ELECTRICITY

Current Electricity
 CONDUCTORS
A conductor is any material that
allows the free flow of current
through it.
 Some examples of conductors are:
metals, wires, water, and salt
solutions.
 They become useful in many
applications because of the ease at
which they allow current to flow.
 INSULATORS
 An insulator (a poor conductor) is
any material that obstructs the flow
of current.
 Some examples are: rubber, wood,
plastic….
 This property of insulators allows
these materials to be useful in that
they: can protect from electrocution,
provide insulation around wires and
they protect from heat.
 CURRENT
 A current is the flow
of charges around a
complete circuit.
These charges are
negative (electrons)
and thus flow from the
negative end of a cell
around a circuit to the
positive end of the
cell.
 Its S.I. unit is the
ampere, A.
 CONVENTIONAL CURRENT
 Now you just learnt that charges flow from
negative to positive.
 However, a long time ago before the
electron was discovered, scientists
thought that positive charges were moving
around the circuit. Thus they said that
current flowed from positive to negative.
 Ever since, up to today scientists use this
direction in their diagrams and have not
adopted the correct direction. They say it’ll
be to much to change all their diagrams.
Thus we give this wrong direction the
name conventional current and it used
in all diagrams.
CONVENTIONAL CURRENT
VOLTAGE RESISTANCE
 This is the amount  This a property of
of energy, that all materials to
each charge that obstruct the flow of
flows around the current. Materials
circuit, possesses. that have a high
Its S.I. unit is the resistance are
volt, V. insulators and
 Voltage is also those with low
called Potential resistance are
Difference. conductors. Its S.I.
unit is the ohm,
 Measuring current
 An Ammeter is a
device that is used
to measure current
in a circuit. It
must be connected
along the circuit.
 Measuring voltage
 A Voltmeter is a
device that is used
to measure the
amount of volts in
a circuit ( in other
words, the amount
of energy in the
circuit). It is
connected across
two points in the
circuit.
 ammeter

voltmeter
Determining the quantity of charge
 Remember, it’s the flow of charges
(specifically electrons) that causes a
current.
 It is easy to determine the amount of
charge that flows.
Q (charge) = I (current) × t (time)
= Ampere × seconds
= As
The unit of charge is the Coulomb (C), which is
defined as a current of 1A that passes for 1s in a
closed circuit.
 Let’s work it out
 QUESTION: A current of 4A flows in
a closed circuit for 3 minutes. What
is the total charge that flows through
the wire?
 SOLUTION:

Q = It
= 4 × (3 × 60)
= 4 × 180
= 720 C
 Let’s work it out
 QUESTION: If a current of 2A flowing in a
circuit produces a charge of 10, 800 C.
Determine the amount of time, in hours,
for which the current flowed?
 Remember: Q = It

 Q = 10, 800 C, I = 2A, t = ?

 10, 800 = 2 × ? REMEMBER, 1 hr = 3600 s

? = 10, 800 ÷ 2 = 5400 s
5400 s = 5400 ÷ 3600 = 1.5 hrs
 You work it out!
 Answers: 6. 300 s
1. 720 C 7. 1.875 × 1020
2. 240 s electrons,9.375
3. 3A × 1019 atoms,
mass = 10.31
4. 9A
× 10 -6 kg.
5. 0.4 s, away
8. Electrostatic
from earth.
induction