Are you a Conductor?

No. I'm not talking about a train conductor. I'm talking about a conductor of electricity, and this is the experiment I'm going to do today. Let's get started.

List of Supplies:

• AA battery
• Strip of foil (thickness doesn't matter)
• Clothespins (wooden or plastic doesn't matter)
• Multimeter*
• Lemon
• 1.5V light bulb
• Leaf
• Yarn
• Paper Towel
• Anything you have around the house, you can use to test the conductivity of electricity.

Fold a strip of foil and fold it a couple of times (this one in the picture is tri-folded) then tape the strips of foil to the both ends.

Wrap the strips of foil around the ends of the multi-meter probes and clip them in place with a couple of clothespins. AA battery should carry 1.5V right out of the package, and this one is close at 1.45V.

Just for fun, we clipped the strips of foil on the metal ends of the 1.5V light bulb housing. But if you can't find these easily, you can just wrap the foil around the bottom of the bulb, and clip them in place, it'll work just fine.

Another view, just for a better look.

I was initially trying to use the light bulb test for conductivity, but some voltages were so low that it wouldn't light up the bulb. So, I chose to use multi-meter to read the low voltages.

Clip one end of the probe to a foil strip then clip the other end of the foil strip from the other side of the battery to the whatever material you're going to test for conductivity. 

As the multi-meter shows, a piece of yarn is NOT conductive.

As the multi-meter shows, a leaf is low in conductivity. No wonder, a leaf couldn't light up a bulb. The bulb needed 1.5V and the leaf only carried 0.38V. That's a huge gap.

As the multi-meter shows, a piece of paper towel is NOT conductive.

Now, look at this! 

The multi-meter shows that a piece of lemon INCREASED the voltage 

from 1.45V to 1.81V.

As the multi-meter shows, the plastic parts of the clothespin are NOT conductive.

Notes on multimeter:

You can purchase one from Harbor Freight for $5.99, but if you have one of their coupons, you can get it for Free. If you don't have a Harbor Freight nearby, you can purchase one from Home Depot for less than $10.00 (I've seen it as low as $6.99).

Science Notes:

• As you test the materials you find around the house, you will notice that some of the materials will let electricity pass through them, and the multi-meter will show that on its screen or the light bulb will turn on.
• The materials that let electricity pass through them are called conductors.
• The materials that won't let electricity pass through them are called insulators (all the materials that read 0.00 on the multi-meter.
• Living things are good conductors as well as wire, metal and water.
• Non-living things such as plastic, rubber and paper are good insulators.

Question:

Why should you not swim or play outside during a thunderstorm?

Answer:

Lightning is an awesome and powerful form of natural electricity. And you are a living thing. That means you are a good conductor, and lightning could kill you.

Well, I hope you had fun and learned something new.

Have a great day.