ELECTRICITY NOTES

Two kinds of electrical charges

from negative charges because ordinary matter has a zero net charge.

 Electric charge is a fundamental property of matter.

Important difference is that there are 2 types of charges

electrical charges.
As far as we know there is only one type of mass and all

masses attract each other through gravity.

Static electricity
An object with a net charge of zero is describe as being

electrically neutral. A charged atom does not have a net charge of zero An object with more negative charges has a net negative charge An object with more positive charges has a net positive charge. A tiny imbalance of either positive or negative charges on an object is the cause of static electricity. This is when 2 neutral objects are rubbed together and some electrical charges (electrons) are exchanged

What causes shocks?

strongly attracts charge of the other sign and repels the charge of the same sign.
For example: you are walking on carpet during a dry day,

your body will pick up excess negative charges. If you touch a neutral door knob some of your excess negative charges moves to the door. Door knob is an conductor, the charge flows quickly. The moving charge make a brief intense electric current between you and the door knob.

Storms
Lightning is caused by a giant build up of static charge The forces of gravity and wind cause the particles to

separate. Positively charged particles accumulate near the top of the cloud and negative charges fall to the bottom The negatively charged cloud repels the negatively charged ground causing the ground to become positively charged Negative charges are attracted to positive charges All the negative charges flow from the cloud to the ground and heats the air as it goes. This heating of the air expands the air creating sound waves that we hear as thunder.

Electric Circuits
Electricity means the flow of electric current. An electric circuit is a complete path through which

electricity travels Circuits are made up of wires and electrical parts such as batteries, light bulbs, resistors, motors and switches A circuit diagram is a shorthand method of describing a working circuit. A circuit diagram uses symbols to show the parts that a circuit is made up of.

Circuit diagram

Resistor
A resistor is an electrical device that uses the energy

carried by the electric current in a specific way.

energy is shown with a resistor symbol such as a light bulb, heating element, speaker, or a motor

Open and closed circuits

circuits. Electric current can only flow if there is a complete and unbroken path. This is called a closed circuit. If a switch is opened or disconnecting a wire will cause the current to stop flowing this is called an open circuit Switches are used to turn electricity on and off Flipping the switch to off will cause an open circuit by making a break in the wire

Open and closed circuits

Current
Electric current is measured in units called amperes or

amps Electric current from a battery flows out of the positive end and returns back into the negative end. An arrow can be used to show the direction of the current in a circuit diagram

Voltage
Voltage is a measure of electric potential energy. Voltage is measured in volts Voltage difference means there is energy that can be

used to do work. With electricity, the energy becomes useful when we let the voltage difference cause current to flow through the circuit Current is what flows and does the work A difference in voltage provides the energy that causes current to flow.

 A voltmeter measures just voltage. A more useful meter is a multimeter which can measure

voltage or current To measure voltage, the meters probes are touched to two places in a circuit or across a battery. The meter shows the difference in voltage between two places

Resistance and Ohms Law

objects resist current flowing through it.

Circuits
The total amount of resistance in a circuit determines the

amount of current in the circuit for a given voltage. Every device that uses electrical energy adds resistance to the circuit More resistance a circuit has the less current

 Resistance is measured in units called ohms The wires used to connect circuits made of metals have a

low resistance so when measuring resistance you can ignore the wires resistance

Ohms Law
Ohms law states that the current is directly related to the

voltage and inversely related to the resistance V=IR

Conductors and insulators

or carry electric current. Most metals are good conductors Insulators do not allow current to flow easily. Examples: rubber, glass, and wood. Some materials are in between conductors and insulators. This are called semiconductors.

Series Circuits
In a series circuit, the same current flows through each

resistor, but a different voltage across each resistor. Inexpensive Christmas lights are example. One goes out they all go out. Because the current can no longer flow through. RT = R1 + R2 + R3 +

Series Circuits:

Parallel Circuits

1 1 1 1 ... R T R1 R 2 R 3

Two or more paths for the current to travel. In a parallel circuit, each resistor has the same

voltage, but different currents. The current is determined by the branchs resistance

Parallel Circuits: