What

Museum Staff-led

When

Terms 1 to 4, Monday to Friday

Duration

30 minutes in the Lightning Theatre

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Curriculum links & Accessibility

Year level

Years 7 to 10

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

Discover how we create and use electricity in this spectacular live physics show in the high voltage Lightning Theatre. This curriculum-aligned program for secondary school students explores the relationships between electricity, magnets and movement and how they are applied in devices such as generators, electromagnets and electric motors.

Students will experience

• Demonstrations that show how moving a magnet near a metal coil can generate electricity
• Large props that show the dynamo that’s inside every-day items like drills and blenders
• Hands-on demonstrations with volunteers, showing the surprising ways that we can make temporary magnets using electricity
• Spectacular two-million-volt lightning bolts, created by a gigantic Tesla coil

Students will learn

• How movement energy can be used to create electrical energy
• How magnets, movement, metal coils and electricity interplay to create motors, generators and electromagnets which are used in everyday devices
• That coal, wind or water can be used to spin a turbine and generate electricity
• That electrical energy can be turned into movement and sound in motors and speakers
• That electromagnets can be turned off and on

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 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

Science: Levels 9 and 10

Physical sciences

• electricity can be generated as alternating current (AC) using magnets (via turbines turned by wind, water, tides or steam that is generated by the combustion of oil, gas or coal or by nuclear energy) or as direct current (DC) using photovoltaic cells or batteries
  VC2S10U16