Lemon Battery

• Making a lemon battery teaches the principles of electricity. Use a lemon, a steel nail, a copper nail, a length of thin wire and flashlight bulb. Cut two strips of wire and remove ½ inch of plastic off the ends. Wrap the end of one of the wires around the top of the steel nail and the end of the second wire strip around the top of the copper nail. Insert the two nails into the lemon about 2 inches apart from other, but make sure the nails don't touch each other. Attach the opposite ends of the wires to the two terminals on the bulb. You've just made a wet cell battery.
  
  

Static Electricity

• Static electricity is when electrons get unbalanced on a non-conductive object and can't discharge until it touches something that goes to ground, such as a metal object. Tear a sheet of newspaper into small strips about 1 inch by 3 inches. Get a plastic tube or comb; a nylon comb works well. Rub the tube or comb on a woollen or nylon piece of fabric for about 10 seconds. Hold the tube or comb about 1 foot over the paper then move the tube toward the paper. The paper floats up toward the tube and sticks to it.
  
  

Magnetism

• Make a nail into a magnet to show how magnetism can be transferred to another metal object. Get a magnet and a 3-inch nail. Rub the nail along one end of the magnet, lift it off the magnet and then start over. Do this about 20 times. Rub the nail in the same direction each time. Put a few paper clips on a table and then put the end of the nail near to the paper clips. As the nail gets close to the paper clips, they move toward the nail and stick to it.
  
  

Electromagnet

• Electromagnets are a great way to illustrate how to convert electrical current into a magnet. Wind thin wire tightly around a 3 inch nail starting from the top until you get to ½ inch from the bottom and then wind the wire back to the top and then down again. Leave about 4 inches of wire extending from the top and bottom of the nail. Attach the loose wires to the battery terminals. Use a strip of adhesive tape to hold the wire on the terminals. Move the nail toward a few metal paper clips. The paper clips stick to the nail, because the nail is an electromagnet.