Columbia Weekly Review (11/8/24)

Hi Cougars! Quarter 2 has just started, so I wanted to have everyone tinker with a fun experiment and learn along the way. I chose to make a lemon battery, even though I had not worked on it before, so we would discover together. To start with, I needed technical equipment like multimeters and alligator cables. Fortunately, my Physics teacher lent me those items and demonstrated how to use the device. Additionally, I bought some lemons and took zinc nails and copper wires from my garage. I was ready to conduct the experiment with the class.
20 kids showed up consistently, excited as I entered the classroom with a box. Rather than taking out my laptop and projecting the slides like every other week, I drew diagrams on the board, much like my Physics teacher in Vietnam. Our experiments were as follows:

• Experiment #1: hold the probes of the multimeter at each terminal of a battery to measure its voltage. They all recorded 1.5V, as intended.
• Experiment #2: stick a copper wire and a nail on each side of a battery, then use the multimeter to find its voltage. I had the kids come up to the board and write the highest number recorded. They first recorded 0.8V, then corrected with a quantity as high as 0.95V.
• Experiment #3: connect three lemons together to power a LED light. Unfortunately, it would not light up, so we attached another battery into it, and the light lit faintly. Nevertheless, we were able to record the multiplied voltage.

At the end of class, we had a discussion about the principles of electric circuits and how lemon batteries worked. One kid decided to give a lecture to the class, whose answer was amazingly accurate. I loved how he compared electrons' movement to a really fast roller coaster ride. Finally, we got to play some music. However, it became too loud, and some teachers came to complain about the noise. Anyway, I was mesmerized by the kids' intelligence and curiosity. We are two weeks from Thanksgiving, as well as the end of the program. Therefore, I hope to commit with the most effort and create the best memories together. See you around!

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