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THE PHYSICAL EDITION

Wires and Switches

Vince’s little lamp shines, goes dark, and shines again as he changes one connection. Compare a dry wooden bridge with foil, then see a movable metal contact become a switch for his block street.

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Explore the science

Preparing a battery-and-lamp circuitPages 1–2

Vince points to his wooden street while an adult brings the parts on a tray. The two free clips are apart and the lamp is dark. The battery supplies energy, but the lamp needs a complete conducting path through its two contacts. The prepared set leaves one gap for Vince to join.

Ask together: What do you notice about the two clips on the tray?

Completing the pathPages 3–4

The red and yellow metal jaws touch, and the small lamp shines. The wires lead from the battery through the lamp and back. With working matched parts, joining the metal contacts completes this single conducting path. Electric current itself is invisible; the light is an observable result.

Ask together: Where do the red and yellow clips meet?

Every connection in a single path mattersPages 5–6

Vince lifts the black return clip from the battery holder, then reconnects it. The lamp is dark, then bright, while the red and yellow clips stay joined. A break elsewhere in this same path also stops current through the lamp. Restoring that connection completes the path again.

Ask together: Which connection changes between these two pictures?

Physical contact is not enoughPages 7–8

The clips grip opposite ends of a dry wooden stick. The metal jaws are separated, and the lamp remains dark. The stick bridges the physical gap, but this dry wood does not carry enough current to light the lamp. The rest of the circuit remains connected.

Ask together: What is between the two metal jaws now?

Comparing conducting materialsPages 9–10

A strip of foil takes the wood’s place between the separated clips, and the lamp shines. The wooden stick rests beside Duck. Clean aluminum foil provides a conducting connection here. Comparing the same apparatus helps distinguish the material change from a loose connection elsewhere.

Ask together: What changed, and what stayed the same?

A movable contactPages 11–12

Vince finds a foil clip fiddly. An adult helps with a metal arm on a card; one end stays at a pivot and the other can move toward a second contact. The arm can open or close the existing path without repeatedly joining the two loose clips. The lamp remains part of the circuit.

Ask together: Which end of the metal arm stays attached?

Using a switchPages 13–14

The arm touches the second contact and the street’s lamp shines. With the arm turned away, the lamp is dark. A switch controls whether this path is complete. It does not create electricity; the battery still supplies the energy.

Ask together: What changes at the far end of the metal arm?

Sources and evidence

  1. In the pictured low-voltage battery circuit, closing the final conductive connection through the correctly rated working lamp lets it light.

    Which Materials are the Best Conductors?

    Circuit Workbench — Exploratorium Teacher Institute

    Use adult-prepared, low-voltage educational parts that match. Loose contacts, weak cells or a faulty lamp can keep an apparently joined circuit dark.

  2. Opening a different point of that single path also extinguishes the lamp; the lamp needs the entire connected path.

    Which Materials are the Best Conductors?

    The different-gap comparison concerns the single unbranched path shown. A circuit with another available path can behave differently.

  3. A dry plain wooden craft stick between separated clip jaws does not light this lamp, while clean aluminum foil bridging those same jaws can.

    Which Materials are the Best Conductors?

    Make a Simple Circuit — Energizer

    Metals — They’re Electrifying! — American Chemical Society

    The comparison uses dry plain wood and clean aluminum foil. Moisture, coatings and contact quality can change results; appearance alone does not establish conductivity.

  4. A movable metal connection can serve as a switch: contact closes the path; separation opens it.

    Make a Simple Circuit — Energizer

    Making a Switch — University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension

    The metal arm must stay in conducting contact at its pivot and actually touch the second contact when closed. An adult prepares and checks the small parts and sharp ends.

  5. The battery supplies energy; the lamp transfers electrical energy to light and heat, while current is not consumed as material inside the bulb.

    Circuit Workbench — Exploratorium Teacher Institute

    The battery supplies energy transferred by the lamp to light and heat. Electric current is invisible and is not a substance consumed by the lamp. The energy explanation is in the grown-up guide.

Water and Wind

Water and Wind, pages 1–2: Wind moves the pinwheel.

Spread 1 / 12

Wind tickles my cheek. Round goes my pinwheel.

Explore the science

Wind & forcesPages 1–2

Wind moves the pinwheel. Wind is moving air. Vince feels it on his cheek and sees it push the pinwheel's angled blades.

Ask together: What tells you that the air is moving?

Currents & eddiesPages 3–4

Water passes the rock. A leaf circles behind it. Most water passes the rock; some circles back in an eddy. Laminar flow is orderly; turbulence is irregular, mixing motion. A swirl alone cannot distinguish them.

Ask together: How does the leaf move compared with the water passing the rock?

Waves & energyPages 5–6

Waves spread from the stream. The duck bobs. The falling stream makes waves that carry energy outward and make the toys bob. The stream's current also carries toys along. Bobbing and drifting are different motions.

Ask together: What moves up and down? What moves along the pond?

BuoyancyPages 7–8

A duck floats. A pebble sinks. Water pushes upward on both objects. This buoyancy balances the duck's weight, but not the pebble's. The pebble's splash makes the rings on the next spread.

Ask together: Where is each object compared with the surface?

When waves meetPages 9–10

Two wave patterns approach one another. When gentle waves overlap, their heights add, briefly raising or lowering the surface. This interference does not erase the waves; they continue through one another.

Ask together: What might happen where the two patterns meet?

Surface tensionPages 11–12

Tiny dents appear beneath the strider’s legs. Surface tension helps support the strider where its water-repellent legs dent the water. The duck floats mainly by displacing water.

Ask together: What do you notice where its legs meet the water?

Suction & pressurePages 13–14

The duck bubbles, fills and squirts. Squeeze underwater: air bubbles out. Release with the opening submerged: the elastic duck springs back, lowering pressure inside. The surrounding water pressure pushes water in. Squeeze above water: water exits through that same opening.

Ask together: What changes when Vince squeezes and then lets go?

Lift & gravityPages 15–16

A paper plane glides forward and down. The throw starts the plane moving. Airflow around its wings produces lift and turns air downward. Gravity pulls down; drag resists motion. In still air, the plane glides forward and gradually descends.

Ask together: Where might the plane go next?

ViscosityPages 17–18

Milk runs. Honey stretches into a thread. Honey's greater viscosity means greater resistance to flow. It makes a slow thread while milk runs readily. Temperature and pouring method also matter; this snack is an observation, not a controlled test.

Ask together: How do the milk and honey move differently?

Draining & swirlingPages 19–20

Foam curves inward toward the drain. Gravity drives water through the drain. Existing turning motion can become a curved inward flow, traced by foam. Here water travels to the outlet, unlike waves crossing the pond. Not every drain swirls.

Ask together: Can you follow the foam toward the drain?

Scientific observationPages 21–22

Vince sketches what he noticed. Vince records something he noticed. Drawings, marks or words let him return to an observation. He does not need all the answers.

Ask together: Which earlier picture matches one of his drawings?

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