1. Context

Electricity can only flow through a complete circuit. In this experiment, you will build a wire maze that works as a game: your goal is to move a metal loop through the maze without touching the wire.

Whenever the loop touches the maze wire, the circuit is completed and the buzzer sounds.

Your challenge is to design a working circuit and then test how accurately you can navigate the maze.

2. Learning Objective

Investigate how a complete electrical circuit works by building and testing a wire maze, using the concepts of conductors, insulators, open circuits, and closed circuits to explain when and why the buzzer sounds.

3. Materials

For each group:

1 battery holder with batteries
1 small buzzer
Insulated connecting wires
1 long piece of bare metal wire for the maze
1 piece of metal wire for the loop
1 cardboard or wooden base
Tape
Scissors or wire cutters
Pliers
Ruler
Optional: paper, markers, or other materials to decorate the maze

Safety: Use batteries only. Never connect the circuit to a wall outlet or another mains electricity source.

4. Before You Build

Think about it:

What happens when an electrical circuit is complete?
What happens when there is a gap in the circuit?
Are metals conductors or insulators?
What do you predict will happen when the metal loop touches the maze wire?

Write your predictions before building the circuit.

5. Procedure

Part A — Design the Maze

Take the long piece of bare metal wire.
Bend it into a maze with curves, turns, and different sections.
Leave enough space for the loop to move through the maze.
Attach the maze securely to the base.
Make sure the metal wire does not touch other metal objects.

Design challenge: Make the maze difficult enough to require concentration, but possible to complete.

Part B — Make the Loop

Take the second piece of metal wire.
Bend one end into a small loop.
Make sure the loop is large enough to fit around the maze wire.
Attach the other end of the loop to an insulated connecting wire.
Cover the part of the handle that you will hold with tape or another insulating material.

Part C — Build the Circuit

Connect the components so that the circuit follows this pathway:

Battery → Buzzer → Loop → Maze Wire → Battery

Connect one terminal of the battery holder to the buzzer.
Connect the buzzer to the metal loop.
Connect the metal maze wire to the other terminal of the battery holder.
Check all connections.
Turn on the circuit, if your battery holder has a switch.

Important:

The loop and the maze wire must not touch when the game begins.

If they touch, the circuit will be closed and the buzzer will sound.

6. Test Your Circuit

Before playing, test the circuit.

Test 1 — Open Circuit

Keep the loop away from the maze wire.

What happens?

Test 2 — Closed Circuit

Touch the metal loop to the maze wire.

What happens?

Test 3 — Insulator

Place a piece of insulating material, such as plastic or tape, between the two metal parts.

What happens? Why?

7. The Challenge

Now it is time to play!

Move the loop from the START to the FINISH without touching the maze wire.

Record your results.

Attempt	Time	Number of touches	Did you reach the finish?
1	______ s	______	Yes / No
2	______ s	______	Yes / No
3	______ s	______	Yes / No

Challenge:

Can you complete the maze:

in the shortest possible time?
with the fewest touches?
without making the buzzer sound at all?

8. Observe and Explain

Answer the questions using scientific vocabulary.

1. Why does the buzzer sound when the loop touches the maze?

2. Is the circuit open or closed when the loop is not touching the maze?

3. Is the circuit open or closed when the loop touches the maze?

4. Why are the metal wires able to complete the circuit?

5. Why is the handle covered with an insulating material?

6. What would happen if the maze wire were made entirely of plastic?

9. Engineering Challenge

Now improve your design.

Change one variable in your maze:

make the curves tighter;
add more turns;
make the maze longer;
make the loop smaller;
increase the distance between sections;
or create a completely new maze.

Test your new design three times.

What did you change?

How did this change affect the difficulty?

Why?

10. Scientific Explanation

Complete the paragraph:

When the loop does not touch the maze wire, the circuit is ____________, so electric current cannot flow through the complete circuit.

When the loop touches the maze wire, the circuit becomes ____________. The metal wires act as ____________ and allow electric current to flow.

The buzzer sounds because _____________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________.

The insulating material does not allow electric current to flow easily because _____________________________________________.

11. Performance Criteria

I can…

☐ build a complete electrical circuit correctly.

☐ identify when a circuit is open or closed.

☐ identify metals as electrical conductors.

☐ explain why the buzzer sounds when the loop touches the maze.

☐ explain the role of an insulator in the circuit.

☐ use observations and evidence to explain what happened.

☐ test and improve a design based on the results.

12. Conclusion

In this experiment, we built a wire maze to investigate how an electrical circuit works. We observed that the buzzer only sounds when the metal loop touches the maze wire because this contact _____________

This shows that an electrical circuit needs __________________________________