Who Was...? (Must be answered as a question!)
After watching his colleague mistakenly describe “animal electricity,” this Italian scientist created the first battery, called the Voltaic Pile.
Who was Alessandro Volta?
It states, “Like charges repel, unlike charges attract.”
What is the basic law of charges?
This device allowed people to communicate at the speed of light for the first time.
What is the telegraph?
DAILY DOUBLE!!
What type of current is better for long range power transmission and why?
These are the subatomic particles that move to create electrical currents.
What are electrons?
This American founding father discovered that lightning was electricity. (Don't try his experiment at home!)
Who was Benjamin Franklin?
This is what you call something that allows electrons to flow through it easily.
What is a conductor?
This device uses two different kinds of metal separated by an acidic substance to create an electrical current.
What is the voltaic pile/battery?
This is the kind of current a battery generates.
What is DC?
A switch turns off a light by doing this to the circuit.
What is opening?
Thomas Edison eventually held over 1000 patents and created the modern electrical grid, but he is most famous for this BRIGHT idea.
What was the lightbulb?
The unit that measures the “pressure” or “pushing force” on electrons.
What are volts/what is voltage?
This was the first thing ever recorded by Thomas Edison, after he invented the phonograph.
What is Mary Had a Little Lamb?
Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction, which uses a magnetic field to move these subatomic particles.
What are electrons?
Without one of these, a circuit is called short.
What is a load
The story goes that while demonstrating a circuit during a lecture, this Danish physicist discovered electromagnetism when he noticed that a wire coil with electricity running through it influenced a nearby compass.
Who was Hans Christian Ørsted?
(Does not have to be a question) Explain the difference between parallel and series circuits.
Parallel - multiple paths for electrons to flow
Series - only one path for electrons to flow
This device converts electromagnetic energy into mechanical energy.
What is a motor?
Everyone knows Thomas Edison invented the lightbulb. But this was arguably his greatest invention, which needed to exist before the lightbulb could see widespread use.
What is the electric grid/power plants?
This part of a circuit isn’t strictly necessary to allow current to flow, but it does allow one to control the circuit.
What is a switch?
This is the device invented by Joseph Henry which can raise and lower the voltage of an alternating current.
What is a transformer?
(Does not have to be a question) Explain the difference between electromagnetism and electromagnetic induction.
Electromagnetism - electrical currents produce magnetic fields
Electromagnetic Induction - Magnetic fields moved through a conductor produce an electrical current
This is the part of a motor that is necessary to allow its rotor to spin; without this, the rotor would eventually lock in place.
What is the commutator?
A generator converts this type of energy into electricity by spinning a conductor through a magnetic field (or vice versa).
What is kinetic/mechanical energy?
A longer, thinner wire will have more of this, while a shorter, thicker wire will have less.
What is resistance/Ohms?