Fall 2023

Special thanks to Emma Ware

“Hi, I’m Chargy!

Welcome to my home. I’m sorry it’s so dark in here. Let me turn on the light,” says little blue Chargy.  

He tries to turn on the light but something is wrong. 

“Oh no! The light is broken,” Chargy says. 

Chargy decides he needs some help so he goes to find his friend Wattson at his house. 

Chargy says to Wattson, “Can you help me?”

“Sure thing!” Wattson replies. “Let’s learn about electricity. It is a lot like water.”

Wattson and Chargy walk to the stream nearby. 

When they arrive at the stream, Wattson tells Chargy, "Look at that waterwheel! It needs something to make it spin, just like your lightbulb needs something to make it turn on. The missing water is like the electricity that your light bulb needs. Let’s see if we can make it flow.” 

Wattson takes Chargy to the water tower.  

Wattson says, “The water comes from this water tower just like electricity comes from this battery.” 

He hands the battery to Chargy. 

“Voltage is like the pressure of the water in the tower.”

“Oh no! The tower is empty," Wattson says. "Nothing happens when the water pressure or voltage is too low, so we need to fill it. ” 

Wattson turns a valve and water rushes into the tank, but the wheel does not turn.  

“Why is the waterwheel still broken?” Chargy asks. “We need to fix something else,” Wattson replies. 

“Without pipes, the water cannot get to the wheel. We need to choose the right pipe though. If the pipe is too small, the water has a hard time flowing through it. A small pipe is like a resistor. Resistors make it harder for electricity to flow through a wire,” says Wattson. 

He fixes the pipe with Chargy’s help. 

“Metal for electricity is like a pipe for water. It lets the electricity flow to its destination. Now that the pipe is fixed, the water can flow!” Wattson says excitedly.