physics page 80-81 questions

1. In metals the charge carriers are electrons.

Charges are able to flow through metals as there are often many delocalised electrons,
allowing charge to be carried, however plastics are insulators, and do not conduct electricity.
If the current flowing through a heater is 3A, the charge that flows in it in 1 second is 3
coulombs, in 10 minutes is 1800 coulombs, and in 1 hour is 10800 coulombs.
2. A complete circuit is one where electricity can and will flow through it ie. an incomplete
circuit is a broken one with a gap in it.
A series circuit is a simple single loop circuit, whereas a parallel circuit has more than one
path where a current can flow along. In a series circuit, one switch can turn off and on all the
components together, a broken component causes the whole circuit to malfunction, and the
voltage is shared between all the components therefore the more components there are the
less energy will be given out.
In the below circuit A, all of the bulbs will go out at approx. the same time, even when only
one switch has been opened, as doing so breaks the circuit. In circuit B, when switch 4 is
opened, D and E will immediately go out and when switch 5 is opened all the remaining lamps
go out.
In circuit A, none of the bulbs will be brighter or dimmer than each other since they all receive
the same voltage.
3. All voltmeters must be placed across, or in parallel with the one component you are
measuring.
When a cell has a voltage of 1.5V, this means that the cell is transferring 1.5 joules of energy
to each coulomb of charge that passes through the cell.
4. When each of the switches is moved to a new position the light bulb will still be on, however it
allows other components to share the voltage as well so that components can be turned on
and off from different locations in the home.
5. The lights in the main street should be wired in series, so that the current can simply pass
through all the small light bulbs; however a shunt should be put into place so that if one bulb
falters, the others can continue to shine.