| A FishTackler®
Article |
There was a young boy who lived in a chalet on the edge of a cliff
high in the Swiss Alps. Far across a deep precipitous chasm in another
chalet
lived a very pretty young girl Named Heidi. Every day Heidi and Bjorn
would wave
to each other. Bjorn tried to shout across the chasm to ask Heidi what
her
name was but alas she could not hear him. It was too far. Day after day
they looked mournfully at each other not able to communicate except by
waving. One day Bjorn had a great idea. He ordered two telephones from
an electronics catalogue. He had just enough money left to buy enough
wire to barely reach across the chasm once. When the phones came and he
had the
wire ready Bjorn sent one end of the wire and a phone across the chasm
on a
large kite he had made. Along with the phone and wire Bjorn sent
some instructions to tell Heidi how to hook up the phone, which Heidi
did. On his end
Bjorn connected a battery and then the phone. Below in Fig 2 is the
diagram he
sent Heidi. What do you think? Do you think it worked? Did they finally
get to talk to each other? If not then what was wrong? |
 Fig. 1 |
Well, it didn't work! Hard as they tried and as loud as they shouted nary a word was heard. Bjorn was very disappointed. So Bjorn went to his science teacher. He found out from his science teacher that he needed two wires before the phones would work. His science teacher pointed out that there were two wires protruding from the phone. One wire going into the phone and one wire coming out of the phone. There needed to be a complete circuit or circle from Bjorn's chalet to Heidi's for the electricity to travel around. "Like a freeway," his teacher said. "with electrons going one way on one wire and the other way on the other wire." It needed to look like the diagram below. But Bjorn was stumped. He did not have enough wire to stretch it over the chasm twice. How would you solve this dilemma? Is there a solution? Any ideas? Look at Fig. 3 on the right. Can you see a complete circuit like the one shown in Fig. 4? Hint! Our mother Earth conducts electricity quite well. NOTE: The symbol with the plus and minus signs in the diagram or rather schematic below represents a battery in the circuit.  |
 Fig.3 |
Hmmmm. Hmmmm Bjorn
mused. There must be solution to this problem. Finally an idea
materialized in Bjorn's head. "The ground conducts lightning and
lightning is electricity so could the ground be my second wire," Bjorn
postulated. "I must test this theory and see if it is correct!"
Bjorn got out his kite again and sent a note to Heidi telling her how
to connect the other wire on her phone to the ground. Bjorn then
connected the second wire on his phone to the ground. What do you
think.? Did it work? Can you use the ground for a wire or to complete a
circuit? You betcha! the power company does it all the time. Well Bjorn
and heidi talked for awhile but soon Bjorn tired of talking so he gave
the phone to his sister and Heidi and Hilda talked happily ever after.
In Fig 5. the electricity flows across the wire through Heidi's phone. Then it travels into the ground, around the chasm and into Bjorn's phone and the circuit or circle is complete. |
 Fig. 5 |
|
If you wanted to demenstrate this
principle in a school gym or auditorium where would you find a good
connection to the ground? If there are windows at each end of the gymn
or auditorium then a metal stake driven into the ground, outside, at
the far ends of the room will make a good connection to the ground. If
there are drinking fountains or washrooms the water pipes or taps also
make a good connection to ground. What you will need then is:
If you have questions, comments or ideas I would love to hear from you. Email me. wwindmills@comcast.net |
 Fig. #6 Note that in the above schematic the ground is acting as the second wire. |