Transcript Current Electricity

Current Electricity
• An electrical current is a flow of charged
particles (electrons or ions) through a
circuit
• In a circuit with a battery or chemical cell,
electrons flow from a negative terminal to
a positive terminal through the circuit
• Conductors are
materials through which
a current can flow
• Metals are good
conductors
• Other materials like
carbon or water are
also good conductors
• Schematic diagrams are diagrams of
electric circuits
• Symbols are used to represent different
parts of an electrical circuit
Schematic Diagram
Series and Parallel Circuits
• Series circuits
have a single
pathway for the
current
• Parallel circuits
have more than
one pathway for
the current
• Meters are used to measure current,
voltage or resistance in a circuit
Current
• a measure of the number of charged
particles passing a point in a given time
• measured in amperes (A) or amps
• 1A = 1 coulomb of charge per second
• Symbol for current is I
• An ammeter is used to measure current
in a circuit
• Ammeters are connected in series
Conventional Current
• In an electric circuit,
electrons actually
flow from the
negative terminal to
the positive terminal
• In conventional
current, we assume
they are flowing
from positive to
negative
Voltage
• a measure of the
amount of electrical
energy carried by
each charged
particle in a circuit
• measured in Volts
(V)
• A voltmeter is used to measure voltage
• A voltmeter is connected in parallel
Resistance
• A resistor resists the flow of current in a
circuit
• Resistors convert electrical energy into
other forms such as heat or light
• Resistance (R) is measured in Ohms (Ω)