Electrical energy, safety and lightning

This 40-minute presentation is set in our purpose-built high voltage laboratory/theatre, which features equipment unique to Scienceworks. It demonstrates energy transfers and transformations involving electricity.

Find out about static electricity, conductors and insulators, electric circuits, fuses and safety switches. Highlights include a hair-raising encounter with a Van de Graaff generator, making light with a pickled onion and the biggest Jacob's Ladder display in the country.

The show finishes with a spectacular demonstration of lightning strikes and tips for safety strategies in lightning storms.

Curriculum links

• Level 2–6 - Science as a Human Endeavour
• Level 5–6 - Physical Science
• Level 2–6 - Questioning and Predicting