0.6 Electricity Flashcards
What is current?
The rate of flow of charged particles around a circuit.
What are the charged particles in current?
They could be ions or more commonly free electrons in a metal wire.
What is conventional current?
The direction that positively charged particles travel around a circuit.
What is 1 Amp equal to?
1 Coulomb per second
Are there any junctions in a series circuit?
No
If a circuit has no junctions what does that mean for the coulombs?
All Coulombs have to pass through every component.
Current is the same everywhere in a series.
What is voltage?
Voltage is the amount of work done (energy transferred) per coulomb by a component (either gained or lost).
What is the equation for voltage?
V = W / Q
How do you work out how much voltage each component should get?
In a series circuit you would use Ohm’s law: V = I X R
In a series circuit, how is voltage and resistance linked?
Voltage is directly proportional to the resistance, as the current is the same everywhere.
What are the three methods to find the voltage split?
1) Just use Ohm’s law
2) Use ratios
3) Use the potential divider equation
What is Kirchhoff’s 2nd law?
in a series circuit the sum of the voltages of each component must equal the voltage across the power supply.
What is the voltage of a power supply sometimes known as?
The electro motive force (EMF)
In an ideal circuit what should be true?
1) Wires have no resistance ideally.
2) Ammeters are arranged in series and should have no resistance, so they don’t impede the flow of electrons.
3) Voltmeters should be arranged in parallel and have infinite resistance as no current should flow through it.
What makes parallel circuits different to series circuits?
Parallel circuits have junctions.
