Electricity igcse

• Electricity
• Charge.
• Can be negative or positive.
• Like charges repel.
• Unlike charges attract.
• Coulomb (𝐶)
• Charge of 6 million million million electrons (6,000,000,000,000,000).
• Origin.
• Electrons.
• Negative charge.
• Protons.
• Positive charge.
• Neutrons.
• Neutral/No charge.
• Charged objects attract uncharged objects.
• Induced charges.
• Uncharged object becomes charged when charged object is nearby.
• Attraction is stronger than repulsion.
• Earthing.
• Unwanted charge builds up.
• Objects can be connected to ground via conducting materials.
• Built-up charge flows away underground.
• pass through.
• Their electrons are tightly held to atoms
• Examples.
• Plastics.
• PVC.
• Polythene.
• Perspex.
• Glass.
• Rubber.
• Dry air
• Conductors.
• Allows electrons to pass through.
• Metals are best conductors as they have free electrons.
• Examples.
• Good.
• Metals.
• Silver.
• Copper.
• Aluminium.
• Carbon.
• Poor.
• Water.
• Human body.
• Earth.

• Semi-conductors.
• Conductivity increases with temperature.
• Examples.
• Silicon.
• Germanium.
• Insulators.
• Don’t allow electrons to
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• Insulators.
• Don’t allow electrons to pass through.
• Their electrons are tightly held to atoms
• Examples.
• Plastics.
• PVC.
• Polythene.
• Perspex.
• Glass.
• Rubber.
• Dry air.
• Electric fields.
• Regions in which electric charge experiences a force.
• Strongest at points.
• Charge leaks & may ionise air.
• Electric current.
• Flow of charge.
• Ampere (𝐴)
• Current = Charge ÷ Time
• 𝐼 = 𝑄/𝑡
• Measured via series.
• Direction.
 • Conventional flow.
• Electricity flows from the positive to the negative terminal.
• Electron flow.
• Electrons actually move from the negative to the positive terminal.
• Electromotive force.
• EMF.
• The maximum voltage a cell can produce.
• Produces maximum when not in circuit or not supplying current.
• Potential difference.
• PD.
• EMF — Energy lost throughout the circuit.
• Energy ÷ Charge
• Volts (𝑉)
• Measured via parallel.
• Sum of PD across loads = sum of PD across battery.
• Resistance.
• Conductor’s ability to resist flow of current.
• Ohms (𝛺).
• PD ÷ Current
• 𝛺 = 𝑉/𝐼
• Factors.
• Length.
• Directly proportional.
• Cross-sectional area.
• Indirectly proportional.
• Temperature.

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• Conductors.
• Directly proportional.
• Semi-Conductors.
• Indirectly proportional.
• Material.
• Nichrome wire has more resistance than copper wire.
• Resistors.
• Variable.
• Rheostats.
• Resistance can be controlled.
• Thermistors.
• Resistance increases with temperature.
• Light dependent resistors.
• LDRs.
• Resistance decreases with increasing light intensity.
• Diodes.
• Has a high resistance in one direction, but a lower resistance in the opposite direction.
• Ohm’s Law.
• Current ∝ PD.
• Only if temperature remains constant.
• Resistivity.
• Resistance × Area ÷ Length.
• 𝜌
• If diameter doubles, area quadruples.
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• Resistivity.
• Resistance × Area ÷ Length.
• 𝜌
• If diameter doubles, area quadruples.
• Circuits.
• Series.
• Voltage splits.
• Current doesn’t split.
• Total resistance = Resistance A + Resistance B
• Parallel.
• Voltage doesn’t split.
• Current splits.
• Total resistance = 1 ÷ [(1 ÷ Resistance A) + (1 ÷ Resistance B)]
• Power.
• Rate at which energy is transformed.
• Watts (𝑊)
• P.D. × Current
• 𝑃 = 𝑉𝐼
• Energy.
• Power × Time
• 𝑊ℎ = 𝑊𝑡
• P.D. × Current × Time
• 𝐸 = 𝑉𝐼𝑡
• Fuse.
• Thin piece of wire.
• Melts when current is above certain level.
• Circuit breaker.
• Automatic switch.
• An electromagnet pulls contacts apart if current too high.
• Contains reset button which resets everything.