Current Electricity

LI: To recall concepts about current electricity, including current, voltage, drawing and setting up circuits.

What did we learn about electricity yesterday?

Electricity requires:
Charges ions and electrons Attraction between charges Movement of charges

Electrical circuits
Controlled flow of charge electrons Components connected together with wires Requires a power source: a cell, battery, power pack
Provides electrical energy to the electrons

Use electrical energy to produce other forms of energy. NOTE: conventional current has electricity flowing from + to -, whereas we now know that it is actually the electrons moving to +.

Components you need to be able to draw

or power pack

variable resistor

Conductors and Insulators

Insulators

No Current Flows

Positive Charge

Electrons Held Tightly

 Conductors

Current Flows

Positive Charge

Electrons Held Loosely

DRAWING CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS:

Tells us what is in the circuit. How components are arranged. Use a ruler. Use a pencil. Use symbols, Arrange in a square/rectangle Dont put anything on corners Put numbers and units on.

Drawing
1. Draw a circuit with a power supply, switch, and light bulb. 2. Draw a circuit with a power supply, switch, and two light bulbs where both light bulbs are controlled by one switch. 3. Now draw another circuit arranging the same components such that just one light bulb is controlled by the switch. NOW set up circuit 1.

Current
Movement of charged particles, usually electrons Is a measure of how fast the electrons are flowing. Symbol (I), unit Ampere or Amp (A) Measured with an ammeter connected in series. 1 Amp = 1 Coulomb per second, C/s 1 Amp = 61018 electrons passing a point in a second

Voltage
Voltage (also called potential difference) measures
the energy lost across a component, or the energy supplied by the power supply / battery / cell

Voltage is measured in volts (symbol V) using a voltmeter. A voltmeter is always connected in parallel to the component for which the voltage is being measured.

1 volt = 1 joule of energy per coulomb of charge

SERIES CIRCUITS

The components are connected end-to-end, one after the other. They make a simple loop for the current to flow round.
If one bulb blows it breaks the whole circuit and all the bulbs go out.

PARALLEL CIRCUITS

The components are connected side by side.

The current has a choice of routes. If one bulb blows there is still be a complete circuit to the other bulb so it stays alight.

measuring voltage
This is how we draw a voltmeter in a circuit.

V
SERIES CIRCUIT

V
PARALLEL CIRCUIT

measuring current
This is how we draw an ammeter in a circuit.

SERIES CIRCUIT

PARALLEL CIRCUIT

measuring voltage and current

Copy down the two circuits and then set then up one at a time. Measure and record the current at points W, X, Y, and Z Measure and record the voltage across each component (P, A, B). P P

A X B

What patterns did you observe?

Current: Series all positions the same IX = IY = IZ Parallel total current is shared across the different branches IZ = IW = IX + IY Voltage: Series voltage over components add to equal voltage from power supply VP = VA + VB Parallel voltage across all components VP = VA = VB