Electricity Merit Badge
Eleven requirements. Requirement 1 is electrical emergencies, with a rescue, first aid and burn treatment shown, not only explained. Four involve your home: a safety inspection (2), circuits, fuses and breakers (6), a room's wiring diagram (7), and an electric bill and its meter (8). Requirements 3 and 5 are an electromagnet and a drawing, and requirement 10 is any two of six circuit projects.
The plan behind this
Shown, not only explained
Requirement 1 is responding to electrical emergencies, in seven parts. Three are shown to your counselor rather than explained: 1(b) rescuing a person touching a live wire in the home, 1(d) first aid for a person unconscious from an apparent electrical shock, and 1(e) treating an electrical burn.
What involves your home
| requirement | what it needs |
|---|---|
| 2 | a safety inspection of your home, using the checklist in the Electricity pamphlet or one your counselor approves, then a discussion of what you find |
| 6(a) | what you have done to make sure your home circuits are not overloaded |
| 6(d) | finding a blown fuse and a tripped circuit breaker in your home, and showing how to safely reset the breaker |
| 7 | a floor plan wiring diagram of the lights, switches and outlets in one room, showing which fuse or circuit breaker protects each |
| 8 | a meter associated with an electric bill and the bill itself: the power used since the bill, its cost, and the taxes and fees; then five ways your family can conserve energy |
Things you make or draw
| requirement | what you make |
|---|---|
| 3 | a simple electromagnet, used to show magnetic attraction and repulsion |
| 5 | a simple drawing of how a battery and an electric bell work, with the purpose of each component |
| 10 | two of the six projects below |
Requirement 10: do TWO of six
| route | what it asks |
|---|---|
| 10(a) | connect a buzzer, bell or light with a battery, with a key or switch in the line |
| 10(b) | make and run a simple electric motor; a kit is acceptable if your counselor approves it ahead of time |
| 10(c) | build a simple rheostat and show that it works |
| 10(d) | build a single-pole, double-throw switch and show that it works |
| 10(e) | explain how 3-way switch wiring works in a lighting circuit |
| 10(f) | connect two lights in series with a battery and a switch, then the same circuit in parallel, and discuss the differences |
Requirement 9: the vocabulary
Four lists to explain: electrical terms (current, energy, power, resistance and voltage); units of measure (ampere, ohms, volts, watts and watt-hours); electrical conditions (generating source, with an example; ground; open circuit; overvoltage; potential difference; short circuit); and equipment and its use (circuit, conductor, GFCI, insulator, inverter, rectifier, rheostat, substation, surge protection, solar panel, transformer, transmission and distribution systems, and wind turbine).
What this page is
The Electricity merit badge, drawn so the emergency demonstrations, the work done at home and the things to make stand out, with the two projects of requirement 10 drawn as a question. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Electricity Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2026-01-07 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .