What

Museum Staff-led

When

Terms 3 to 4, Monday to Friday

Duration

30 minutes

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Curriculum links & Accessibility & Access Fund

Year level

Years 5 to 8

Minmum student numbers

Minimum 15 students

Maximum student numbers

Maximum 118 students

Cost

$9 per student + education service fee

Booking information

Bookings 13 11 02

School visit information

Find out about static electricity, conductors and insulators and electric circuits in this curriculum-aligned Lightning Theatre show.

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.

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.

Students will experience

• Hair-raising encounters with static electricity
• Electric circuits that can be completed in unexpected ways
• Turning a pickled onion into a lightbulb
• Spectacular sparks from one of the biggest Jacob’s Ladders in Australia
• A awe-inspiring demonstration of live lightning strikes, with safety strategies to use in lightning storms

Students will learn

• There are two types of electricity; static and current electricity
• Static electricity comes from a buildup of charge and can be caused by rubbing, and that lightning is an example of static electricity
• Current electricity flows through circuits and powers most of our electrical devices
• Conductors are materials that electricity can flow through easily, and insulators are materials that are harder for electricity to flow through
• Humans and metals are good conductors, while wood, plastic and air are poor conductors
• When electricity travels through different things, it can produce light
• Which places are safe and unsafe to be in during a lightning storm, and why

Other key information

• Students with pacemakers or cochlear implants can attend this program safely, however they may be asked not to volunteer for certain demonstrations.

Victorian Curriculum links

Science: Levels 5 and 6

Physical sciences

light can be produced from many sources; light travels in a straight path, can form shadows, and can be absorbed, transmitted, reflected or refracted by objects
VC2S6U08

materials may be electrical insulators or conductors; energy can be transferred and transformed in electrical circuits where the components of a circuit play particular roles in the function of the circuit
VC2S6U09

Science: Levels 7 and 8

Physical sciences

energy exists in different forms, including thermal, chemical, gravitational and elastic, and may be classified as kinetic or potential; energy transfers (conduction, convection and radiation) and transformations occur in simple systems and can be analysed in terms of energy efficiency
VC2S8U15

electrical circuits transfer energy when current flows and can be designed for diverse purposes using different components; the operation of circuits can be explained using the concepts of voltage and current
VC2S8U17