Electricity

Current electricity and circuit

diagrams
 Electric
 Definition circuits
 An electric circuit is a path through which
current can flow
 Direction of current
 Electrons flow from negative to positive
 Conventional current flows from positive to
negative
Simple circuit
diagrams
 Current and potential
 difference
Current
 Current is the rate of flow of charge
 Current always follows the path of least
resistance
 Measured in amperes (A) using an ammeter
 Ammeter is always connected in series
 Current and potential
 difference
Potential difference
 Amount of electrical energy available in an
energy source OR
 Amount of electrical energy consumed by a
resistor
 Measured in volts (V) using a voltmeter
 Voltmeter is always connected in parallel
Measuring voltage and
current
 Resistance
 Resistance
 A measure of opposition to the flow of
electric charge
 Measured in ohms (Ω)
 A resistor is any substance that opposes
the flow of electric charge
 Resistance
 Resistance is inversely proportional to current
 The greater the resistance, the lower the current in
the main circuit
 The lower the resistance, the greater the current in
the
main circuit
 All metals have some sort of resistance
 Conductors with low resistance are used to
conduct electricity
• e.g.: copper wire
 Conductors with high resistance are used to
generate
light or heat
• e.g.: tungsten in the elements of light bulbs
Circuit diagram
components
 Measurements and
units
Units for measurement
Symbol used in
Measurement Definition
equation
Name Abbreviation

Energy The ability to do work W Joules J

A basic property of
Charge matter responsible for all Q Coulomb C
electric phenomena

Rate of flow of charge

Current I Ampere A
(coulombs per
second)
Amount of electrical
Potential
potential energy available in V Volt V
difference
an energy source

Resistance A measure of the opposition R Ohm Ω

to the flow of electric
 Types of
 Connection circuits
in series
 There is only one path along which
the current can flow
 Advantage
 Difficult to overload because current
remains
the same
 Disadvantage
 If one resistor is blown out, the circuit is
broken
A circuit connected in
series
 Types of
 Connection circuits
in parallel
 There is more than one path along
which the current can flow
 Advantage
 If one resistor is blown out, the current can
continue to flow through the other resistors
 Disadvantage
 Easy to overload because current
increases
with more resistors
A circuit connected in
parallel
 Resistors in
 Current series
 Current is reduced if resistors are added
 Resistance is increased
 The more light bulbs added, the dimmer they
become
 Resistance
 Total resistance of the circuit is equal to the sum of
all resistors
 All resistors are controlled by a single switch
 If one resistor is blown out the entire circuit
is broken
 Resistors in
 Current parallel
 Total current in the circuit is increased when more
resistors are added in parallel
 Resistance
 Total resistance in the circuit decreases if more
resistors are added in new parallel branches
 Resistors in
 parallel
If more light bulbs are added, they will still have the
same
brightness
 Each parallel branch can be controlled by its own
switch
 If one resistor is blown out the other branch(es) of the
circuit will continue working
Questions?

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