that’s very similar to electricity passing along a wire and a circuit. The charge is passed from atom to atom when electricity is “passed.” This evidence demonstrates how electricity is passed. Next, “The electrons also want to be part of a balanced

”Conducting. Solutions” purpose is to use different examples to explain conductivity. To explain, the evidence states, “A vinegar solution also contains only a few ions and conducts only a little electricity. But when these solutions are mixed, the ammonia reacts with the acid in vinegar (acetic acid), and they form a lot of ions. This is why the mixture of ammonia and vinegar conducts electricity very well.”(Schreiner 5) This explains how a simple vinegar solution can achieve conductivity. Another example of when evidence is shown when the author states, “Ammonia is such a substance. When ammonia dissolves in water, it reacts with the water and forms a few ions. This is why laundry ammonia, which is a solution of ammonia in water, conducts electricity, but not very well.” (Schreiner 4) This elucidates how ammonia has few ions to conduct electricity. Moreover, “When table salt is dissolved in water, the solution conducts very well, because the solution contains ions. The ions come from table salt, whose chemical name is sodium chloride. Sodium chloride contains sodium ions, which have a positive charge, and chloride ions, which have a negative charge. Because sodium chloride is made up of ions, it is called an ionic substance.” (Schreiner 2) This clarifies how sodium uses ions to conduct electricity. “Conducting Electricity”

The video demonstrates how salty playdough and sugary playdough can cause circuits using LED lights. This video purposes itself by providing an easy way for kids to learn unique ways of learning about circuits and electrical flow. For instance, the text states, “And that sugar dough? Well, it's 150 times more resistant to electric current than that salt dough. So what does that mean? Well, it means if you put them together, you suddenly have circuits -- circuits that the most creative, tiny, little hands can build on their own.” (00.43 Thomas) This shows how by incorporating the sugary dough, the circuits can work, circuits that children can make easily. Furthermore, the video explains, “And once you have the basics, we can make a slightly more complicated circuit. We call this our sushi circuit. It's very popular with kids. I plug in the power to it. And now, I can start talking about parallel and series circuits.” (2:25 Thomas) This proves that even with the simplest and most fun ingredients, you can still learn. Additionally, Thomas included in the video, “And we can start talking about things like an electrical load.” (This proves again how the circuits can be used with playdough to learn about complex things. To close, the video, “Hands-on With Squishy Circuits'' explains how even the simplest