Sunday, September 12, 2010

Blog 3: Energy Balls. No seriously energy balls.

On Friday at Physics we played with energy balls. Imported from China.
Wow I don't have to make a stupid joke for once for me to think the blog is interesting enough for me to not stop reading after 5 seconds!
This is what I expected. Obviously, I was severely disappointed.

They were ping pong balls with circuit stuff inside, so whenever we created a complete circuit, such as by putting two fingers of the same hand on the metal strips on the ball, the ball would light up and make weird UFO sounds.
Then of course the fun goes bye bye and we have to answer questions. About PHYSICS. Why do we have to answer academic questions about physics in physics class? Isn't it completely ridiculous?

Q1: Can you make the energy ball work? What do you think makes the energy ball hum?
A: Yes, by putting our fingers on both strips of metal. As our fingers touch the ends of the circuit, our bodies/hands create a complete circuit.

Q2: Why do you have to touch both metal contacts to make the ball work?
A: The electrons travelling in the energy ball through us requires one path to travel in and one path to travel out, and will cease to work if there are less then two paths to travel.

Q3: Will the ball light up if you connect the contacts with any material?
A: No, as some materials do not conduct electricity. Only conductors will work.

Q4: Which materials will make the energy ball work? Test your hypothesis.
A: Conducting materials, such as metal, will work. We tried this out with a metal ball, and it succeeded.

Q5: This ball does not work on certain individuals. What could cause this to happen?
A: Since the ball works by having its electrons become attracted to the protons of outside material, I guess that someone who's been negatively charged, like if they were rubbing against wool surfaces, they wouldn't be able to attract the electrons and unable to make the circuit work.

Q6: Can you make the ball work with all 5-6 individuals in your group? Will it work with the entire class?
A: Yes, as long as it is a complete circuit, the ball will light up. However it would be more risky for the circuit to fail as more people are added to the circuit, making the path more likely to break.

Q7: What kind of circuit can you form with the energy ball?
A: We can make a Direct Current (DC).

Q8: Given two balls (combine two groups), can you create a circuit where both balls light up?
A: Yes, by having one person hold two balls with their metal strips touching each others' while the other strips are touched by the person's fingers of separate hands.
Wow that is probably the most ridiculous sounding sentence I will ever write in this blog, huh?

Q9: What do you think will happen if one person lets go of the other person's hand and why?
A: Well, Mr. Question Nine, in my solution to the question above, it only required one person, and therefore there is no other person's hand to let go of. However, if you bow down at my feet and swear eternal loyalty as my slave, I may think about answering your question hypothetically.
Call now and receive our free monocle and Persian cat!

Now that Question Number Nine is my eternal slave number 99, I shall answer this question as if I had two people hold each balls on either side with one finger on each metal strip. Oh wait that still requires no hand holding. I'm confused as how you wanted me to solve this problem now. Did you want me to say "The balls will stop lighting up as the circuit would not be complete any longer" or something? Or did you want me to have three people with one person using each hands' fingers to touch one part of the metal strip while the other two hold hands and touch the other metal strips with one hand? Why would I want to do that? I already solved it in the same idea with one person.

Q10: Does it matter who lets go? Try it.
A: Did you want a parallel circuit? Maybe you should have been clearer. Mr. Questions, I'm starting to think you're making fun of me.

Q11: Can you create a circuit where only one ball lights? (Both balls must be included in the circuit)
A: Ok now you're just purposely annoying me. Yes I can make a circuit where only one ball lights, thank you very much. I already told that to Mr. Question Nine up there. Also, you should stop giving me orders, you fool, I am your future overlord. You do not want to mess with Lord Jessica.

Q12: What is the minimum amount of people required to complete this?
A: Do you want me to punch you? Because I am SERIOUSLY wanting to punch you right now. Two, ok? For the holy mother of god it's two people. Each person with one finger on each metal strip of one ball and when you want to switch one off you just have one person let go of one of the metal strips. Now go away, I want to go on facebook to collect more slaves.

Q13: What is the difference between a parallel circuit and a series circuit?
A: WHAT DID I JUST SAY. GOD. You PEOPLE. A series circuit has one path for the current flow and therefore if any part of the path is blocked in some way, such as a broken wire, the circuit seizes to work. A parallel circuit has two or more paths for the current flow, so therefore the flow may continue even if one of the paths are blocked.

Now go away, I need to plot your doom-I mean sleep.
Yeah. Sleep.
Cough.

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