RE: [TCML] My Kid's School

["Lau, Gary" <Gary.Lau@xxxxxx>]

Hi Tim,

Funny, I'm doing exactly that tomorrow (Tue) to my daughter's 4th grade and another 5th grade class.  

You have to understand that kids of that age have had no exposure to electricity or magnetism, in the technical sense that the topic is discussed here.  I plan to talk briefly about "voltage", mention relatively safe low voltage (a battery generates 1.5-12 volts), dangerous high voltage 120 volts from a wall outlet, very high voltage 15,000 volts from the NST & Jacobs ladder, and really really high voltage ~100,000 volts from the Tesla coil.  And I'll briefly touch on just what sparks are - plasma, the 4th state of matter.  But it would be pointless to bring up inductance, capacitance, and resonance.  The best I can hope for is that the demo will leave a favorable impression in their minds and suggest that they would be capable of building such things by the time they reach high school if they pay attention to math and science.

I bring a 15/30 Jacobs ladder, Van Der Graff generator, and small Tesla coil, for various perspectives of HV.  I have a push-button on the end of a long cord that I can let the kids activate the TC and JL.  But the thing that always attracts the most interest (unfortunately) is hands-on zapping with the VDG.  

Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA

> -----Original Message-----
> From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Tim
> Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 5:53 PM
> To: tesla@xxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [TCML] My Kid's School
> 
> All,
> 
> I have searched the threads a bit, but did not find anything relevant. I will be taking
> my coil to my third grader's school on Wednesday, and was looking for info I could
> put together in a small handout for their level of understanding.  It would need to
> capture an 8 or 9 year-old's interest (not that the coil won't do enough of that!).
> Basically, they learn a little about science each week and I am augmenting
> electricity and lightning.
> 
> I have the basic concepts of static electricity and magnetism in mind, but that kind
> of went over the heads of some of my other daughter's seventh grade class last
> year. The fluorescent tube went over well, so that's always cool.
> 
> To put your minds at ease, I have been at this a while and have safety precautions
> in place. I am not looking for that kind of input (but, no doubt, we cannot resist on
> emphasizing safety!).
> 
> I think this is my first input to the list, but have been reading it since 2005. I have
> learned a lot over the years, so please accept this as my thank-you.
> 
> T.J.Wenzel
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