Electric Current

Current
• What is an Electric Circuit?
 Review
• Electric potential is the amount of
electric potential energy per unit of
charge that would be possessed by a
charged object if placed within an
electric field at a given location
 Review
• l. Electric potential difference is simply
the difference in electric potential
between two different locations within
an electric field.
•The above illustration
comes close to
demonstrating the
meaning of an electric
circuit.
• The fact that the light bulb lights and
remains lit is evidence that charge is
flowing through the light bulb filament
and that an electric circuit has been
established.
• The electric circuit demonstrated by
the combination of battery, light bulb
and wires consists of two distinct
parts: the internal circuit and the
external circuit.
• The part of the circuit containing
electrochemical cells of the battery is
the internal circuit. The part of the
circuit where charge is moving outside
the battery pack through the wires and
the light bulb is the external circuit.
• An electric circuit is a conducting path,
external to the battery, which allows
charge to flow from one terminal to the
other.
 Requirements of a Circuit

• Suppose that you were given a small

light bulb, an electrochemical cell and a
bare copper wire and were asked to
find the four different arrangements of
the three items that would result in the
formation of an electric circuit that
would light the bulb