This exploration teaches about amps, watts, and what happens when you overload a circuit.

Setup

If you print out the amps calculation sheet ahead of time and make copies for all students, you will have a head start on the activity. Students can take the time to do the calculations before starting to play.

Objective

The goal of this game is to try to get as many appliances as possible running without blowing a circuit. It has a good “under the radar” message about conserving energy, since the appliances that draw the most energy tend to trip the circuit.

Encourage students to play the game more than once to see if they can learn from their mistakes and get a better score. Follow up with a discussion of whether students have ever blown a fuse or tripped the circuit breaker in their home. Which appliances did they have running at the time?