Electric Charges

LabPaq® is a registered trademark of Hands-On Labs, Inc. (HOL). The LabPaq referenced in this manual is produced by Hands-On Labs, Inc. which holds and reserves all copyrights on the intellectual properties associated with the LabPaq’s unique design, assembly, and learning experiences. The laboratory manual included with a LabPaq is intended for the sole use by that LabPaq’s original purchaser and may not be reused without a LabPaq or by others without the specific written consent of HOL. No portion of any LabPaq manual’s materials may be reproduced, transmitted or distributed to others in any manner, nor may be downloaded to any public or privately shared systems or servers without the express written consent of HOL. No changes may be made in any LabPaq materials without the express written consent of HOL. HOL has invested years of research and development into these materials, reserves all rights related to them, and retains the right to impose substantial penalties for any misuse.

Published by: Hands-On Labs, Inc. 3880 S. Windermere St. Englewood, CO 80110

Phone: Denver Area: 303-679-6252 Toll-free, Long-distance: 866-206-0773

www.HOLscience.com e-mail: [email protected]

Printed in the United States of America.

The experiments in this manual have been and may be conducted in a regular formal laboratory or classroom setting with the users providing their own equipment and supplies. However, this manual was especially written for the benefit of the independent study of students who do not have convenient access to such facilities. It allows them to perform college and advanced high school level experiments at home or elsewhere by using a LabPaq, a collection of experimental equipment and supplies specifically packaged to accompany this manual.

Use of this manual and authorization to perform any of its experiments is expressly conditioned upon the user reading, understanding and agreeing to fully abide by all the safety precautions contained herein.

Although the author and publisher have exhaustively researched many sources to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this manual, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions or any other inconsistency herein. Any slight of people, organizations, materials, or products is unintentional.

www.HOLscience.com 2 ©Hands-On Labs, Inc.

50-0236-PK-02

Table of contents 5 To the instructor

6 To the student

7 how to Perform an Experiment

9 safety concerns

11 science Lab safety Reinforcement Agreement

Experiments 14 Static Electricity or Electrostatics

28 Electric Fields

38 Introduction to Electrical Circuits: Ohm’s Law

52 Resistors in series and Parallel

77 semiconductor Temperature sensor

86 capacitance in a circuit

103 Electric Motor

111 Reflection and Refraction

127 Diffraction Grating

142 Polarized Light

150 Radioactive Decay

APPENDiX 160 Laboratory Equipment and Techniques

161 Potential Laboratory Hazards

162 Use, Disposal, and Cleaning Instructions for Common Materials

163 Material safety Data sheets

165 how to Write Lab Notes and Lab Reports

171 Laboratory Drawings

173 Digital Multimeter Instructions

177 Final Cleanup Instructions

179 Using Statistics

183 The T-Test

189 The chi-square Test

www.HOLscience.com 3 ©Hands-On Labs, Inc.

www.HOLscience.com 4 ©Hands-On Labs, Inc.

To the instructor As an increasing number of students embrace online and independent-study courses, laboratory experiences must remain an integral part of science education. This lab manual’s author and publisher are science educators who welcome electronic technology as an effective tool to expand and enhance instruction. However, technology can neither duplicate nor replace learning experiences afforded to students through traditional hands-on laboratory and field activities. This does not mean that some experiments cannot or should not be replaced or reinforced by computer simulations; but any course of science study must also provide sufficient hands-on laboratory and field experiences to:

● Engage students in open-ended, investigative processes by using scientific problem solving.

● Provide application of concepts students have seen in their study materials, which reinforce and clarify scientific principles and concepts.

● Involve multiple senses in three-dimensional rather than two-dimensional learning experiences that are important for greater retention of concepts and for accommodation of different learning styles.

● Stimulate students to understand the nature of science including its unpredictability and complexity.

● Provide opportunities to engage in collaborative work and to model scientific attitudes and behavior.

● Develop mastery of techniques and skills needed for potential science, engineering, and technology careers.

The knowledge gained from science courses with strong laboratory components enables students to understand, in practical and concrete ways, their own physical makeup, the functioning of the natural world around them, and contemporary scientific and environmental issues. It is only by maintaining hands-on laboratory experiences in our curricula that the brightest and most promising students will be stimulated to learn scientific concepts and avoid being turned-off by lecture- and textbook-only approaches. Physical experimentation may offer some students their only opportunity to experience a science laboratory environment. All students – as potential voters, parents, teachers, leaders, and informed citizens – will benefit from a well-rounded education that includes science laboratory experiences when it is time for them to make sound decisions affecting the future of their country and the world.

This lab manual can be used by all students, regardless of the laboratory facilities available to them. The experiments are based on the principles of micro-scale science which have been successfully used in campus laboratories for decades. LabPaq’s micro-scale experiments can also be performed at home, in a dorm room, or at a small learning center that lacks a formal laboratory.

Introduction

www.HOLscience.com 5 © Hands-On Labs, Inc.

To the student Science is a way of learning about our natural world and how it works by testing ideas and making observations. Learning about the characteristics of the natural world and how those characteristics change and interact with each other makes it easier to understand ourselves and our physical environment. Also, it helps us make the multitude of personal and global decisions that affect our lives and our planet. Science credits are impressive on an academic transcript and your science knowledge may create some unique job opportunities.

What are Micro-scale Experiments?

You may be among the growing number of students to take a full-credit, laboratory science course through independent study, due to the development and perfection of micro-scale and small- scale experimentation techniques over the past half century. While experimentation on any scale is foundational to fully understanding science concepts, science courses in the past have required experimentation to be performed in the campus laboratory due to the potential hazards inherent in traditional experimentation.

Potential hazards, increasing chemical, specimen, and science equipment costs, and environmental concerns made high schools, colleges, and universities reexamine the traditional laboratory methods used to teach science. Scientists began to scale down the quantities of materials and the size of equipment used in experiments and found reaction results remained unchanged.

Over time, more and more traditional science experiments were redesigned to be performed on micro and small scales. Educational institutions eventually recognized that the scientific reaction, not the size of the reaction, facilitates learning. Successive comparative assessments have proven that students’ learning is not impaired by studying small-sized reactions. Many assessments even suggest that science learning is enhanced by small-scale experimentation.

In the mid-1990s, Dr. Peter Jeschofnig of Colorado Mountain College, pioneered the development of LabPaqs: academically aligned, small-scale experiments that can be performed at home. Hands-On Labs, Inc. has subsequently proven that students can perform LabPaq’s rigorous science experiments at home and still achieve an equivalent, if not higher, level of learning than their campus-based peers.