Chapter 1 - Electricity: Charge And Current

Question 1

Define Conductors

Answer 1

A material that allows the flow of electrical charge. Good conductors have a larger amount of free charge carriers to carry a current

Question 2

Define Conservation of Charge

Answer 2

The total charge in a system cannot change

Question 3

Define Conventional Current

Answer 3

The flow from positive to negative, used to describe the direction of current in a circuit.

Question 4

Define Coulomb

Answer 4

The unit of charge

Question 5

Define Electric Current

Answer 5

The rate of flow of charge in a circuit

Question 6

Define Electron Flow

Answer 6

The opposite direction to conventional current flow. Electrons flow from negative to positive

Question 7

Define Elementary Charge

Answer 7

The smallest possible charge, equal to the charge of an
electron

Question 8

Define Insulators

Answer 8

A material that has no free charge carriers and so doesn’t allow the flow of electrical charge

Question 9

Define Kirchhoff’s First Law

Answer 9

A consequence of the conservation of charge. The total current entering a junction must equal the total current leaving it

Question 10

Define Mean Drift Velocity

Answer 10

The average velocity of an electron passing through an
object. It is proportional to the current, and inversely proportional to the number of charge carriers and the cross-sectional area of the object