Electricity is used in our lives to make life easier and more comfortable. It lights our homes, heats our meals, and can do our work for us. Generators are devices that produce electricity. They come in many forms from the hydroelectric generators that are part of the Lake Martin Dam to the hand-held Gencons we will use in class. Treat the Gencons with care they are not toys and are expensive! Each of the exercises below will illustrate some electrical principle. Before carrying out each experiment, have your instructor OK each setup by initialing the proper space. You need to know the experimental results for the next test.

a. Creating your own electricity.

Connect the Gencon to the light bulb and turn the crank. Does the light bulb light?

Try turning the handle in the opposite direction. Does the brightness of the light bulb change?

Now disconnect it and turn the crank. Describe the difference in cranking before and after disconnecting the bulb.

 

b. Some lite bulbs are different from other bulbs, why?

Connect a second light in series to the first one. Use the blue wire to connect the two

lights. One lead from the Gencon is attached to one light and the other one is attached to

the other light. Turn the crank at the same rate as you did in part a. What happens?

(Is current going thru the unlit bulb? Try unscrewing the unlit bulb and see if what happens to the lite bulb.)

Turn a little harder. Are both light bulbs the same? Why?

Now wrap the wire loosely around your index finger, attach it to the generator and have your partner turn the crank. Do you feel the heat? Explain what happens.

c. Explain what a compass does.

Wind the compass with the blue wire so that the wire is aligned with the north/south needle of the compass. Attach the leads of the Gencon to each end of the blue wire.

Crank the Gencon. What happens?

Crank the Gencon in the opposite direction. What happens?

What phenomenon is happening here?

d. Battle of the generators.

 

This experiment is conducted using two Gencons, so two groups must work together on

this part. Connect the two leads of the Gencon, pink to pink and clear to clear. One

person turns the crank of one Gencon. Another person holds grip of the other Gencon so

that its crank is free to move. What happens?

What device does the second Gencon remind you of?

Switch the leads so that a pink lead is attached to a clear lead for each wire. Crank the Gencon. What happens? What is different from the first try?

 

e. Storing energy in a capacitor.

Connect a 1 F capacitor to the Genecon, turn the crank a while, then release the handle and see what happens!