Your torch, your toy car, your parent's phone — none of them are plugged into the wall. So where does the energy come from?
From a battery. A battery is like a lunchbox, but instead of packing rice and chicken, it packs energy — ready to be used later.
In this lesson you will find out how the energy gets packed in, where it hides, and how it comes back out to make things move, glow and beep.
Tap Next to open the lunchbox. 👉
Here is the surprise: a battery does not store electricity inside it, the way a bottle stores water.
A battery stores chemical energy — energy locked up inside special powders and pastes. When you switch on your torch, the chemicals start changing, and that change makes electricity.
Tap each energy card and sort it: is it energy that is stored (waiting), or energy that is doing something right now?
Sorted: 0 / 6
Food, petrol and batteries are all in the same family: they hold stored chemical energy, quietly, until we need it. That is why a battery in a drawer still works months later. 🥱🔋
Cut a battery open (never do this at home — the paste inside can hurt you!) and you would find three main parts.
Parts found: 0 / 3
The two ends are called terminals: the + end and the – end. The goo in the middle is the electrolyte — a big word that just means "the wet chemical bit that lets tiny charged pieces travel across".
Inside the battery live billions of electrons — pieces far too small to see. At the – end they are packed tight and eager to move.
But there is a rule: electrons can only travel along a complete loop. That loop is called a circuit. No loop, no journey, no energy out.
Tap the gap in the wire to close the circuit and watch the electrons walk.
When the loop is closed, electrons stream out of the – end, through the bulb (where they give up energy as light and heat), and back into the + end. Meanwhile the chemicals inside the battery are slowly changing — that change is what keeps pushing.
The chemicals inside are like a stack of biscuits. Every second the torch shines, a few more get used up. When the useful chemicals have all changed, the pushing stops — the battery is flat.
The energy did not vanish. It left the battery as light, sound, movement and heat.
Hold the button to run the torch. Watch the chemicals turn and the energy bar drop.
Energy left: 100%
🔵 fresh chemicals → 🔴 used-up chemicals
A rechargeable battery is special: plugging it in pushes the chemicals backwards, turning the used ones back into fresh ones — like restacking the biscuits. A normal battery cannot do that, so we recycle it. ♻️
Energy never disappears — it just changes form. Scientists call this an energy change. For a torch, the story goes in a straight line.
Tap a card, then tap a slot to build the energy story of a torch.
Hint: think about what the battery holds, what travels along the wire, and what your eyes finally see.
Why does a torch take fat D batteries while a TV remote takes skinny AAA ones?
Because a bigger battery holds more chemicals — and more chemicals means more stored energy, so it lasts longer before it goes flat.
Tap a battery to see how long it can keep a toy car running.
Tap one of the three batteries above.
Careful though — a bigger battery does not always mean "more powerful". It mostly means lasts longer, because the store is bigger. 🕒
The chemicals that store the energy are useful — but they are not toys. Here is what every young scientist in Singapore should know.
Quick check: tap the choice that is safe.
🔋⚡🎉
Go on a battery hunt! Count how many things in your home run on batteries — remote, clock, torch, toy, weighing scale, doorbell. Which one has the biggest batteries, and why do you think so?
Well done, young scientist! 🌟 Next time your torch dims, you will know exactly what is happening inside.