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Building an energy-converting device

Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another

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What a learner can do afterwards

  • Design a device that converts one form of energy to another (e.g. electrical to light, kinetic to sound)
  • Build, test, and identify what works well and what needs improvement
  • Explain the energy conversion taking place in the device

The lesson

You already know energy travels from place to place and changes as it goes. Now it is your turn to make that change happen on purpose. An energy-converting device takes one kind of energy, like electrical energy, and turns it into another kind, like light or sound.

DesignBuildTestImprove
Engineers follow these four steps. If a test shows a problem, they go back to design and try again.
Try it together

A hand-crank flashlight is a good example. Turning the crank gives kinetic energy from your hand. Inside, that motion changes into electrical energy, and the electrical energy changes into light in the bulb.

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A lightbulb turns some electrical energy into light, but a lot of it turns into heat instead.
Good to know

When you test your device, write down what happens. If it does not work the way you hoped, that is useful information, not a failure. Change one part, then test it again.

Pick two energy forms, build a device that changes one into the other, then test it and make it better.

Watch it

Where it sits

Learn first

This opens up

Nothing builds on it yet.

Where this leads

Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.

Then practise

8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.

Building an energy-converting device · Science, ages 9 to 10 · LightMySky