Current and Voltage
This is the unit used to measure electric current.
What is the ampere (amp/A)?
In this type of circuit, there is only one path for current to flow.
What is a series circuit?
This component in a circuit diagram is drawn as two vertical parallel lines of different lengths, one longer than the other and may also represent a + and - sign.
What is a cell/battery/power source?
This safety device in a household circuit is designed to melt and break the circuit if too much current flows, preventing fires.
What is a fuse?
A hairdryer converts electrical energy into these two forms of energy.
What is heat and kinetic (movement) energy?
This is the term for the flow of electric charge through a circuit.
What is electric current?
In this type of circuit, there are multiple paths/branches for current to flow.
What is a parallel circuit?
Electrical current will only flow when this is closed.
What is a switch?
This is why electrical appliances are earthed (connected to the ground) as a safety measure.
What is to prevent electric shock by giving stray current a safe path to Earth instead of through a person?
A battery stores energy in this form before it is transformed into electrical energy in a circuit.
What is chemical energy?
This instrument is used to measure current, and must be connected in series in a circuit.
What is an ammeter?
In a series circuit, if one globe blows, this happens to the rest of the circuit.
What is it stops working / the circuit is broken (all globes go out)?
This component is drawn as a circle with an X inside it.
What is a globe/light bulb (lamp)?
This is why household appliances (like a lamp, TV and fridge) are wired in parallel rather than in series.
What is so each appliance gets the full mains voltage and can be switched on/off independently without affecting the others?
A solar panel transforms this form of energy directly into electrical energy.
What is light energy (from the sun)?
This is the term for the "push/pressure" or energy given to charges by a battery, measured in volts.
What is voltage (potential difference)?
In a parallel circuit, this stays the same across each branch, while current can differ.
What is voltage?
What are conductors/wires (a complete/unbroken conducting path)?
A closed circuit needs this feature — an unbroken path of these — for current to flow.
A student wires a circuit and notices a wire's plastic coating has melted and the room smells hot, but the switch is off. Suggest the most likely cause and the safety concept it demonstrates.
What is the circuit was likely overloaded / short-circuited, causing excess current and resistive heating — demonstrating why circuits need fuses/safety switches and correctly rated wiring?
An electric motor (like in a fan or a toy car) transforms electrical energy into this form of energy.
What is kinetic (movement) energy?
A voltmeter is always connected this way across a component, unlike an ammeter.
What is in parallel?
In a series circuit, this quantity is the same at every point in the circuit, while voltage is shared/divided across components.
What is current?
This is the material category most metals belong to, making them useful for electrical wiring.
What is a conductor?
Explain what would happen to old christmas tree lights if one globe was broken
What is Old-style Christmas tree lights are wired as a series circuit — all the globes sit one after another along a single loop of wire, so there's only one path for the current to follow. If the circuit is broken then the electrical current can no longer flow.
In a torch, chemical energy from the battery is transformed into electrical energy, and then into this final form of energy at the globe.
What is light energy (and some heat energy)?