TED2011
AnnMarie Thomas: Hands-on science with squishy circuits
AnnMarie Thomas: Ciencia práctica con circuitos de plastilina
Filmed:
Readability: 3.2
964,058 views
En una animada demostración en TED U, AnnMarie Thomas muestra cómo utilizar plastilina casera de dos sabores, para exhibir propiedades eléctricas – encendiendo LEDs, haciendo girar motores y convirtiendo a chicos pequeños en diseñadores de circuitos.
AnnMarie Thomas - Educator
AnnMarie Thomas works on the playful side of engineering -- using cool tools to teach and help others. Full bio
AnnMarie Thomas works on the playful side of engineering -- using cool tools to teach and help others. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
I'm a huge believer in hands-on education.
0
0
3000
Soy una gran partidaria de la educación práctica.
00:19
But you have to have the right tools.
1
4000
2000
Pero se necesitan las herramientas adecuadas.
00:21
If I'm going to teach my daughter about electronics,
2
6000
3000
Si voy a enseñarle electrónica a mi hija,
00:24
I'm not going to give her a soldering iron.
3
9000
2000
no le voy a dar un soldador.
00:26
And similarly, she finds prototyping boards
4
11000
2000
De la misma manera, para ella, los tableros de prototipos
00:28
really frustrating for her little hands.
5
13000
3000
le resultan realmente frustrantes, para sus manitas.
00:31
So my wonderful student Sam and I
6
16000
3000
Por eso, con mi magnífico alumno, Sam,
00:34
decided to look at the most tangible thing we could think of:
7
19000
2000
decidimos buscar la cosa más tangible posible;
00:36
Play-Doh.
8
21000
2000
plastilina.
00:38
And so we spent a summer
9
23000
2000
Así, pasamos todo el verano
00:40
looking at different Play-Doh recipes.
10
25000
2000
explorando diferentes recetas de plastilina
00:42
And these recipes probably look really familiar
11
27000
2000
Probablemente estas recetas son conocidas
00:44
to any of you who have made homemade play-dough --
12
29000
2000
para aquellos que hayan preparado plastilina casera --
00:46
pretty standard ingredients you probably have in your kitchen.
13
31000
3000
ingredientes normales que hay en la cocina.
00:49
We have two favorite recipes --
14
34000
2000
Tenemos dos recetas favoritas --
00:51
one that has these ingredients
15
36000
2000
la primera tiene estos ingredientes
00:53
and a second that had sugar instead of salt.
16
38000
2000
y la segunda tiene azúcar en vez de sal.
00:55
And they're great. We can make great little sculptures with these.
17
40000
3000
Son geniales. Se pueden hacer pequeñas esculturas muy buenas.
00:58
But the really cool thing about them is when we put them together.
18
43000
3000
Verdaderamente genial es que si las juntamos,
01:01
You see that really salty Play-Doh?
19
46000
2000
se ve que la plastilina salada,
01:03
Well, it conducts electricity.
20
48000
2000
bueno, conduce electricidad.
01:05
And this is nothing new.
21
50000
2000
Nada nuevo.
01:07
It turns out that regular Play-Doh that you buy at the store conducts electricity,
22
52000
2000
Es que la plastilina que se consigue en las tiendas, conduce electricidad.
01:09
and high school physics teachers have used that for years.
23
54000
3000
Los profesores de física escolar la han usado por años.
01:12
But our homemade play-dough
24
57000
2000
Pero nuestra plastilina casera,
01:14
actually has half the resistance of commercial Play-Doh.
25
59000
2000
en realidad, tiene la mitad de la resistencia de la comercial.
01:16
And that sugar dough?
26
61000
2000
¿Y la dulce?
01:18
Well it's 150 times more resistant to electric current
27
63000
2000
Bueno, tiene una resistencia 150 veces mayor
01:20
than that salt dough.
28
65000
2000
que la salada.
01:22
So what does that mean?
29
67000
2000
¿Y esto qué quiere decir?
01:24
Well it means if you them together you suddenly have circuits --
30
69000
3000
Pues que si se las une, en ese momento se obtienen circuitos --
01:27
circuits that the most creative, tiny, little hands
31
72000
3000
circuitos que las manitas más creativas
01:30
can build on their own.
32
75000
3000
pueden armar por sí mismas.
01:33
(Applause)
33
78000
5000
(Aplausos)
01:38
And so I want to do a little demo for you.
34
83000
3000
Así, quiero hacerles una pequeña demostración.
01:42
So if I take this salt dough,
35
87000
2000
Si tomo esta plastilina salada
01:44
again, it's like the play-dough you probably made as kids,
36
89000
2000
-- como la que ustedes preparaban de niños --
01:46
and I plug it in --
37
91000
2000
y la enchufo
01:48
it's a two-lead battery pack, simple battery pack,
38
93000
3000
-- este es un paquete de baterías con dos contactos,
01:51
you can buy them at Radio Shack
39
96000
2000
que se consigue en las tiendas especializadas
01:53
and pretty much anywhere else --
40
98000
2000
por todas partes --
01:55
we can actually then
41
100000
3000
se puede, entonces
01:58
light things up.
42
103000
3000
encender la luz.
02:02
But if any of you have studied electrical engineering,
43
107000
2000
Si alguno de ustedes estudió ingeniería eléctrica,
02:04
we can also create a short circuit.
44
109000
2000
sabe que se puede formar un corto circuito.
02:06
If I push these together, the light turns off.
45
111000
3000
Si los uno, la luz se apaga,
02:09
Right, the current wants to run through the play-dough, not through that LED.
46
114000
2000
Así es. La corriente prefiere pasar por la plastilina y no por el LED.
02:11
If I separate them again, I have some light.
47
116000
2000
Si los separo, nuevamente tendremos luz.
02:13
Well now if I take that sugar dough,
48
118000
2000
Ahora tomamos la plastilina dulce,
02:15
the sugar dough doesn't want to conduct electricity.
49
120000
2000
que no quiere conducir electricidad.
02:17
It's like a wall to the electricity.
50
122000
2000
Es como un muro para la electricidad.
02:19
If I place that between, now all the dough is touching,
51
124000
3000
Si la coloco en medio, ahora toda la plastilina está en contacto.
02:22
but if I stick that light back in,
52
127000
2000
Y si le introduzco la luz de nuevo,
02:24
I have light.
53
129000
2000
tendremos luz.
02:26
In fact, I could even add some movement to my sculptures.
54
131000
3000
Inclusive, puedo agregarle algo de movimiento a mis esculturas.
02:29
If I want a spinning tail, let's grab a motor,
55
134000
2000
Si quiero una cola que gire, tomo un motor,
02:31
put some play-dough on it, stick it on
56
136000
3000
le pongo una porción de plastilina, lo introduzco
02:34
and we have spinning.
57
139000
2000
y ya está girando.
02:36
(Applause)
58
141000
4000
(Aplausos)
02:40
And once you have the basics,
59
145000
2000
Una vez que se tiene lo básico,
02:42
we can make a slightly more complicated circuit.
60
147000
2000
se puede hacer un circuito un poco más complicado.
02:44
We call this our sushi circuit. It's very popular with kids.
61
149000
3000
Lo llamamos el circuito de sushi; muy popular entre los chicos.
02:47
I plug in again the power to it.
62
152000
3000
Lo conecto para darle energía.
02:50
And now I can start talking about parallel and series circuits.
63
155000
3000
Y ahora ya puedo comenzar a hablar de circuitos en paralelo y en serie.
02:53
I can start plugging in lots of lights.
64
158000
3000
Y puedo colocarle muchas luces.
02:58
And we can start talking about things like electrical load.
65
163000
3000
Y podemos hablar de algunas cosas como carga eléctrica.
03:01
What happens if I put in lots of lights
66
166000
2000
¿Qué pasa si le pongo muchas luces
03:03
and then add a motor?
67
168000
2000
y luego le añado un motor?
03:05
It'll dim.
68
170000
2000
Se baja la luz.
03:07
We can even add microprocessors
69
172000
3000
Podemos, inclusive, agregarle microprocesadores
03:10
and have this as an input
70
175000
2000
y tener esto como una entrada
03:12
and create squishy sound music that we've done.
71
177000
3000
y entonces crear un sonido musical mullido, como lo hemos hecho.
03:15
You could do parallel and series circuits
72
180000
2000
Se pueden armar circuitos en paralelo y en serie
03:17
for kids using this.
73
182000
3000
para los chicos que usan esto.
03:20
So this is all in your home kitchen.
74
185000
3000
Y todo esto en la cocina de la casa.
03:23
We've actually tried to turn it into an electrical engineering lab.
75
188000
3000
Hemos tratado de convertirla en un laboratorio de ingeniería eléctrica.
03:26
We have a website, it's all there. These are the home recipes.
76
191000
3000
Tenemos una página web. Ahí está todo. Estas son las recetas caseras.
03:29
We've got some videos. You can make them yourselves.
77
194000
2000
Tenemos algunos videos. Ustedes mismos pueden hacerlo.
03:31
And it's been really fun since we put them up to see where these have gone.
78
196000
3000
Ha sido bien divertido armar esto y observar hasta dónde puede ir.
03:34
We've had a mom in Utah who used them with her kids,
79
199000
2000
Una madre en Utah los ha usado con sus chicos,
03:36
to a science researcher in the U.K.,
80
201000
2000
un investigador en el Reino Unido,
03:38
and curriculum developers in Hawaii.
81
203000
3000
en el desarrollo curricular de Hawái.
03:41
So I would encourage you all to grab some Play-Doh,
82
206000
2000
Quiero invitarlos a tomar algo de plastilina,
03:43
grab some salt, grab some sugar and start playing.
83
208000
3000
algo de sal, algo de azúcar y comenzar a jugar.
03:46
We don't usually think of our kitchen as an electrical engineering lab
84
211000
3000
Normalmente no pensamos en la cocina como un laboratorio de ingeniería eléctrica,
03:49
or little kids as circuit designers,
85
214000
2000
o en los chicos como diseñadores de circuitos,
03:51
but maybe we should.
86
216000
2000
pero quizá deberíamos.
03:53
Have fun. Thank you.
87
218000
2000
Diviértanse. Gracias.
03:55
(Applause)
88
220000
7000
(Aplausos)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AnnMarie Thomas - EducatorAnnMarie Thomas works on the playful side of engineering -- using cool tools to teach and help others.
Why you should listen
AnnMarie Thomas joined the faculty of the University of St. Thomas in the fall of 2006. Previously, she was a faculty member at Art Center College of Design. She is the director of the UST Design laboratory and leads a team of students looking at both the playful side of engineering (squishy circuits for students, the science of circus, toy design) and ways to use engineering design to help others (projects in technology design for older adults). Thomas, in partnership with collaborator Jan Hansen, is co-director of the University of St. Thomas Center for Pre-Collegiate Engineering Education (CPCEE).
Thomas teaches Engineering Graphics, Machine Design, Dynamics (with Circus Lab), Toy Design, Product Design for an Aging Population, and Brain Machine Interfaces (seminar). She organizes the School of Engineering Design Night (featuring the ENGR320 Machine Design competition), and the Design Discussions seminar series.
Thomas has also worked on underwater robotics (at MIT, Caltech and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute), specializing in biologically inspired propulsion. She has consulted on projects ranging from the design/creation of a "musical earthquake-playing robot" to the initial research for a book on earthquakes in Los Angeles. At Caltech, she founded the Caltech Robotics Outreach Group (CROG) and the Caltech/JPL/LEGO Middle School Robotics Conference.
Get the recipes for the two squishy circuits play doughs here >>
AnnMarie Thomas | Speaker | TED.com