Download Investigating Electrical Energy

Investigating
Electrical Energy
 An Electrical Circuit is a path along which
electricity can flow.
 The path must be ‘complete’ (in a closed loop)
for the electricity to flow.
Circuit
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 Circuits have the following parts:
◦An energy source, like a battery
◦A wire that allows electrons to travel around
◦Something that requires energy
◦Often they also have a switch
Circuit
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 A battery is a chemical factory that stores
chemical potential energy.
 Batteries have positive and negative terminals
 In a circuit, one end of the wire is connected to the
positive terminal and the other to the negative
terminal.
Battery
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 The wire is a type of conductor. This is
because it electricity flows along it easily.
 An insulator is something that doesn’t
allow electricity to flow easily
Conductors and insulators
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 When a bulb is put into the circuit, energy from
the battery flows into it.
 This also works with heaters, fans, motors and
other items
Circuit
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Without something that requires
energy, all that happens is the
battery goes flat.
Circuit
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 Electric switches are used to complete circuits
 When the switch is ‘on’ the circuit is complete
(closed)
 When the switch is ‘off’ the circuit is not complete
(open)
Switch
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There are two main types of circuits:
Series circuits
and
Parallel circuits
Types of circuits
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 A series circuit is when there is only one path
for the electrical current to flow through.
Series
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 If any part of the series is not complete, then
the electrical current does not flow through
the circuit.
 So if one light bulb in a series breaks, the
circuit’s path is broken and none of the bulbs
will light up.
Series
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 A parallel circuit has multiple paths for the
electrical current to pass through.
 If one bulb in a parallel circuit breaks, the
others will still work.
Parallel
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Diagrams of circuits use
symbols to represent
each component so that
they are easy to
understand
Reading a circuit
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•When batteries are connected in
series, the voltage increases
• When batteries are connected in
parallel, the voltage remains the same
batteries
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 So, if two 1.5 volt batteries are connected head to
tail (positive to negative) in a series, the total
voltage is 3.0 volt because....
2 x 1.5 volt = 3.0 volt
Series
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 When batteries are connected in parallel, the
voltage remains the same, but the batteries
last longer because less energy is needed from
each battery!
parallel
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