LED lights on a hot dog

 

Code Number: 10A05.20

Demo Title: Bird on a Wire

Condition: Excellent

Principle: AC Power

Area of Study: Electricity and Magnetism

Equipment: 

Hot Dog Cooker, LEDs, Plastic Tongs.

Procedure: 

Insert the LEDs into the hot dog before you plug in the cooker.  The LEDs that are inserted with the legs parallel to the direction of the current in the hot dog will light up, but the LEDs that are inserted with the legs perpendicular will not. This is a simple way to show that you need a voltage difference for current to flow. 

References:

  • Paul Hewitt, "Figuring Physics", TPT, Vol. 60, #4, April 2022, p. 313.
  • Harvard Instructional Physics Labs, "Electric Currents: DC Circuits"  
  • Jearl Walker, "5.22, High-Voltage Lines", The Flying Circus of Physics Ed. 2, p. 228.
  • Julius Sumner Miller, Q229 & A229, Millergrams II – Some More Enchanting Questions for Enquiring Minds, p. 71 & 118.

 

Video Credit: Jonathan M. Sullivan-Wood