Term 2 Class 7

The City School

Handout: Science 6.12

Topic: Electrical Circuits

Name: ___________________

From this handout, learners will be able to:

➢ Explain what is meant by electric current and state its unit.
➢ Use an ammeter with care to measure current.
➢ State the unit of measurement of current.
➢ Recognize that current in series is not used up by its components
➢ Recognize that cell/ battery is a source of electrical energy.
➢ Recognize that cell’s voltage has a chemical source.
➢ Differentiate between a cell and a battery and that a battery is a number of cells connected
together with regard to polarity.

Electric Current:
Electric current is the rate flow of electric charges (electrons) in an electric circuit. Electricity
occurs from the movement of electric charge. Its SI unit is Ampere.

How to measure current using an Ammeter?

The most common way to measure current in a circuit is to break the circuit open and insert an “ammeter” in
series (in-line) with the circuit so that all electrons flowing through the circuit also have to go through the
meter. The Ammeter is a measuring instrument used to find the strength of current flowing around an
electrical circuit when connected in series with the part of the circuit being measured.
 Term 2 Class 7

Current in a Series Circuit:

Since there is only one path for electron flow in a series circuit, the electric
current in a series circuit goes through every component in the circuit.
Therefore, all of the components in a series connection carry the same
current.

Cell and Batteries:

Both cell and batteries are used as power sources in various circuits. The cell and battery both store
chemical energy and then transforms the stored chemical energy into an electrical energy.
One of the major difference between the cell and the battery is that the cell is the single unit, whereas
the battery is the group of cells.

Basis for
Cell Battery
Comparison

Definition The single unit device which It is the collection of electrochemical

converts the chemical energy into cells which either connects in series or
electrical energy in parallel

Symbol

Specification Light and compact Heavy

Power Supply power for a short time. Supply power for a long time.

Applications Clocks, lamp, radio, remote control Automobiles, inverter, emergency light
devices etc. etc.

Cost Cheap Costly