Electricity Flashcards
What is a renewable resource
Resource that replenishes itself at the rate it’s being used
What are some renewable energy sources
Solar, wind, wave, tidal, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal
What are some non-renewable energy sources
Coal, oil, nuclear, natural gas
What is a circuit
A never-ending looped pathway for charged carriers
What is a series circuit
- single loop
- different devices have different voltages across them
- Same current flows through each device
- If one device is broken, the whole circuit fails
What is a parallel circuit
- single source supplies voltage to separate loops of wire
- Voltage in every device is the same
- different devices, different currents
- each device will work if one fails
Describe resistance of the flow of electrons in a circuit
(hint: what happens when electrons in a wire collide)
Electrons collide with other electrons that make up the wire, and convert some of their energy to heat
What does Ohm’s Law state
The voltage across a conductor is directly proportional to the current flowing through it, provided all physical conditions and temperature remain consistent
Compare renewable energy with fossil feuls
- renewable will never run out, fossil fuels will
- fossil fuels and easy to store, renewables are not
What is energy efficiency
Using less energy to perform the same task - eliminating energy waste
What are the benefits of energy efficiency
- reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- reducing demand for energy imports
- lowering our costs on a household and economy- wide level
- cheapest + most immediate way of reducing fossil fuels
define voltage
measure of the electrical energy carried by the charges in a circuit. Voltmeter is connected in parallel
what happens to voltage in series circuit
voltages across components add up to the total voltage supplied by the battery
what happens to voltage in parallel circuit
the voltage across each component is the same
what happens to resistance in a series circuit
- the resistance of components add up to the total resistance of the circuit
- total resistance in the circuit is more than the resistance of each component
what happens to resistance in a parallel circuit
- The reciprocal of the total resistance is found by adding the reciprocal of the resistance of each component
- total resistance is less than the resistance of each component
define current
the flow of charges (electrons). ammeter is connected in series
what happens to current in series circuits
the current is the same evrywhere