Electric Energy

by
Karen Waterman

Introduction
Suppose that it is a hot summer night and there are big thunder clouds in the sky. The wind begins to blow. Suddenly there is a flash of lightning and a loud clap of thunder. The lights go off. What happens at your house when the electricity goes off? How many things will no longer operate? Can you play your favorite games, watch TV, cook, use the computer, keep warm, or tell time? What do you know about electricity? Have we always had the use of electricity? Are there other forms of energy that we can use?

The Task
You will be finding out about energy in the 1740s and compare that with the use of energy in the 1990s. To do this you will use internet web sites to discover information about electricity.

• You will find out what happened when Ben Franklin flew a kite in a thunderstorm.
• You will discover what homes were like in the 1740s. What kinds of energy did they have?
• You will create dioramas of a home in the 1740s and a home in the 1990s.
• You will use magazines to find pictures of things that need electricity to operate.

Resources

Internet sites

Magazines

Encyclopedia

The Process

1. Go to web site Poor Richard's Energy Almanac and read the information.
   (http://www.energy.ca.gov/education/ben/ben-html/benfranklin.html)
2. With a partner, you will do one of the following:
   • You are a child living in 1740. Tell how homes were heated, and how you cooked your food.
   • You are a housewife in l740. What would you have to do to get your family's clothes clean?
   • You are the man of the house. Tell how you would light your home in 1740.
   • You are a child of today. Make a list of as many things as you can that use electrical energy.
   • You are a business man. Tell how energy can be made.
   • You are a conservationist. Tell us how we can save energy.

Assessment
Now you will be the teacher!
You will share with the class what you have found out. It will be important to have your ideas written down in sentence form so you don’t forget any important parts. Each person will need to participate in this report. We will talk about the differences between l740 and now.

Make a diarama of either l740 or 1999 showing the kinds of energy used.

Conclusion
When you have finished this work, you will have learned that electric energy is very important to us for all the things we do. It is also important that we learn to conserve whenever we can.

Other sites to visit to learn more about energy:

• The Energy Tree
  http://www.oneworld.org/energy/
  This site is a little harder to read, but you would learn a lot.
• Energy Quiz
  http://www.energy.ca.gov/education/index.html
  This site has a lot of things to do - games, puzzles, etc.