Electric Charge

Projects are a great way to get students out of textbooks and into real life. They learn how the knowledge they’ve acquired can be applied to the real world problems. It teaches you interpersonal skills like how to present, research or how to advocate for your own ideas in a research setting.

Grade 8 students learnt about Electric Charges and they were given a project to prepare an Electroscope. The electroscope was the first electrical measuring instrument. The first electroscope was pivoted needle (called the versorium), invented by British physician William Gilbert in the year 1600.

The working principle of an electroscope is based on the atomic structure of elements, charge induction, the internal structure of metal elements and the idea that like charges repel each other while unlike charges attract each other. An Electroscope is an instrument used to detect and measure charge and to find out the nature of charge.

An electroscope is made up of a metal detector knob on top which is connected to a pair of metal leaves hanging from the bottom of the connecting rod. When no charge is present the metals leaves hang loosely downward.

The students performed the activity positively and the level of enthusiasm and energy can be witnessed in the below videos.

By,

Middle School