Basics of Natural Gas (movie)

Contents: Natural gas is an important form of energy. It is a fossil fuel formed from decaying plant and animal life. Natural gas forms deep inside the Earth as animal and plants were covered by sediments. Coal and petroleum are other types of fossil fuels. Natural gas is extracted from the ground by drilling deep into the Earth. Once it is removed, impurities are removed. Natural gas is a flammable and odorless gas called methane. An odorant, ethyl mercaptan, is added to natural gas so that it can be detected by smell. Ethyl mercaptan smells like rotten eggs or a skunk. Natural gas is distributed to the places it is burned through a series of pipes and tanks.

Contents: Magnetism is a force essential to understanding electricity. Magnets can attract or repel other magnets and attract certain other materials like iron. All magnets have poles at the ends, a north pole and a south pole. The north and south poles of different magnets will attract (pull toward) each other. Opposite poles attract. Two north poles or two south poles will repel (push away) from each other. No matter how many times you split a magnet, it will always have a north and south pole. The Earth acts like a giant bar magnet. This magnet is buried through the center of the planet. The SOUTH pole of the Earth's magnet lies under the NORTH pole of the Earth. A compass needle always points north. The needle is really a magnet. It is attracted toward the Earth magnet's south magnetic pole, which lies near the north pole. (Opposite poles attract.) A compass needle can be moved if another magnet or piece of iron is near. This is because the magnetic attraction of these objects is greater than the Earth's magnet. Objects containing iron—like a paper clip— will not attract another object containing iron on their own. However, if the paper clip touches a magnet first, it becomes magnetized and will then attract a second paper clip. When the magnet is removed from the first clip, its magnetic properties vanish. This is because the iron objects contain tiny magnetic particles, called domains, which are arranged in a random pattern. When the object comes into contact with a magnet, the domains line up, and the iron object temporarily becomes a magnet. When the magnet is removed, the domains return to their random pattern and the magnetic properties go away. Magnets have an area around them where their magnetic forces work. This area is known as a magnetic field. A magnetic field can pass through other materials like paper, glass, water, etc.

Basics of Electrons (movie)

Contents: Ancient Greeks believed that everything was made of tiny particles which could not be divided. They called these particles atoms. Today, we know that every element is made of a different type of atom. Atoms can combine to form everything in the universe— solids, gasses and liquids. Atoms are composed of smaller particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. Every atom has a center, or nucleus, composed of at least one proton and often neutrons. All atoms have at least one electron which orbits the nucleus. Electricity is the movement of electrons. Atoms of some materials allow electrons to move from the orbit of one atom to the orbit of a second, and so on. These types of orbits are said to be loosely held. Materials whose atoms are loosely held are called conductors. A stream of moving electrons is called electricity.

Electricity: Moving Electrons (movie)

Contents: The electricity we use is made by a machine and sent to us by wires. The key to making electricity is magnetism. Danish scientist Hans Christian Oerstead discovered that a magnetic field exists around a wire carrying electricity. This was followed by a discovery by French Scientist Andre Amperé that a loop of wire carrying an electrical current acts like a magnet with a north pole and a south pole. Increasing the number of loops increased the strength of the magnetic field. A coil of wire (many loops) carrying electricity is known as a solenoid. William Sturgeon found that the strength of a solenoid magnetic field can be greatly increased by placing an iron core inside the coil. A coil carrying an electrical current with an iron core is called an electromagnet. Michael Faraday discovered the mechanical properties of a wire carrying an electrical current. He found that a wire stretched between the poles of a horseshoe magnet moved when current was switched on. Reversing the flow of current through the wire reversed the direction the wire moved. This discovery led to the invention of the electric motor. (Demonstration of how electric motor works) Faraday's subsequent experiments showed that a magnetic field can move electrons inside a conductor. This process is called induction. (Demonstration of induction experiment) An electric generator produces an electrical current through the process of induction. (Demonstration of how a generator works) Alternating current is a stream of electrons moving in two different directions in a wire. (Experiment demonstrating alternating current).

Get the Basics Game

This is an electronic game that reviews information presented in the Basics movies. To play, the student firsts chooses a player by clicking on one of the three individuals at the bottom of the screen. The next screen asks the player to type his or her name. At this point the student then clicks the "Start Game" button. Round 1 will ask nine questions. Point values for each question appear on a grid on the right side of the screen. Players click on a point value to receive each question. They must type answers in the field on the screen. Students are congratulated if their answers are correct and points are added to their total. If incorrect, the correct answer is indicated and points are subtracted. (Minus numbers are possible.) Some of the answers require a word to be typed in the field. Others require a "yes" or "no".