1. Title: 2/28 ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS
All you need to be an inventor is a good imagination and a pile of junk.
-Thomas Edison

2. Would This Work?

3. Would This Work?

4. Would This Work?

5. The Central Concept: Closed Circuit

6. How you should be thinking about electric circuits:
Voltage: a force that pushes the current through the circuit (in this picture it would be equivalent to gravity)

7. How you should be thinking about electric circuits:
Resistance: friction that impedes flow of current through the circuit (rocks in the river)

8. How you should be thinking about electric circuits:
Current: the actual “substance” that is flowing through the wires of the circuit (electrons!)

9. Circuit in Diagram Form+
battery
bulb _
current
In a closed circuit, current
flows around the loop
electrons flow opposite the
indicated current direction!
(repelled by negative terminal)
Current flowing through the
filament makes it glow.
No Loop  No Current  No Light

10. Simple Circuits Series circuit Parallel circuit All in a row
1 path for electricity
1 light goes out and the circuit is broken
Parallel circuit
Many paths for electricity
1 light goes out and the others stay on

11. Series and Parallel Circuits
Series Circuits
only one end of each component is connected
e.g. Christmas tree lights
Parallel Circuits
both ends of a component are connected
e.g. household lighting

12. The circuit is no longer complete, therefore current can not flow
The voltage decreases because the current is decreased
and the resistance increases.

13. The current remains the same
The current remains the same. The total resistance drops in a parallel circuit as more bulbs are added
The current increases.

14. 3 2 1
The current decreases because the resistance increases. Ohm’s Law
says that I=V/R. The voltage in the system is constant, resistance increases.

15. The current decreases because the resistance increases.
Ohm’s Law says that I=V/R. The voltage in the system is constant, resistance increases.

16. circuit diagram
Scientists usually draw electric circuits using symbols;
cell
lamp
switch
wires

17. circuit diagram
Use the following symbols and draw a circuit that has 1 battery and 2 lamps in parallel. Then draw them in series. When done build them on Snap Circuits.

18. circuit diagram
Use the following symbols and draw a circuit that has 1 battery, a switch, and 3 lamps in parallel. Then draw them in series. When done build them on Snap Circuits. Does it matter where the switch needs to be for either one? Try it out and build them on Snap Circuits.

19. measuring current
Electric current is measured in amps (A) using an ammeter connected in series in the circuit. A

20. measuring current A A This is how we draw an ammeter in a circuit.
PARALLEL CIRCUIT
SERIES CIRCUIT

21. measuring voltage
The ‘electrical push’ which the cell gives to the current is called the voltage. It is measured in volts (V) on a voltmeter V

22. measuring voltage V V This is how we draw a voltmeter in a circuit.
SERIES CIRCUIT
PARALLEL CIRCUIT

23. measuring resistance R
The “friction” of any component that is not a wire or a cell/battery is called resistance. It is measured in ohms (Ω) on a ohmeter R

24. measuring resistance R
Since the component is taken off of the circuit and measured, a diagram is not provided. R

25. but if you had to have a diagram it would just look like this

26. Ohm’s Law V= IR I = V / R R = V / I Can also be written as:
I = Current (Amperes) (amps)
V = Voltage (Volts)
R = Resistance (ohms)
Georg Simon Ohm ( )

27. measuring current SERIES CIRCUIT current is the same
at all points in the
circuit. 2A 2A
PARALLEL CIRCUIT 2A 2A
current is shared
between the
components 1A 1A
Suppose the resistance across a bulb is 2 Ω in the first diagram and 3 Ω in the second, calculate their voltage.

28. fill in the missing ammeter readings.? 3A 3A 4A ? 1A ? ? 4A 4A 1A ? 1A

29. copy the following circuits and fill in the missing ammeter readings.? 3A 3A 4A ? 1A ? ? 4A 4A 1A ? 1A

30. measuring voltage
Different cells produce different voltages. The bigger the voltage supplied by the cell, the bigger the current.
Unlike an ammeter, a voltmeter is connected across the components
Scientist usually use the term Potential Difference (pd) when they talk about voltage.

31. measuring voltage V V V V

32. series circuit voltage is shared between the components
Calculate the resistance of a bulb if the current is measured at 0.5 amps

33. parallel circuit voltage is the same in all parts of the circuit. 3V

34. measuring current & voltage
copy the following circuits on the next two slides.
complete the missing current and voltage readings.
remember the rules for current and voltage in series and parallel circuits.

35. measuring current & voltage

36. measuring current & voltageb) 6V 4A ?A ?V ?A ?V ?A

37. Calculate the resistance between across the bulbs in a) and in b)
answers a) b) 6V 6V 4A 4A 6V 4A 4A 3V 3V 2A 4A 6V 2A
Calculate the resistance between across the bulbs in a) and in b)

38. Voltage, Current, and Power
One Volt is a Joule per Coulomb (J/C)
One Amp of current is one Coulomb per second (6.24 x10^18 electrons/second).
If I have one volt (J/C) and one amp (C/s), then multiplying gives Joules per second (J/s)
this is power: J/s = Watts
So the formula for electrical power is just:
More work is done per unit time the higher the voltage and/or the higher the current
P = VI: power = voltage  current