🔌 I8 Motors & Circuits

Gizmo Inventors’ Fair is in two weeks. Every invention must use electricity to do something useful. Plug in!

Inventors, Intermediate. Engineer Stamp: Circuit Champion.

Lessons

1. The spinning radar: Radar dishes spin slowly all day. How do we slow down a fast motor?
2. The oscillating fan: How does a fan look left and right while it spins?
3. Circuit lab: A circuit is a loop. What happens if the loop is broken?
4. The twin-piston engine: Car engines turn up-and-down into round-and-round. Here, a motor shows it in reverse!
5. Design Day: Pet helper invention: The Inventors’ Fair judges love pets. What would YOUR pet want?
6. Showcase: Gizmo Inventors’ Fair: Stalls, demos and a 30-second pitch. Judges go round with score cards.

Design challenge

Invent a motorised machine that helps a pet: a feeder, a fan, a toy or a ball launcher.

Engineering ideas

• Electric Circuits
• Switching Direction
• Mounting a Motor
• Plugging In: Power Functions

Standards: 4-PS3-2, 4-PS3-4