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![]() B09-Magnetism |
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Electric Current &
Circuits |
What is electric current? |
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Vocabulary Electric Current & Magnetic Fields Chapter 1, Section3 Pages 30-35 Audiobook Electric Circuit Measurements Chapter 2, Section 2 Pages 56-59 Audiobook Series and Parallel Circuits Chapter 2, Section3 Pages 64-67 Audiobook Investigating Electromagnetism - Worksheet Edison - Worksheet |
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Essential Vocabulary & Concepts |
Picture | Core Knowledge or
Concept |
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Electric current is the
continuous flow of electrons (note: a spark is not continuous.) The amount of charges per second is measured in amperes (amps or A). |
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An
electric
circuit is a closed
(complete) path that allows current to flow. An open circuit (switch is open) stops the flow of electrons. |
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A resistor
or semiconductor
is a material like silicon, germanium, or arsenic (used in computer
chips) that lose or use electrical energy, slowing the flow. |
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A
device is anything that
uses or resists the flow of electrons. Devices include resistors,
buzzers, and light bulbs. They are represented as resistors in a circuit. |
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Conductors
are materials that allow electrons (red) to flow like metal wires. A
conductor transfers electric charge well, but electric charges do not
flow easily through every material. |
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Source: Charges in an electric circuit flow because of a difference in electrical potential energy called voltage, measured in volts (V). You can think of voltage as the amount of force pushing an electric current. A voltage source is a device that creates a potential difference in an electric circuit. |
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Resistance
is the measure of how difficult it is for charges to flow through a
material. The greater the resistance, the less current there is for a
given voltage. The unit of measure of resistance is the ohm (Ω). Resistance can vary with:
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If all parts
of an electric circuit are connected one after another along one path,
the circuit is called a series circuit. In a series circuit,
there is only one path for the current to take. Because of this, if one
light goes out in a series circuit, the other lights will go out.
Adding lights to a series circuit will make other lights in the circuit
dimmer. |
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In a parallel circuit,
there are several paths (called branches)
for current to take. If one light goes out in a parallel circuit, the
other lights in the circuit will remain lit because there is still
current in the other branches. When branches are added to a parallel
circuit, the overall resistance actually decreases because the current
has more paths to follow. |
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A multimeter
includes each of these functions. |
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A circuit diagram
shows the sources, conductors, and devices (as resistors) using symbols |
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Scientist Paul and Joseph Galvin, founders of Schaumburg Illinois based Motorola along with son Paul, developed the car radio and the germanium based transistor in 1955. |
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Technology The Transistor (1955) was the first mass-produced semiconductor, the forerunner of today's microprocessors at the heart of telephones, TVs, and almost all electronic devices. Transistors allowed early miniaturization of low-power electronics. The older vacuum tubes used to break,burn out, use alot of electricity, and alot of space. |