Going Up?
"Follow that briefcase!" a voice yells. The secret agents race down the hall, never once letting the case out of their sight. They're almost there, when the case disappears behind elevator doors. Helplessly the agents stare as the little lights click off the floors. But what they don't know that it's not an elevator! It's a special effect you can recreate by making a simple version of a nailboard. Here's how:
- You will need: an old or inexpensive string of tiny, holiday lights (you will cut them up during this activity), fine insulated copper wire, wire cutters or old scissors, 10 or12 small flathead metal nails, a scrap piece of 2-by-4 wood about 12 inches long, a hammer, masking tape, three size D batteries, and an adult to watch you become a special effects artist.
- First: Do not plug in the lights. Using wire cutters or old scissors, cut the wire halfway between the lights. You will need three lights with wires attached. With the cutters, carefully remove a half inch of the plastic covering from each end of the wire. Cut three additional pieces of insulated wire, 8 inches in length, from straight portions of the wire from the light string.
- Follow the illustration to position the nails and set up your nailboard circuits. Cut one additional small piece of wire slightly longer than the space between each pair of nails. Remove a small amount of insulation from each end, leaving some insulation in the center.
- Touch the small wire across the top of one pair of nails. Look for the light. Repeat this with each pair of nails. Do it rapidly, imagining the lights above the elevator.
- Actual nailboards use only one power source. Try experimenting to see if you can create a circuit that will create the same effect, but with only one battery.
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