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P8C6 ElectricalCircuits Final
P8C6 ElectricalCircuits Final
P8C6 ElectricalCircuits Final
6
Students know electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy to produce
heat, light, sound, and chemical changes. I/S
Can you imagine going a day or even a week without electricity? It is an integral part of our
world. It keeps our house cool in the summer and warm in the winter, it supplies our computers
and cell phones with the power they need to work. The list goes on and on.
So what is electricity? Seems like a simple question, but electricity is actually quite complicated.
Part of the problem is that there are several definitions for electricity, with none representing the
scientific phenomenon that is occurring. For this discussion, we will use the term electrical
energy for electricity. Electrical energy is consistent with the benchmark statement and
precisely describes the scientific phenomenon we are interested in helping our students
understand.
So what is electrical energy? At its most basic, there are only two kinds of energy: kinetic and
potential. Electrical energy describes how kinetic and potential energy are present in electrical
circuits, which we will discuss in more detail below.
For more information about the basics underlying energy, please go to MS TIPS Benchmark
P.8.C.4.
Electric Charge
Like mass, electric charge is a property inherent in all matter. However, unlike mass, there are
two distinct types of charges, positive and negative. In the SI system of units, the unit for charge
is the Coulomb (C). The fundamental charge has a strength of 1.602 10-19 C. The electron
carries the fundamental negative charge equal to 1.602 10-19 C and the proton carries the
fundamental positive charge equal to +1.602 10-19 C.
For more information about electric charge, go to
http://230nsc1.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html.
Matter is made up of some combination of positive and negative electric charges. The positive
charge lies in the center of the atom (the nucleus) where protons exist. Neutrons, which have a
neutral charge, also lie in the nucleus. Negative charges reside in the atoms outer regions and of
course are associated with the orbiting electrons.
More details about atomic structure and charge can be found at
http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~acarpi/NSC/3-atoms.htm
The interaction between electrical charges is called the electromagnetic force, one of the four
fundamental forces in nature. Because there are two kinds of charge, the electromagnetic force
involves both repulsion and attraction, unlike another fundamental force, gravitation, which only
attracts (i.e., gravitation is the force of attraction between masses because mass is neither
positive nor negative). A simple rule guides the rule of electrical force and charge: like charges
repel and opposite charges attract, and the strength of the force is proportional to the strength of
the overall positive and/or negative charge on objects. The attraction and repulsion of electrical
charges are shown schematically in Figure 1.
The series circuit shown in Figure 3 has a battery, a switch and three light bulbs. However, a
series circuit can have one load or many loads, as long as they are connected one after the
other, so they create one path for electric current. In a series circuit, if one light or load stops
working, everything in the circuit stops working because there is no longer a closed loop for
energy to be transferred.
A parallel circuit has two or more paths for electric current to flow.
In Figure 4, the parallel circuit contains one battery and three light bulbs, where each bulb is
connected in paths that are all parallel to each other. Within a parallel circuit, when one light
stops working, the loads on the other paths continue to work because the broken light does not
close all the circuits and energy may be transferred back to the source. Circuits can also use a
combination of series and parallel sections within the same circuit. Circuits are often drawn
using symbols instead of pictures.
Figure 5. In this figure, both a series circuit and parallel circuit are shown using pictures and symbols.
(From http://www1.curriculum.edu.au/sciencepd/electricity/images/elec_ill76.gif)
This picture shows the drawing of the circuit with both pictures and symbols. There is more than
one symbol for each component, depending on how the circuit diagram is used.
In addition, many types of energy can be transferred into electrical energy as well. For example,
light energy from the sun can be collected by photovoltaic cells which can be transferred into
electrical energy to heat homes and pools.
of different sources including magnetic energy and steam for transferring into electrical
energy.
To learn more about this and other misconceptions associated with electricity, go to
http://amasci.com/miscon/eleca.html#batt