The Telegraph

Today we communicate easily all across the world with phones and computers, but many years ago people had to use the mail to communicate with each other. This took days, and sometimes weeks. In the 1800's there was a man named Samuel B. Morse who wanted to be a painter. When he couldn't make a name for himself as an artist, he used his creativity in different ways. Samuel Morse invented the telegraph and a code called Morse code (named after him) which made communication faster.

Morse asked the U.S. government for money to string a wire from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland. The first telegraph message was successfully sent in 1844. Soon, wires connected the eastern United states and then spread across the entire U.S so that telegraph messages could be sent. Eventually a wire was laid under the Atlantic ocean connecting the U.S. with Europe. Now messages could be sent back and forth within minutes. This greatly changed communication across the world.

We decided to try to make a telegraph too. We started by exploring different circuits with a battery power source.

We finally figured out the correct circuit configuration to make a telegraph of our own.

We used Morse Code to send messages to each other and tried to decode what the other was saying.

We also made bracelets/bookmarks using beads and Morse Code to give our family members for Valentines Day! If you would like us to make you a bracelet feel free to send us an email and we will happily send one to you!