Download Battery, Light Bulbs, and Wires

Batteries, Light Bulbs, and Wires
Name _________________ Period ___
Voltage: the amount of electric energy available to move a charge
Amperage: the current, or rate of flow, of electrons in a path
Resistance: The force opposing the flow of electric current in a circuit
Circuit: A source of electrons and voltage to force electrons in a continuous path
Schematic drawing: A circuit diagram using symbols
Series circuit: All the resistance in a circuit lies along a single path
Parallel circuit: each resistor in a circuit is on a separate path
1) Draw a series circuit with two light bulbs.
2) Draw a parallel circuit with two light bulbs.
In the computer lab go to the class web page and on today’s date go to the webpage
“run now”
3) Drag a battery out into the blue screen. Using a voltmeter, find the voltage drop
across the battery by putting the red and black leads on either end of the battery.
a. Battery = ____________ volts
b. Under the heading “visual” click on “schematic.” Draw what a battery looks
like in a schematic drawing.
_____________________
4) Using the tools, make a series circuit with two bulbs and one battery (ANY TIME
YOU NEED TO DETACH PARTS OF A CIRCUIT CLICK ON A LINKED AREA AND
THEN PRESS “DELETE”).
a. Using the non-contact ammeter, what is the current of the circuit at the
first bulb? ______________
b. What is the current of the circuit at the 2nd bulb? _______________
c. Using a voltmeter, what is the voltage across drop across the battery?
_______________
d. Using a voltmeter, what is the voltage drop from the battery to the 2nd
light bulb? ____________
e. Add another battery so that the voltage drop across the battery is 18V.
What happened to the current at each point in the circuit?
_______________________
f. Add a third bulb to the circuit in series. What happened to the current and
voltage as compared with before?
_______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
g. Move your series circuit off to the side while you make the next circuit so
that you can compare them later on.
5) Make a parallel circuit with two bulbs and one battery.
a. Using the voltmeter, what is the voltage drop at the first light bulb?
____________
b. What is the voltage drop at the second light bulb? _________________
c. Set the visual to “schematic.” Draw a schematic representation of the circuit
below and label how many Amps of current are at each different section of
the circuit:
d. Add another bulb to the circuit so that there are three bulbs wired in
parallel. What happened to the current (Amps) at each place in the circuit?
__________________________________________________
e. What happened to the Voltage drop at each bulb? _______________________
6) Compare the brightness of the bulbs in your series and parallel circuits containing
three bulbs:
_______________________________________________________________________________
7) What happens when you make a circuit with no resistance? Why do you think this
happens?
8) Instead of a battery in a series circuit with one bulb, put in an AC power source.
a. Describe the voltage _______________________________________________
b. Describe the current ______________________________________________
9) Go to the grab bag and test whether the following items are insulators or
conductors. Simply state whether they are an insulator (I) or a conductor (C) next
to the item
a. Dollar bill _____________
b. Paper Clip _____________
c. Penny _______________
If you have more time you may experiment with circuits on this website only