Learning About Plasma

This week, Year 6 students went into the secondary science labs to learn more about plasma! This is connected to our Science unit last term on Changing States and also this terms English and Topic units focusing on the text Northern Lights. Initially, students were given the opportunity to play with and discuss what they could see happening when they touched the plasma balls, commenting on how energy was intensified when they touched it with their hands. After this, they began a range of activities investigating how electricity was conducted through the ionized particles and through the glass into objects, such as LEDs and light bulbs, which caused them to light up. There were interesting theories regarding why only some of the LED bulbs lit up, depending on their colour, why light bults were lighting up while not touching the glass and how they would manage to get the whole fluorescent tube lit at the same time. The Year 6 students thoroughly enjoyed the lesson, these are some of the reactions from students in 6 Amber:

Jay “ When I touched the foil on top of the plasma ball, I made a shocking discovery! It was very interesting to learn why the electricity went into your hand from the plasma ball.”

Tamas “Mr. Pettett was really nice and helped us to understand how the plasma ball worked.”

Lina “I really enjoyed the first part where you could put your whole hand on the ball and the plasma moved and focused on your whole hand – if no one else was touching it.”

Doyoon “ I liked doing the experiment, lighting up the large fluorescent light. I liked looking at the plasma ball when it was left alone, it looked really cool!”

Dominik “ I liked the experiments and seeing how the items reacted with the plasma ball. Who knew electricity could be so fun?”

Marko “It was really fun seeing the LEDs light up “

Risca “ It was a bit frightening at first, but it was a really fun lesson. My friends put their hands on the foil which felt like a little shock”

Lesley McDonald
Year 6 Teacher