First, we read the book, Mirette On the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully.
Because the book is about a young girl, Mirette, and how she learns to walk on a tightrope, we talked about how important ears are for balance. To tie in science, we made a battery using pennies, salt water, paper towels, and aluminum foil and tested it by scraping the wire along a headphone plug. If they could hear the static, their battery worked!
Steps in making the battery.
Supplies needed: copper wire, pennies, paper towels, salt water, and aluminum foil.
Step one: Make a sandwich of penny, paper towel soaked in salt water in the middle, and then a small piece of aluminum foil.
Step two: Attach one copper wire to the penny and wrap the other end around the plug of a pair of headphones.
Step three: Take the other wire and have one end touching the foil and with the other end, rub it on the headphone plug.
Can you hear static? If so, your battery works!
If you need a visual, go here. Keep in mind this is a project meant for a classroom. You do not need to use that many pennies.
This Wednesday, July 16, at 3:30 pm Annegret Baier will host a workshop on African Drumming. Pre-registration is required. Call 883-4723 opt. 3 to sign up!
