Vicphysics
Menu

Electricity

Work in Progress: Resources are to be added and grouped.

The resources for Electricity are grouped by topic and then by the type.

Below the table are resources that cover several of the topics and across different types.

TopicResources
Electric Field, Coulomb’s LawYes ( , )
Electric current
Electronics
Bioelectricity

In-Depth Resources: Websites with a resources across topics

Electric Fields Complete Tool Kit – The Physics Classroom

This Physics Classroom Teacher Tool kit features background readings, interactive simulations with worksheets, Videos and animations, educational research on students’ understanding, practical activities including experiments and demonstrations, interactive question modules, problem solving exercises, common misconceptions as well as other links.

Coulomb’s Law Complete Tool Kit – The Physics Classroom

This Physics Classroom Teacher Tool kit has the same categories as the Tool Kit for Electric Fields above, but the content is specific to Coulomb’s Law.

Teaching Advanced Physics: Fields

‘Teaching Advanced Physics’ is a UK resource for teachers new to teaching physics. It assumes only a limited access to equipment, resources, and advice from experienced colleagues. The section on Fields covers Gravitational and Electrical Fields and Electromagnetism. It consists of 16 episodes, each of which is for one or two 60 min lessons. Content of each episode is a lesson plan with a description of the content covered, with points to emphasise in discussion, along with activity or question sheets for the students.

Fields resources from Perimeter Institute

This is an inquiry-based educational resource focused on establishing the reality of electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields. The video features researchers discussing the central role that fields play in modern physics. Activities begin with an exploration of the nature of fields and the models that describe them. Students develop a physical model for electric fields and then test it using LEDs. They construct mathematical models that describe electric and magnetic fields and compare these to Maxwell’s equations. Students further explore the reality of fields as they investigate how auroras form. The nature of the gravitational field—as understood by Einstein—is applied to the orbit of Mercury to provide a model for orbital precession. The final activity is a design challenge that introduces students to magnetohydrodynamic propulsion.

Electric Field: Context

Fields, Force, Energy and Potential: alternative conceptions, analogies and learning. ppt

A presentation by Prof Richard Gunstone, Monash University

High school students’ representations and understandings of electric fields

An article in Physical Review Physics Education Research by Ying Cao and Bárbara M. Brizuela, published in July 2016

Electric Field: Activities

Electric fields: Practical activities 52.2 kB doc

Three experiments: i) Coulomb’s Law, ii) Electric field and Potential with teledeltos paper, iii) Electric Field and Potential in a straight wire. Prepared by Vicphysics Teachers’ Network.

Coulomb’s Law Expt: Quick and Simple 80.4 kB doc

A class experiment to measure the value of the exponent of r in Coulomb’s Law and the quantity of charge on a charged rod. The experiment uses a top loading balance, a laboratory jack and a charged rod. Prepared by Vicphysics Teachers’ Network.

Spreadsheet templates for the Coulomb’s Law Expt: Quick and Simple 28.7 kB xls

Templates for Coulomb’s Law expt (quick and simple). Includes i)the basic experiment, ii) the decay of the charge on the rod and iii) advanced experiment using the adjusted readings using the half life. Prepared by Vicphysics Teachers’ Network.

At the 2020 Physics Teachers’ Conference, Dr Barbara McKinnon from Kew High School presented a workshop titled ‘Practical Activities for Teaching U3 AOS 1 Fields’. Dr McKinnon provided several documents, these are listed below.

Electric Field: Assessment

Assessment Task: Operation of a Device for Fields Area of Study 49.2 kB doc
Assessment Task: Explanation of a Phenomenon for Fields Area of Study 49.2 kB doc
Revision Problems for Coulomb’s Law and Electric Fields 212 kB docx

30 Questions from Physics exams in the 1970’s. Answers included. Compiled by Colin Hopkins.

Electric Field: Websites and Applets

Accelerators and Beams: Tools of Discovery and Innovation

A 28 page pdf produced by the American Physical Society.

Benjamin Franklin and Electrostatics

Ben Franklin as my Lab Partner: This unique resource integrates the scientific work of Ben Franklin with lab procedures for replicating historic experiments in secondary classrooms. Writings and historical observations are woven into lab descriptions to give students a better insight into Franklin’s work. Videos of some of the experiments are also provided. This introductory section describes the history of Franklin’s work, and provides details of the equipment that will be used for the entire unit. From the AAPT webpage, The Physics Front.

Electric field of charge configurations

This applet is by Paul Falstad. It demonstrates static electric fields and steady currents in 2D for a range of configurations from a single charge to dipoles, quadrapoles, as well as planes. The mouse can be used for a range of movements.

Electric Field Applet from Caltech

This applet allows the user to set up a distribution of charges, upon which the applet will show the electric potential, electric field lines, and equipotential lines. In addition, the electric force will be observed through real time interaction of charges.

Electric Field Applet by Surendranath

Applet shows electric field lines due to charges. Initially the two charges are equal and equal number of lines of force are drawn from them. The ratio of charges can be varied by increasing the charge on the right

Electric Current: Context

Unit 1 Youtube videos 147 kB pdf

A file produced by Yibo Zhao from the Distance Education Centre for Year 11 students doing Unit 1. It contains a weekly program of content and supporting Youtube videos with active links, many of which Yibo produced himself.

Understanding Electricity and Circuits: What the textbooks don’t tell you. 206 kB pdf

A 12 page article by Ian Sefton of the University of Sydney. Highly recommended.

The Smarties model for electric circuits 72.7 kB doc

10 page article on ‘Some models for developing beginning students’ understanding of Electric Circuits’. Presented by Dr Christina Hart at the 2007 and 2008 Physics Teachers Conferences.

Circuit Models 159 kB doc

3 page article on ‘Models for DC Circuits’. Presented by Dr Christina Hart at the 2011 Physics Teachers Conference.

Models for Electric Circuits 1.76 MB ppt

The PowerPoint file from the presentation by Dr Christina Hart at the 2011 Physics Teachers Conference.

Are we teaching electricity the wrong way round?

A useful article by ABC science journalist Bernie Hobbs on the ABC website.

The Big Misconception about Electricity

A Veritasium video by Derek Muller in which he discussed a thought experiment.  Imagine a DC circuit with a battery, a switch, a globe and very long wires, so that wire from the switch went out half a light-second before coming back to the globe.  Another wire from the globe went out half a light-second in the other direction before coming back to the battery.  The outgoing and returning wires were 1 metre apart. The video generated controversy in some quarters. See follow up below.

Follow up Video to The Big Misconception about Electricity

Derek addresses some of comments of those who challenged his explanation.  The video also includes a construction of a circuit to test the explanation.

Circuit energy does not FLOW the way you THINK!

A video by The Science Asylum. There are lots of complimentary comments in the chat.

Articles about Electricity by William Beaty

William Beaty has written over 30 articles on diverse topics such as ‘Why three prongs’ and ‘How batteries create voltage’.

Putting Potential at the core of Teaching Electric Circuits

This article from ‘The Physics Teacher’ describes new curricular resources with accompanying computer simulations that put potential at the centre of circuit instruction. This new approach builds on students’ everyday experiences and takes common student alternate perceptions into account.

Electric Current: Activities

Electric Circuits and Magnets 478 kB

A workbook of practical activities as well as notes on constructing a simple DC motor with a teacher’s guide of equipment needs and suggested answers.

Electronics Workbook 993 kB (Middle)

Contains activities on electronic components and simple circuits as well as notes on constructing a simple DC motor. A Teacher’s Guide is include in the back with equipment notes and suggested answers.

Electricity Workbook 1.6 MB doc (Senior)

A workbook of electricity practical activities that can be done as a self paced activity over about four weeks. It also includes a very old article on solar cells with questions and answers. (A 30 page Word document).

Electric Circuits Prac 12.5 kB pdf (Senior)

Prac sheet by Spiros Liacos from Cheltenham Secondary College

Electric Circuits Prac – Extension Activities 15.7 kB pdf (Senior)

Prac sheet by Spiros Liacos from Cheltenham Secondary College

Electrophorus Experiment 268kB pdf (Senior)
Electrophorus Experiment with answers 987kB pdf (Senior)
Conceptual Understanding Procedures (Middle)

A set of exercises on several physics topics produced by Monash University. Check student worksheets for examples for electric circuits.

A level Activities on Electric Circuits (Senior)

STEM Learning is a UK-based comprehensive curriculum resource. It has several resources for each of 17 Physics topics including this one on Current and EMF. They are for the UK A level course, but most resources are suitable for this Area of Study. Another of the topics is DC Circuits and Capacitors, which series and parallel and potential dividersthis is an anchor.

Practical Physics, The IOP website (Senior)

This website has a page on ‘Electric Circuits and Fields’, which has 16 collections of activities and advice under 14 different headings

Electric Current: Useful Websites

Applets showing models of electric current (Senior)

The website has two applets using water flow as an analogy and two using flow of charge. They were prepared by Lisa Murphy from the University of Illinois.

Lightning Investigation and Analysis (Senior)

Lightning is one of nature’s most spectacular phenomenon. Tom Warner seeks to document lightning’s beauty, power, and ferocity using an array of optical and electromagnetic sensors in hopes of better understanding its behavior. Since 2007, he has used high-speed cameras capable of recording lightning at up to 100,000 images per second. These cameras enable us to see lightning like never before as we can clearly watch lightning propagate downward from the clouds or upward from tall objects. The website features Investigations, Projects and a Gallery.

Kirchhoff’s Revenge (Senior)

An Adventure Game. “Kirchhoff is annoyed because nobody appreciates his circuit laws! You get transported to his secret lair and won’t be able to get out until you show appreciation!” There are eight levels and it is available in both Mac and Windows versions.

Electronics: Context

Summary Notes for AC to DC regulated power supply 627 kB docx (Senior)

Summary of the content prepared by Dr Murray Anderson, Camberwell Grammar School.

Transistorized! (Senior)

The web site covers the first 50 years of the history of the transistor. It also has a teachers’ section, The site is prepared by the US Public Broadcasting Service and the American Institute of Physics.

The physics of mobile phones A Yale University site on ‘The Physics of Cell Phones’. It includes several sections including lesson plans and teacher resources. (Senior)

Electronics: Activities

Prac Manual for AC to DC regulated power supply 1.98 MB docx (Senior)

5 pages of practical activities with spaces for students responses. The material was prepared by Dr Murray Anderson, Camberwell Grammar School.

Workbook of Experiments for Electronics and Photonics 272 kB (Senior)

A workbook of 6 experiments for Electronics and photonics. The file is in Word.

Experiments for Electronics and Photonics 254 kB (Senior)

A set of 8 experiments prepared by Rachael Barker and Jill Detez from MLC. The file is a docx for easy adaptation.

Electronics and Photonics Revision Sheet 261 kB A set of problems developed by Kai Dettbarn of Gippsland Grammar School (Senior)
Worksheets for Unit 3 Electronics and photonics 315 kB Worksheets for experiments for Unit 3 Electronics and photonics. (Senior)
Transistor amplifier support notes 265 kB (Senior)

Detailed (7p) explanatory notes prepared by Dr Peter Wells, Monash University for teachers.

Investigating the Transistor 411 kB Prac and support notes for the Transistor Amplifier Kit with diagrams. (Senior)
LED Exercise 102 kB (Senior)

A Word document to investigate the LED with questions and comments.

Transistor Amplifier 45.1 kB (Senior)

A Word document explaining the operation of the transistor amplifier with some questions and answers.

LED and Amplifier Exercise 107 kB A Word document of follow up exercises to the documents above. (Senior)
Transistor amplifier 819 kB Brief explanatory notes. (Senior)
DC and AC circuits 73.7 kB DC and AC circuits of the transistor amplifier (for teachers). (Senior)
Class notes on capacitors 47.1 kB (Senior)

Class notes and graphs explaining the charging and discharging of a capacitor.

Electronics: Assessment

Assessment Task for AC to DC regulated power supply 89.6 kB doc Task written by Dr Murray Anderson, Camberwell Grammar School. (Senior)

Bioelectricity: Context

Teaching Human Bioelectricity 21.7 MB pptx (Senior)

A powerpoint presentation by Dr Barbara McKinnon from Kew High School at the 2016 Physics Teachers’ Conference. This is a 21 Mb file.

Bioelectricity: Websites

Chapter on Bioelectricity A 14 page pdf file from Cornell University. Pitched at a reasonable level for students. (Senior)
What is Life? Cell Membrane Potentials A website with a detailed explanations of bioelectricity. Suitable for teachers. (Senior)
The Discovery of Bioelectricity (Senior)

A comprehensive overview of the history of bioelectricity, starting with Volta. The internet links under ‘To Know More’ are very useful.