McGraw-Hill Education (Asia)

Electricity Experiments You Can Do At Home

Authors: Gibilisco, Stan
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-162164-9
ISBN-10: 0071621644
©2010 | 1st Edition | 352 pages , Softcover
Pub Date: June 2010
Price: US$ 24.95
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Amp up your understanding of electricity and magnetism with DOZENS OF DO-IT-YOURSELF EXPERIMENTS

Electricity Experiments You Can Do At Home is a hands-on guide that helps you master the principles of electrical currents and magnetism. Each of the book’s three sections–direct current, alternating current, and magnetism–begins with step-by-step instructions for setting up your lab for the experiments that follow. Using inexpensive, easy-to-find parts, the experiments progress from basic to more complex and will spark ideas and encourage inventiveness. Expect unexpected results when you experiment with:

• Diode-based voltage reducer
• Compass-based galvanometer
• Photovoltaic illuminometer
• Utility bulb saver
• Ripple filter
• Xener-diode voltage regulator
• AC spectrum monitor
• Ampere’s law with wire loop
• AC electromagnet
• Handheld wind turbine
• And dozens more projects

Electricity Experiments You Can Do At Home helps you to:

• Solve circuit problems in electricity
• Build practical and interesting electrical and magnetic devices
• Get ideas for science-fair projects
• Prepare for advanced courses in electricity and electronics
• Learn the basics of laboratory practice

About the Author

Stan Gibilisco (Deadwood, SD)writes books and magazine articles about general science, mathematics, electronics, and computing. He has worked as a technical writer in industry, as a radio engineer, and as a magazine editor. One of his books, Encyclopedia of Electronics (TAB Books, 1985), was named by the American Library Association (ALA) in its list of “Best References of the 1980s.” Another of his books, McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Personal Computing (McGraw-Hill, 1995), was named as a “Best Reference of 1996″ by the ALA. In recent years, Gibilisco has written several math and science volumes for the McGraw-Hill Demystified library. His Web site (www.sciencewriter.net) links to information about all of Gibilisco’s published books.

Packed with hands-on experiments:

• Home DC lab
• Electrochemical cells in series and parallel
• Reverse cells in a series connection
• Make cells with fruits, acids & metals
• Verify Ohm’s Law
• Combine resistors in series & parallel
• Combine resistors in series-parallel networks
• Build & analyze a “nightmare network” of resistors
• Demonstrate Kirchhoff’s 1st Law
• Demonstrate Kirchhoff’s 2nd Law
• Build and test a voltage divider
• Graph voltage, current & resistance
• Measure DC power as volt-amperage
• Measure body resistance
• Measure the resistance of a liquid
• Test the resistance of a bulb with variable voltage
• Build a compass galvanometer
• Build a foil-leaf electroscope
• Build a diode-based voltage reducer
• Build a solar-cell light meter
• Assemble solar cells into a panel
• Test partial shading of solar panel
• Build a battery charger with solar cells
• Separate water into hydrogen and oxygen
• Build a solar-powered hydrogen production plant
• Home AC lab
• Don’t be shocked!
• Build a diode-based bulb saver
• Build an AC light dimmer
• Test incandescent bulbs
• Test ballasted bulbs in your garage-door opener
• Demonstrate induced currents between coils
• Build an AC transformer
• Build a low-voltage AC/DC power supply
• Build a voltage regulator
• Measure AC voltages “between grounds”
• Build a ground-fault detector
• Use a computer as an oscilloscope
• Observe how diodes rectify AC
• Observe how filter capacitors work
• Measure AC ground voltage and current
• Capture AC energy from the air
• Get AC from a battery
• Build a 60-Hz AC field-strength meter
• Build a box-fan anemometer
• Build a box-fan battery charger
• Build a wind-powered hydrogen production plant
• Build a baseband electromagnetic audio-visual monitor
• Build a baseband optical audio-visual monitor
• Build baseband inductor-capacitor filters
•  Home magnetism lab; Looking at flux lines in 2 dimensions
• Looking at flux lines in 3 dimensions
• Alignment of a magnet in the geomagnetic field
• Measure geomagnetic inclination and declination
• Build a Gauss meter
• Make a permanent magnet
• Make a DC electromagnet
• Make an AC electromagnet
• Can you demagnetize a magnet?
• Interactions of DC electromagnets with permanent magnets
• Interactions of AC electromagnets with permanent magnets
• Interactions of AC electromagnets with each other
• Magnetic force on a current-carrying wire
• Test materials for ferromagnetism
• What metals allow magnetic fields through?
• Build a magnetic accelerator
• Build a solenoid
• Test magnetic disks and tapes near magnets
• Build a magnetic heat engine
• Build a magnetic levitation device
• Deflect an electron beam with a magnet
• Hear and see geomagnetic echoes

Table of Contents

PART ONE: DIRECT CURRENT

1. Home DC lab
2. Electrochemical cells in series and parallel
3. Reverse cells in a series connection
4. Make cells with fruits, acids & metals
5. Verify Ohm’s Law
6. Combine resistors in series & parallel
7. Combine resistors in series-parallel networks
8. Build & analyze a “nightmare network” of resistors
9. Demonstrate Kirchhoff’s 1st Law
10. Demonstrate Kirchhoff’s 2nd Law
11. Build and test a voltage divider
12. Graph voltage, current & resistance
13. Measure DC power as volt-amperage
14. Measure body resistance
15. Measure the resistance of a liquid
16. Test the resistance of a bulb with variable voltage
17. Build a compass galvanometer
18. Build a foil-leaf electroscope
19. Build a diode-based voltage reducer
20. Build a solar-cell light meter
21. Assemble solar cells into a panel
22. Test partial shading of solar panel
23. Build a battery charger with solar cells
24. Separate water into hydrogen and oxygen
25. Build a solar-powered hydrogen production plant

PART TWO: ALTERNATING CURRENT

1. Home AC lab
2. Don’t be shocked!
3. Build a diode-based bulb saver
4. Build an AC light dimmer
5. Test incandescent bulbs
6. Test ballasted bulbs in your garage-door opener
7. Demonstrate induced currents between coils
8. Build an AC transformer
9. Build a low-voltage AC/DC power supply
10. Build a voltage regulator
11. Measure AC voltages “between grounds”
12. Build a ground-fault detector
13. Use a computer as an oscilloscope
14. Observe how diodes rectify AC
15. Observe how filter capacitors work
16. Measure AC ground voltage and current
17. Capture AC energy from the air
18. Get AC from a battery
19. Build a 60-Hz AC field-strength meter
20. Build a box-fan anemometer
21. Build a box-fan battery charger
22. Build a wind-powered hydrogen production plant
23. Build a baseband electromagnetic audio-visual monitor
24. Build a baseband optical audio-visual monitor
25. Build baseband inductor-capacitor filters

PART THREE: MAGNETISM

1. Home magnetism lab
2. Looking at flux lines in 2 dimensions
3. Looking at flux lines in 3 dimensions
4. Alignment of a magnet in the geomagnetic field
5. Measure geomagnetic inclination and declinatio
6. Build a Gauss meter
7. Make a permanent magnet
8. Make a DC electromagnet
9. Make an AC electromagnet
10. Can you demagnetize a magnet?
11. Interactions of DC electromagnets with permanent magnets
12. Interactions of AC electromagnets with permanent magnets
13. Interactions of AC electromagnets with each other
14. Magnetic force on a current-carrying wire
15. Test materials for ferromagnetism
16. What metals allow magnetic fields through?
17. Build a magnetic accelerator
18. Build a solenoid
19. Test magnetic disks and tapes near magnets
20. Build a magnetic heat engine
21. Build a magnetic levitation device
22. Deflect an electron beam with a magnet
23. Hear and see geomagnetic echoes