Alternative Power Bricks

The main power source of Scrappy Circuits is the 3V battery. In this session we will show three alternative power source.

• Voltaic Pile
• Piezoelectric Power
• Servo Motor

These alternatives are not better, in fact they are worse. They will only give you small bursts of varying amounts of electricity. They are included because they are cooler. It is an awesome feeling to root through your house and then make electricity from the items you find.

They are also included to help show that there are many different ways to create electricity. Generally speaking there are two different categories of electricity creation: renewable and non-renewable. Renewable electricity means something we will never run out of.

WATCH LIVE on the Family Maker Camp Facebook page or on the Kids Make: Youtube channel.

Voltaic Pile

Materials lists:

• Cardboard
• Paper towel
• Salt
• Aluminium Foil
• Zinc-coated (galvanized) washers
• Pennies (1981 or older) or copper discs
• Water
• Scissors
• A bowl
• Spoon

Piezoelectric Power

Materials lists:

• Cardboard
• dollar store window alarm
• small screwdriver

Servo Motor

Materials lists:

• Cardboard
• Scissors

Previous Scrappy Circuit sessions can be seen here.

The teaching and learning of invention literacy is often locked behind many pre-requisite skills and expensive STEM toys. Scrappy Circuits breaks down these barriers to learning to invent through using a modular system of bricks build by the learner and sourced for commonly found objects.

Learn more about Scrappy Circuits and our hosts Michael Carroll and Chris Connors.