Electricity

Question 1

Define charge…

Answer 1

The movement of energy from one place to another

Question 2

Define static electricity…

Answer 2

• The build-up of electric charge on a surface

Question 3

How does static electricity occur, and what happens when it does occur?

Answer 3

• This build-up commonly occurs as a result of the surface being rubbed against another surface.
• Electrons (-) have been rubbed off one surface (charging it positive) and have transferred to the other surface (charging it negative).

Question 4

What happens to static charge after a while?

Answer 4

• Static charge usually leaks away after some time into its surroundings, including the air around it, returning materials to their original neutral state.

Question 5

Define Current…

Answer 5

• When electrons move along a wire, this movement of charge is called an electric current.
• If the electrons don’t move, no energy is received by the light globe or appliance, so nothing happens – it stays ‘off’.

Question 6

What is Voltage?

Answer 6

• Voltage is a measure of the amount of energy; supplied to the charges by the voltage source, used by the charges as they pass through a component.

Question 7

How do you determine if something is overall negative or positive?

Answer 7

• If something is positive, it will have more positive charges than negative
• If something is negatively charged, then it will have more negative charges than positive

Question 8

What is it called when something has equal positive to negative charges?

Answer 8

• It is neutrally charged

Question 9

What is a conductor?

Answer 9

• A conductor is an object or type of material that allows the flow of an electrical current through it. These often include types of metals

Question 10

Name types of conducting materials…

Answer 10

• Copper, aluminium, silver, gold

Question 11

What is an insulator?

Answer 11

• A material in which very little electric current will flow through under the influence of an electric field
• A material that responds with very high resistance to the flow of electrical current or totally resists electric current is called an insulating material

Question 12

Name types of insulating materials…

Answer 12

• Types of insulating materials include PVC, glass and rubber

Question 13

What is the subatomic particle responsible for the production of current?

Answer 13

• Electrons are responsible for circuits

Question 14

What does an electrical circuit NEED?

Answer 14

• An electric circuit needs: an energy source, an energy user and wires to connect everything and complete the circuit.

Question 15

A circuit will only operate if it is…..

Answer 15

• Complete. A circuit must be complete for it to operate

Question 16

Other reasons that a circuit may not work include…

Answer 16

• Negative to negative
• A light globe is “blown” (when connected in series)
• Circuit is not complete

Question 17

A circuit may include…

Answer 17

• Something to control the current (switch)
• Something to modify the size of the current (resistors)
• Something to store the current temporarily (capacitors)

Question 18

How are household circuits connected?

Answer 18

• Household circuits have combinations of series and parallel circuits

Question 19

If a Circuit is connected in Parallel, then…

Answer 19

• Each energy user has its own connection to the power source. This means that each power user gets the full amount of energy (voltage) from the power source

Question 20

If a circuit is connected in Series, then…

Answer 20

• All of the energy users are connected in a “loop”, and they share the power source. This means that the more power users connected to the circuit, the less power that each will get. For example, if the power source is 9 Volts, and there are three light bulbs, each light bulb will only get 3 Volts of energy.

Question 21

Define resistance…

Answer 21

• Resistance is the measure of difficulty to pass an electric current through a conductor such as electrical wiring.