Electricity And Electrical Safety Flashcards
What is electricity?
Effects produced by moving charges
What are two kinds of charge?
- positive
- negative
What is the SI unit of charge?
Coulomb (C)
Charge of 1 electron
-1.6 x 10 ^ -19 C
“-e”
Charge of 1 proton
+ 1.6 x 10 ^ -19 C
“e”
Opposite charges
Attract
Like charges
Repel
Coulomb’s Law
Like charges repel, opposite charges attract
Law gives the magnitude of the electrostatic force of attraction or repulsion
What is electric current?
The amount of charge flowing per unit time
Conductors
Materials in which charges can easily move
___ are good electrical conductors
Metals
Most ___ are nonmetals and generally are not good conductors
Insulators (except for graphite)
To be a good conductor, electrons must be able to…
Move easily from one atom to the next
Electrical conductors are made of atoms that ___
Do not hold onto electrons tightly
Metals have electron shells that are mostly ___
Empty—good conductors
I.e.: Copper only has one electron in its fourth energy level
In the molecular orbital (MO) approach to bonding, atomic orbitals from individual atoms are ___ together to form molecular orbitals that extend over the entire molecule
Added
The MO approach to bonding results in a large collection (or band) of MOs that is only ___ filled; thus, there is room to ___ into the “molecule” with very little energy
Partially filled; room to accept new electrons
Electrical conductors allow electrons to pass through their conduction bands with very little effort, but not ___ effort
Zero
The energy required to push electrons through a material is a measure of the ___ of the material to the passage of current
Resistance
Resistance is measured in ___
Ohms
Conductance is the reciprocal of ___
Resistance
Conductance is measured in ___ or ___
Mhos or Siemens (S)
What is the electric circuit?
The closed path through which a charge flows
Direct current (DC) circuit
An electrical circuit in which the current flows in one direction only
Alternating current (AC) circuit
An electrical circuit in which the current reverses its direction in a periodic fashion
DC = electron flow is always ___
In the same direction
AC = electron flow ___ at regular intervals
Reverses direction
Short circuit
A situation in a circuit where the normal resistance of the circuit is bypassed by a low resistance path, resulting in a large current
If the current from a short circuit is not limited by a fuse or circuit breaker, the resulting heat from the high current can lead to a ___
Fire
Series circuits—when batteries or resistors are connected in a series, the voltages and resistances are ___
Added
Parallel circuits—when resistors are connected in parallel, current flows through each resistor ___ of the other
Independently
Electrical power is the product of ___ and ___
Volts and amps
Power is measured in ___
Watts