AGK - Electricity Flashcards
What is current?
Charge over time
How do electric field lines flow?
Out from positive
In toward negative
What is coulomb’s law?
The strength of the electric force/field can be increased by
increasing the amount of charge
decreasing the distance between charges
What is Kirchoff’s 1st law?
Total current flowing into a point must be the current flowing out of that point.
What is Kirchoff’s 2nd law?
The sum of the voltage drops of a circuit must equal the emf.
Which factors affect resistance?
Length - Proportional
Cross-sectional area - Inversely proportional
Material
Temperature - Proportional
Resistors in series?
Add resistances together
Resistors in paralell?
1/Rt = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3 …
What is a pole?
The connector
What is throw?
Moving from 1 position to another
Another name for push switches?
Light switches because they have lights in indicating condition.
What is momentary and alternative action on a switch?
Momentary - only while holding
Alternate - Toggle
What does a thermo switch do?
Make or break circuit when it reaches certain temps
What is a unipole system?
Old aircraft using ground as airframe.
What is a dipole system?
Composite aircraft have a return wire to ground.
What is a non-trip free circuit breaker?
Old type of breaker where the button can be pushed in again to complete the circuit even if the fault still exists.
What is a trip free circuit breaker?
Trip free circuit breaker prevents current from returning if the button is held in and the fault is still present through the use of secondary contacts.
What are thermal circuit breakers used for?
Protected circuits in event of prolonged over current.
Through use of two bitmetallic strips with two different coefficients of expansions
What is a magnetic circuit breaker and what is it used for?
A magnetic circuit breaker uses current instead of heat to generate a magnetic field to pull the breaker at a very specific point.
They are used in sensitive circuits where there is no delay and strict current limits.
How many spare fuses must an aircraft carry?
10% of number of fuses which use that specific rating
3 of each specific rating of fuse
The higher of these 2 values.
What are current limiters? (4 facts)
Allow short term overloads
High current fuses
Cannot be changed in flight
Normally found in series with busbars
How is static electricity generated?
Rubbing and friction exchanging electrons
What is a static discharge wick?
Static electricity likes sharp discharge points, a wick is a sharp discharge point which can be used to dissipate static electricity back into the atmosphere from the airframe.
Where do we find out how many static discharge wicks we can lose?
The Minimum equipment list (MEL)
What is bonding?
Bond each part of the airframe together to allow a low resistance path between all parts of the airframe and the static wicks.
Allows a uniform potential across the airframe.
What is grounding?
Airframe can still have charge after landing.
Ground to prevent arcing from fuel nozzle and prevent fire.
Why are cables covered in protection screening?
Wires carrying current have magnetic field.
This can interfere with other circuits.
Shield prevents this.
What is in a cell?
Anode (-)
Cathode (+)
Electrolyte separating them
How is a primary cell different to a secondary cell?
You can’t recharge a primary cell
Why is a secondary cell different to a primary cell?
You can recharge it
What are the two types of secondary cell?
Lead
Alkaline (NiCad)
The ELECTROLYTE determines the type!
What is the electrolyte in a lead acid battery?
Dilute sulphuric acid
What is in a lead acid battery
Anode - Lead peroxide
Cathode - Spongy lead
Electrolyte - Dilute sulphuric acid
What is the terminal voltage of a lead acid cell?
2.2 V
What is the nominal voltage of a lead acid cell?
2 V
What is terminal voltage?
Voltage of battery/cell off load
What is nominal voltage?
Voltage of battery/cell on load
What is the terminal voltage of a lead acid battery?
13.2 V (off load)