1. Electricity

2. Electricity: the movement of “excited” charged particles
Electric current: what the moving charged particles create
Like water moving through pipes
Electric circuit: the path an electric current follows
Like pipes and utilities that use water.

6. Conductors: materials in which electric current flows easily
Usually metals
Graphite is a form of carbon, but it is a conductor
Insulators: materials that do NOT allow electric current to flow easily

7. Measuring Electricity
Voltage: measures the difference in energy between two places in the circuit.
Measured in volts (V)
Black –
Red +
Measure V across two spots on a closed circuit

8. Batteries Batteries pump energy (potential energy) into a circuit
The more batteries, the more energy (voltage)
Each battery is 1.5 V (carbon-zinc batteries)

9. How much voltage will 12 batteries have?
How many batteries do you need if you have a an alarm clock that requires 9 V?

10. Voltage is a difference in energy between two points.

11. Electrons flow in a net direction away from the (-) terminal.
Closing the switch establishes a potential difference (voltage) and an electric field in the circuit.
High Potential
Low Potential
Electrons flow in a net direction away from the (-) terminal.

12. Conventional Current
By tradition, direction in which “positive charges” would flow.
Direction is opposite of electron flow.

13. While the switch is open:
Free electrons (conducting electrons) are always moving in random motion.
The random speeds are at an order of
106 m/s.
There is no net movement of charge across a cross section of a wire.

14. What occurs in a wire when the circuit switch is closed?

15. What occurs in a wire when the circuit switch is closed?
An electric field is established instantaneously (at almost the speed of light, 3x108 m/s).
Free electrons, while still randomly moving, immediately begin drifting due to the electric field, resulting in a net flow of charge.
Average drift velocity is about 0.01cm/s.

16. Electric Current:
The flow of electric charges.

17. Conventional current has the direction that the (+) charges would have in the circuit.

18. Voltage Drop
Voltage drops across something that uses energy (light bulb, heater, etc)
Energy drops because work is done

19. Measuring Electricity
Current (I)
Measured in amperes, or amps (A)
Measure in an open circuit
Electricity must flow through the meter to measure current

20. Resistor: something that uses energy in a circuit

21. Potentiometers Potentiometers: a variable resistor.
Dimmer switches are variable resistors.
When you turn the resistance down, the light burns brightly.
When you turn the resistance up, the bulb is dimly lit.

22. Circuit Diagrams
Draw a diagram of a circuit that contains two batteries, a switch, a resistor, and a light bulb.
Draw a diagram of a circuit that contains a battery, a switch, a potentiometer, and two light bulbs (in that order).

23. Did you know… Voltage is painful Current kills
More volts, the greater the shock
A bolt of lightning can have more than 1,000,000 volts
Current kills
Small amounts of current can be deadly
(especially through the heart)

24. Resistance
Resistance (load): something that opposes the flow of electricity
Energy is used (work is done)
Abbreviate with R
Unit is Ohm (Ω)
Measured outside of a circuit

27. Examples
Determine the current in a circuit that has a resistance of 40 Ω and a voltage of 1.5 V

28. Examples
Determine the voltage in a circuit that has a resistance of 10 Ω and a current of 5 mA