The End of the ESI Team

Our mission is complete, we've made a fantastic report and the world is finally rid of Dr Electrone Volt. I would like to thank my ESI team members for doing an outstanding job over the past four weeks and I'm sure this work will be useful in the future. Remember that the ESI blog will always exist as a record of what we learned and explored. Farewell, fellow ESI-ers!

Our Final Report to Ember Sparks

This is what Ember Sparks wants us to answer so she can defeat Dr Electrone Volt once and for all!

How does electricity work?
Why is Dr Volt threatening to destroy the world’s electrical energy supply?
Where do you think he is most likely to attack?
What would happen if he succeeds?
If he succeeds, are there other ways we could still have electricity?
Does Dr Volt need to be stopped?

We will discuss each question before doing our video report.

Electricity Webquest

This week, each ESI team member will have a specific topic to explore on how electricity impacts our daily lifes. Some useful websites to have a look at are:

Citipower

How Stuff Works

Western Power - World of Energy

Each of these websites provides information on energy use in Australia, different forms of energy generation and explanations of lightning - if you know how to look.

The ESI Team Comment on Circuits

Thanks to Voki:

Our team members are X, I, J and C. C was unavailable for comment at the time and J decided not to take part in this recording. As such we have one response from I and two from X.

This is X's comments on electrons:


Get a Voki now!



This is I talking about circuits and circuit diagrams:


Get a Voki now!



In both clips there is some guidance from me, Matt.

Finally, this is X filling in for J on electrons in metals and non-metals:


Get a Voki now!

A Message from Dr Electrone Volt...

I have received this message from Dr Volt regarding his threat against the world's electrical energy supply:

Hello again, electro-goons!

It has come to my attention that you are trying to stop me using that pathetic excuse for a superhero, Ember Sparks. Ember is only as strong as the information you give her, so I feel my chances of succeeding are pretty high at this point. I have said before that I plan to send the world back to the Dark Ages - to a time before we knew how to live without electricity. Of course, there are back-up supplies of electricity and other ways of generating power, but I don't think you can figure those out in time to thwart my plan. You may be wondering how I will attack, but never fear - there's fun to be had in a surprise. Let's just say I am big fan of going out with a bang.

Coming from the place where SCIence meets TECHnology,

I shall always be your faithful adversary,

Dr Electrone Volt.

PS: I have found a way to harness the world's own natural electricity source. You have been warned!

I have analysed this message and have developed some questions we need to focus on for this week's session:

What does Volt mean by the Dark Ages?
What would a world without electricity be like?
How does electricity impact our daily lives?
What other methods of electricity generation are there?
Do we have back-up energy supplies?
What do you think his plan of attack is?
Where do you think Dr Volt is contacting us from?
What does he mean by the world's natural electricity source?
How could he use this source?

These are questions we need to find answers to if we are to successfully report back to Ember Sparks next week.

Yours in science,

Matthew Outred.

More About Circuits - Part 1

In today's lesson we looked more closely at circuits; how they work, including electron flow and the use of conductors and insulators. Each member of the ESI team made a voice recording on what they learnt today, which we will upload soon. Stay tuned...

How Stuff Works - Electricity

This is a very useful website about electricity that you might like to look at during the week.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/electricity.htm

And a little video to get us into the groove!