BTEC L3 Science

UNIT 15: Electrical Circuits and

their applications
LO1:Know principal electrical
terms, quantities and
relationships
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Assessment criteria
Learning outcomes
On completion of this unit a learner should:
1. Know principal electrical terms, quantities and
relationships
2. Be able to measure electrical values by construction of
series and parallel circuits
3. Understand the characteristics of AC and DC circuits
4. Understand the health and safety aspects of working with
electricity
5. Know the uses of transducers and measurement devices.

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Aim/Nodau:
Know principal electrical terms, quantities and
relationships

Objectives/Amcanion:
To be able to describe what electricity is
To Recognise symbols for electrical components
To be able to produce simple circuit diagrams

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Key Terms (Glossary)
Terminology and units:
current (Ampere)
potential difference (Volt);
electrical charge (Coulomb)
resistance (Ohm)
conductance (Siemen)
electrical power (Watt)
Definitions:
current in terms of rate of flow of mobile charge carriers
EMF as measure of ratio of energy supplied per unit charge
conductance and resistance in relation to density of mobile charge
carriers

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What is electricity?
1. Write down on a
post-it note what you
think electricity is.
2. 2. Feedback to class

Where does
electricity
come from?

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Atoms
All matter is made up of atoms, but "What are
atoms?" 
Atoms are the smallest part of an element.
They are composed of a central nucleus
(protons and neutrons), and electrons, which
surround nucleus.
Elements are identified by the number of
electrons in orbit around nucleus of atoms
and by the number of protons in nucleus.

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 Inside the atom…
The Nucleus is made up of
protons and neutrons, and the
number of protons and neutrons
are balanced.
Neutrons have no electric charge
protons have positive charges (+)
and
electrons have negative charges
(-).

What atom is this…?

The positive charge of the proton equals
the negative charge of the electron.
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 Electron Flow
• Electrons are bound in their orbit by the attraction of the
protons, but electrons in the outer band can become free of
their orbit by some external forces. These are referred to as
free electrons, which move from one atom to the next,
causing electron flows to be produced. This is the basis of
electricity.

Materials that allow many electrons to move freely are called conductors and

materials that allow few free electrons to move are called insulators.

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How Electrons Flow in a Conductor

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Neutral State of an Atom
All matter is made up of atoms that have electric charges.
Therefore, they have electric charges.
For matter that has a balanced number of protons and electrons,
the positive charge force and negative charge forces are
balanced. It is called neutral state of an atom. (The number of
protons and electrons remains equal.)

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 Static Electricity
"Static electricity" represents a situation that all things are made up of
electric charges.
For example, the rubbing of material against another can cause the static
electricity.
Free electrons of one material move forcefully till they are freed of their
orbits around nucleus and move to another. Electrons of one material
decrease, it presents positive charges. At the same time, electrons of
another increase, it has negative charges.

In general, charge producing of

the matter means the matter
has electric charges. It has
positive and negative charges,
which is expressed in
Coulomb.

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 Current, Voltage and Resistance
What is Current?
An electrical phenomenon is caused by flow of free electrons
from one atom to another. The characteristics of current
electricity are opposite to those of static electricity.
Wires are made up of conductors such as
copper or aluminium. Atoms of metal are
made up of free electrons, which freely move
from one atom to the next. If an electron is
added in wire, a free electron is attracted to a
proton to be neutral. Forcing electrons out
of their orbits can cause a lack of electrons.
Electrons, which continuously move in wire,
are called Electric Current.

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Current, Voltage and Resistance ctd.
For solid conductors, electric
current refers to directional negative-
to-positive electrons from one atom
to the next. Liquid conductors and
gas conductors, electric current
refers to electrons and protons flow
in the opposite direction.
Current is flow of electrons, but
current and electron flow in the
opposite direction. Current flows from
positive to negative and electron
flows from negative to positive.

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Current Electricity
Current electricity is about moving charged particles. If you allow the charge
that builds up in static electricity to flow, you get a current.
Current is the rate of flow of charge; it is the amount of charge flowing per
second through a conductor.

The equation for calculating current is: Q=Ixt

Where:
I = current (amps, A)
Q = charge flowing past a point in the circuit (coulombs, C)
t = time taken for the charge to flow (seconds, s)

So a current of 1 amp is 1 coulomb of charge flowing past a point every second.
Likewise a coulomb is the same as an ampere-second!
(Note: if you plot a graph of current flowing against time, the area under the graph
will equal the charge that has moved.)

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Current
Current is determined by the number of electrons passing
through a cross-section of a conductor in one second.
Current is measured in amperes, which is abbreviated
"amps". The symbol for amps is a letter "A".
A current of one amp means that current pass through a
cross-section of two conductors, which are placed in
parallel 1 meter apart with 2x10-7 Newton per meter force
occur in each conductor.
It can also mean charges of one coulomb (or
6.24x1018electrons) passing through a cross-section of a
conductor in one second.

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 What is voltage?
Electric current is flow of electrons in a conductor.
The force required to make current flow through a
conductor is called voltage and potential is the
other term of voltage. e.g. the first element has more
positive charges, so it has higher potential. On the
other hand, the second element has charges that
are more negative so it has lower potential. The
difference between two points is called potential
difference.

Electromotive force means the force which makes

current continuously flows through a conductor.
This force can be generated from a power
generator, battery, flashlight battery and fuel cell,
etc.
One volt means a force
The Volt, abbreviated "V", is the unit of which makes current of one
amp move through a
measurement used interchangeably for resistance of one Ohm.
voltage, potential, and electromotive
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How can you get the Charge to Flow?
Well, first you need to have a conductor for it to flow
through and then you need to attract or repel the
charged particles to make them move.
The amount of attracting or repelling you do is
measured in volts and is called the voltage or
the potential difference (p.d. for short).

Work is being done on these charged particles to make

them move, so the voltage is a measure of the amount
of energy that is provided per coulomb of charge.
1 volt = 1 joule per coulomb
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The equation for calculating voltage is:
V=W
Q
Where:
W = amount of energy (Joule, J)
V = voltage (Volt, V)
Q = charge (Coulomb, C)

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 What is resistance?
Electrons move through a conductor when electric current flows. All materials impede
(stop) the flow of electric current to some extent. This characteristic is called resistance.
Resistance increases with an increase of length or decrease of cross-section of a material.
The unit of measurement for resistance is ohms and its symbol is the Greek letter omega
(Ω).
The resistance of one ohm means a conductor allows a current of one
amp to flow with a voltage of one volt.
All materials are difference in allowing electrons flow. Materials that allow many electrons
to flow freely are called conductors such as copper, silver, aluminium, hydrochloric
solution, sulphuric acid and saltwater.
In contrast, materials which allow few electrons to flow are called insulators such as
plastic, rubber, glass and dry paper.
Another type of materials, semiconductors have characteristics of both conductors and
insulators. They allow electrons to move while being able to control flow of electrons and
examples are carbon, silicon and germanium, etc.
The resistance of conductor depends on two main factors as the followings:
1. Type of material
2. Temperature of the material
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 How to measure current?
The instrument used to measure current is called ampere
meter or ammeter.
• Steps for current measurement Connect a small
light bulb to a dry cell. Measure current that passes
through light bulb by connecting positive terminal
(+) of ammeter to negative terminal (-) of a dry cell
(see figure)
• Safety instructions for current measurement;
1. Estimate current that required measuring
then choose a suitable ammeter, since each
ammeter has different limit of current
measurement.
2. Be sure that the connection to positive
terminal (+) and negative terminal (-) of
ammeter are correct.
3. Do not directly connect ammeter terminals to  
dry cell terminals. Since it can damage the
meter.

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 How to measure voltage?
The instrument used to measure voltage, difference potential or electromotive
force is called voltmeter.
• Steps for voltage measurement:
Connect a small light bulb to a dry cell. A
voltmeter is wired in parallel with the light bulb to
measure voltage across the light bulb. Connect
positive terminal (+) of voltmeter to positive
terminal (+) of a dry cell and connect negative
terminal (-) of voltmeter to negative terminal (-) of
a dry cell (see figure).
• Safety instructions for measuring voltage:
1. Estimate voltage that requires measuring then
choose a suitable voltmeter, since each
voltmeter is designed with a limit of voltage
measurement that it can measure.
2. Be sure that the connecting of positive terminal
(+) and negative terminal (-) of voltmeter are
correct.
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How to measure resistance
The instrument used to measure resistance is called test
meter or multimeter. The multimeter or test meter is
used to make various electrical measurements such as
current, voltage and resistance. It combines the functions
of ammeter, voltmeter and ohmmeter.

Steps for resistance measurement:

Turn the face dial to a position for
required measuring, resistance,
then touch both of terminals of
multimeter (see figure 1) and adjust
the meter range to 0 Ω. Touch both
of terminals of meter to a resistance
and take the reading (see figure 2).
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 Heat in terms of voltage, current and time
Heat Quantity = 860 x Voltage (V) and Curent (I) x interval of time (t)
Or

Heat = 860x V x I x t

• The experiment is made by measuring heat quantity of water by calorimeter (a

bit like or water heating experiment with the immersion heater, but more
accurate). Increase voltage across wire by the variable resistor and connect
ammeter and voltmeter to measure current and voltage.
• Set the variac (variable resistor) scale to adjust voltage and current value of
nichrome wire and current is passed through periodically and measure the heat
quantity from nichrome wire.
• There are any indications of voltage and current. If voltage, current and time
increase, heat quantity will also increase.

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To measure Potential Difference:
Remember, a measure of the energy carried
between two points in a circuit is called voltage.
This could be measured by measuring the
potential difference (p.d.) either end of the bulb in
the circuit diagram shown below:
Battery (two
or more cells)

Variable Ammeter
resistor

Lamp (light
bulb)

Voltmeter
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 Key Terms: Series
Series – in series circuits the components
are connected in a line, end to end, so that
the current flows through all of them one after
the other (Ammeter)
Parallel – in a parallel circuit, components
are in separate paths and the current is split
between the paths (Voltmeter)
Parallel

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Symbols used in Circuits

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Activity
Your circuits will now
illustrate how a series
circuit and a parallel
circuit should be built.

Your tutor will describe

some basic circuits for
you to draw.

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 Ohm’s Law
Ohm’s Law describes how current and
voltage behave in metals. This can be
written as:
V=IxR
This can be proved practically by
measuring the voltage (Voltmeter) and
current (Ammeter)

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Ohm’s Law - worked example
1. What is the voltage across a 300W speaker if the
current flowing is 0.01 A?
If Voltage = current x resistance, then:
V = 0.01 x 300 = 3 V

2. If the voltage flowing across the speaker was 9V, what

current would be flowing?
Voltage = current x resistance, so
Current = voltage = 9/300 = 0.03A
Resistance
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H&S, Current and Resistors
High levels of current can be dangerous - it causes
electrical shock (heart can stop), burns where it enters
and leaves the body (you are a conductor!) and even
death.
In the lab., use only low levels such as a thousandth
of an amp (mA – milli Amp) or a millionth of an Amp
(micro Amp) and make sure you get a safety demo
from your tutor before you use any equipment!

All electrical circuit devices such as TVs, hairdryers

and light bulbs have resistors. These limit the current
that flows through the components as they could be
damaged if too much current flows through them.

Resistors in a
circuit board

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Table of units and symbols of electrical
properties:

Electrical UNIT Symbol

Property
Voltage
Current
Resistance

Fill in the table with the correct units and symbols.

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 Electrical Power (Kirchoff’s Laws)
When current is passed through nichrome wire in water, current is
converted to heat and temperature rises. Work is done by heat
generated in an electrical circuit, which is called Electric power.

Electric Power = heat quantity

Electric power is measured in Watts-hour (Wh) and heat quantity is measured in

 
calories (Cal).

Electric Power = voltage x current x time

P=vxIxt
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 Electrical Power ctd.
Work is done by heat generated in an electrical circuit is written in power,
which it means that the rate work is done in a circuit when 1 Amp flows with 1
Volt applied and its unit of measurement is Watt.

Electric Power = heat quantity

Work = power x time
I 2R; charge Q = It;
Kirchoff’s Law:

Power (Watts) = Current (A) x voltage (V)

or

P=IxV
which can be also written as

P = V2 or
P = I 2R
r
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Your turn…
You are an electrician and part of your work is to make sure that
electrical circuits are working correctly. To do this you must
understand Ohm’s Law and how to use measuring instruments.
1. Draw the circuit diagram for a Voltmeter and an
Ammeter in a circuit across a resistor with a 1.5V cell.
2. This question uses Ohm’s law. If a resistor in a circuit is
1500 Ohms, what is the current through it if it is connected
across a 1.5V supply?
3. Using a circuit diagram, show how you would confirm the
current and voltage readings in question 2 by using the
correct measuring instruments.

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Resistors
How to identify a
resistor by its
colour code:
Bad Booze Rots Our
Young Guts But
Vodka Goes Well
or
Better Build Roof
Over Your Garage
Before Van Gets
Wet.

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Conductance
Conductance is a measure of how well an artefact (such as an
electrical component, not a material, such as iron) carries an electric
current.
Resistance is a measure of how well an artefact resists an electric
current.
Resistance is measured in Ohms (usually abbreviated using the Greek
letter Omega, Ω) and, in formulae, is represented by the letter R.
Conductance is measured in Siemens (usually abbreviated S) and, in
formulae, is represented by the letter G.
Resistance and conductance are each other's reciprocals, so:

  R = 1 and
G

Conductance G =1
R
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Resistivity
Whether (or not) a material obeys Ohm's law, its resistance can
be described in terms of its bulk resistivity.
Resistivity and conductivity are material properties: they apply to
all examples of a certain material anywhere.
They are not the same as resistance and conductance, which
are properties of individual artefacts. This means that resistivity
and conductivity only apply to a given object. They describe
how well a material resists or conducts an electric current. The
resistivity, and thus the resistance, is temperature dependent.
Resistivity is usually represented by the Greek letter rho (ρ), and
is measured in Ω m.

R =ρl Click for a table o

f resistivity

A
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Conductors vs. insulators

Best electrical conductors: silver, copper, gold,

aluminum, calcium, beryllium, tungsten
Resistivity and conductivity are reciprocals.
Conductivity in metals is a statistical/thermodynamic
quantity.
Resistivity is determined by the scattering of
electrons. The more scattering, the higher the
resistance.

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Key Terms (Glossary)
Terminology and units:
current (Ampere)
potential difference (Volt);
electrical charge (Coulomb)
resistance (Ohm)
conductance (Siemen)
electrical power (Watt)
Definitions:
current in terms of rate of flow of mobile charge carriers
EMF as measure of ratio of energy supplied per unit charge
conductance and resistance in relation to density of mobile charge
carriers

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