Year 10 Science Club

Last Monday, our wonderful Year 10 physicists investigated the effect of using different types of water on the brightness of LED lights. They first placed a small volume of water inside a plastic container and put some aluminium foil on the sides. They attached two crocodile clips with wires to the foil and connected the wires to the power supply. Next, they placed a fixed number of LED lights inside the container and turned on the power supply.

LEDs are quite special in that they only allow current to flow in one direction. This explains why the LEDs kept turning on and off when they were spinning in the water. They repeated the experiment with salt water and noticed that the LED lights were brighter. This is because salt water contains more ions (charged particles) than tap water and therefore is a better electrical conductor. This activity enabled pupils to reinforce their understanding of circuits and variables. 

A massive thank you to Roberto for his help!