An Electrifying Action Project!

This is the second unit of the final Junior STEAM class "Urban Planning." In this unit "Power" we learned about what it takes to power a city. We traveled back in time and learned about the "Current War" between Tesla and Edison at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. We learned the differences between alternating current and direct current. These are the 2 ways electricity travels. Tesla discovered AC and Edison discovered DC. The competition was to see who could light up the world's fair most effectively. We also learned about the fundamentals of electricity: Volts, Amps, Watts, Ohms, etc. We learned how to draw circuit diagrams and learned how to calculate current, power, voltage, ohms, and resistance. For an FE this unit, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. This was a 2 part FE. One reason we went to the MSI is because of its location in Jackson Park where the World's Fair took place. The MSI building is the only surviving building from the World's Fair. We are reading "Devil in The White City" which is about the World's Fair. We were able to visit the real locations we were reading about in the book. We also went to see the Tesla Coil fire and different exhibits on electricity. We also went to a maker lab where we made our own simple circuits we could wear, in the form of a light up snap bracelet. For this project, we were partnered up to create a circuit. We had to create a circuit with a certain amount of resistors and switches. Then, we had to make a cover and have each resistor represent an eco-friendly appliance to create an eco-friendly house out of our circuit. We had to calculate the voltage and resistance of our circuit, as well as the current going through each branch. My partner for this project was JN. You can view his blog by clicking on his initials.

In conclusion, this was a fun yet frustrating project. I was very happy with how well JN and I worked together. We were able to split up the work nicely and pretty much be ahead of the game throughout the whole process. Still, it was hard to create a fully functioning circuit and find 5 eco-friendly appliances and find out how much money or energy they would save. I am most proud of how our circuit cover came out. We created little paper appliances which turned out adorable. I really think we couldn't have done this project better!