Demo 4: Piezoelectrics

Physics Concepts

1. Piezoelectrics

Required Materials

Material	Amount	Notes
Plastic Syringe	1
BBQ Lighter	1
Solid Core Wire	5 inches
Drill	1
Soldering Iron & Solder	1
Tools to break open lighter	N/A

Construction

1. Carefully open up the BBQ lighter and remove the sparking mechanism and solder a wire to the thin part of the sparker


Photo: Petteri Aimonen/Wikipedia

2. Remove the syringe plunger and drill a small hole through the side of the syringe and feed the wire from sparking mechanism through it and push the rest of the mechanism metal-side-up to the tip of the inside of the syringe

3. Use electrical tape to hold the tip of the wire around 1/4 of a centimeter away from the main sparking mechanism through the tip of the syringe

4. Test the apparatus by re-inserting the plunger and clicking the sparker
   1. When you do this, you should see a spark arcing between the piezoelectric sparker and the wire

Running the Demo

1. Pass the mechanism around and let the students click in the plunger to see if they can make a spark at the tip of the mechanism

Discussion Points

1. Make sure to have gone over piezoelectrics already and let them know that this is an example of piezoelectrics in our day-to-day lives