Insulators and Conductors

Insulators and Conductors

Our bodies can conduct electricity, especially when they are wet. Never touch plugs, points or light switches with wet hands. A conductor will allow elecricity to pass through it. We use conductors to take electricity to where it is needed. We use insulators to prevent   from reaching places where it could be dangerous. Electricians, like the one pictured here, wear rubber boots to protect themselves from electric shocks. Metal wires conducting electricity are insulated with rubber or plastic to make them safe. Conduct your way through a maze, using insulators and conductors as your guides.

 

AMAZING

Insulators and Conductors 01

Take a piece of thick board and cut out a piece of aluminium foil of the same size. Cover this with sticky-backed plastic.
 

Insulators and Conductors 02

Design your maze on the board, and cut out strips of plastic-covered foil to fit the paths. Stick them down making sure that your "pathway" is the last to go on.
 

Insulators and Conductors 03

Before you stick the final part of your "pathway" down, make a hole near the edge of the board and insert the end of some insulated wire.
 

Insulators and Conductors 04

Attach this wire to one terminal of a battery. To the other terminal, attach more wire with a bulb holder in the middle. Connect the other e to a nail.      
 

 Why It Works

The aluminium foil conducts electricity and allows the circuit to be completed. The bulb glows. But when the nail touches the plastic covering in the maze, the bulb goes out. Plastic is an insulator. A substance that conducts electricity must contain charged particles that are free to move around. These free electrons pass on the current. The electrons in the plastic cannot move.
 

Bright Ideas

• Build a simple circuit leaving a gap between two wires. Collect a variety of materials and test each in the gap. Ensure that contact is made with the material by each of the bared wires. Which one makes the bulb light up? Record your results. Make separate lists. Which materials are insulators, which are conductors? Do some materials conduct electricity better than others? How can you tell?
• Look at objects around you, such as tools and electrical equipment - which have insulating material on them? Why is it necessary to insulate objects like this?

Insulators and Conductors

05. Find your way through the maze by watching the bulb. If it goes out, try another route.