Charge & Static Electricity
The name of the two types of electric charge.
What are positive and negative?
The name for a circuit with only one path for current to travel.
What is a series circuit?
The unit used to measure electric current.
What is the ampere (amp)?
The name of the device with a needle that uses Earth's magnetic field to show direction.
What is a compass?
The reason it's dangerous to use electrical appliances near water.
What is water conducts electricity?
The name for the buildup of electric charge on the surface of an object, like a balloon sticking to a wall after being rubbed on hair.
What is static electricity?
The name for a circuit with more than one path for current to travel.
What is a parallel circuit?
The letter used to represent voltage (potential difference) in Ohm's Law.
What is V?
The name for the two ends of a magnet, where the magnetic force is strongest.
What are poles (north and south)?
The classification of an energy source, like coal or solar, based on whether it can be replenished naturally within a human lifetime.
What is renewable vs. non-renewable?
The name for a material that allows charge to flow through it easily, like copper or aluminum.
What is a conductor?
The name of the tool used to measure the current flowing through a circuit, and how it's connected into the circuit.
What is an ammeter (connected in series)?
Resistance in a circuit is measured in this unit.
What are Ohms?
The term for the region of space around a magnet where its magnetic force can be detected.
What is a magnetic field?
The term for the rate at which electrical energy is transferred or used, measured in watts.
What is power?
The term for the process of transferring electrons between two objects when they touch, causing one to become positively charged and the other negatively charged.
What is charging by contact/friction?
The term for the total opposition a component or circuit offers to the flow of electric current.
What is resistance?
The equation, known as Ohm's Law, relating voltage, current, and resistance.
What is V = IR?
The name for a magnet created by running electric current through a coiled wire.
What is an electromagnet?
The unit that electricity companies use to bill households, representing energy used over time (kilowatt-hours is the common one).
What is a kilowatt-hour (kWh)?
The name for the invisible region around a charged object where it can exert a force on other charged objects.
What is an electric field?
The effect on total resistance when another resistor is added in parallel to an existing circuit.
What is a decrease?
The current flowing through a circuit with a voltage of 12V and a resistance of 4Ω.
What is 3 amps?
The name of the rule used to determine the direction of a magnetic field around a current-carrying wire.
What is the right-hand rule?
The term describing how well a device converts input energy into useful output energy without wasting much, most often as heat.
What is efficiency?