Preventing Heat Loss Materials Required: Your house A windy day Pencil and paper As you have seen earlier, your house is insulated to keep the inside of your home, nice and warm. Along with the insulation material, the wood in your house also acts as a good insulator. Wood generally has thousands of cells, which act like a honey-comb. For instance, three quarters of your door’s heat loss occurs from the...

Stored Energy Materials required: Two 2-litre plastic bottles Books One Ruler Two boards (1 inch x 4 inch) Water An adult Potential energy is usually defined as the contained energy of an object to move it upto a height, as the gravitational pull will cause it to move downwards. Two objects of different weights will have different potential energy levels to move. For the experiment, stack several books on the floor,...

Wind Energy Materials Required: Stiff paper Thread Pencils Modelling clay String Scissors Quart milk cartons Adhesive tape Body of shallow water Sails have been used from time immemorial on boats, to harvest wind energy and move them. For this experiment, you need to make two boats from quart sized milk cartons. Placing empty milk cartons sideways, with their opening ends upwards, take the help of scissors in cutting off the top...

Staying warm Materials Required: A small jar An old T-shirt, a towel, jeans, sweaters etc. A clock Warm tap water A thermometer Rubber bands Scissors Paper and pencil During winter, we need more energy to keep our bodies warm. To get the desired warmth, we take the help of warm clothes, to keep us insulated. The question that arises is which kind of clothing material make better insulators against the cold...

Heat from Radio Waves Materials Required: A microwave oven Two thermometers Pencils A microwave-safe cup Water Microwaves run on electromagnetic waves with the same energy that works in radios and televisions. Only their frequency is much higher. Food in a microwave is generally heated when magnetic waves pass through the substance, causing food molecules to move back and forth very quickly. In this experiment, we shall see how microwaves do not...

Retaining Temperature Materials Required: 1 Salt Two empty Two liter soda bottles Two thermometers Modeling clay Hot tap water A watch Paper and pencil Water takes greater time to change temperature. For example, if the weather has been hot for a few days and for one night it’s pretty cool outside, the warm temperature of a swimming pool will not change much. It will retain its warmth. But does the heat...

Reducing Power Supply Materials Required: 3 ‘D’ flashlight batteries Insulated jumper leads, with alligator clips on both ends Modelling clay Small board Two flashlight bulbs (3 volts) The demand for electricity keeps changing under different circumstances. However, what will happen if a 10 mega-watt power plant tries to give out more energy than its full capacity? Power companies, therefore, decide to regulate demand, by lowering the voltage to meet the demands...

Measuring Electrical Energy Materials Required: Your home’s electrical meter Pencil and paper The unit for measuring electric power is termed as Watt. This is the same measure to differentiate between various bulbs(40W, 60W, 100W), indicating the amount of electric energy needed for the bulb to glow effectively. Have you ever found out how much electricity your house consumes every day? Finding out is very simple. The unit that measures electrical usage...