Measuring Electricity

Chapter 6.2

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 Current electricity
• The electricity you get from batteries and power
points is not static
• It is made of electrons moving along a wire
• If the electrons do not move, no energy is received so the device
remains ‘off’

• This movement of charge is called an electric

current
• The energy of the moving electrons can be
transformed into other (more useful) forms

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 Current (I)

• An electric current is formed

whenever charge flows from one
spot to another
• In an electric current the flow of
charge is made up of electrons
moving along the wires
• Electric current is measured using
No, not this type of
currant…

an ammeter
• It measures the amount of charge
that flows through it every second
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• The unit used to measure
current is the ampere (A)
• It is usually shortened to ‘amps’

• Ammeters are connected in

series within circuits

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 Voltage (V)

• Voltage is a measure of the amount of energy:

• supplied to charges by the voltage source (supply voltage –
batteries, power packs, mains supply)
• used by the charges as they pass through a component such as a
light globe (components transform energy)

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• Voltage is measured using a
voltmeter
• A high voltage means either the
electrons are supplied with a lot
of energy or the component
transforms lots of energy
• The unit used to measure
voltage is volts (V)

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 Resistance (R)

• The path that charge takes along a wire is restricted by the atoms
that make up wires
• This is known as resistance

• Resistance measures how difficult it is for electric current to flow

through a material or conductor

• High resistance means that charge finds it hard to flow so a lot of

energy is transformed

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• Resistance affects the current flowing through
a circuit

• As resistance of a component or circuit

increases, less charge gets through
• This reduces the current flowing

• Resistance is measured using

the unit ohm (Ω)
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•The resistance of a material depends
on:
• The type of material the wire is made from
(metals have low resistance, rubber has
high resistance)
Conductors have low resistance
Insulators have high resistance

• The length of wire (double the length –

doubles the resistance)
• The wire thickness (thinner wires have
higher resistance)
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 Work Time

Read Chapter 6.2 page 228 – 230 on Batteries and power sources
Chapter 6.2 Review Questions p 233
Q

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 Series Circuits
Series circuit – There is only one path for charges to flow. There are no
branches or junctions.

 One switch can turn all the components on or off

 If one bulb breaks it causes a gap in the circuit and the circuit is
incomplete – all bulbs will be off
 The voltage supplied by the cell or mains supply is “shared” between all
the components.
 If you add more bulbs less voltage on each bulb and all the bulbs will be
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dimmer.
 Parallel Circuits

Parallel circuit – Circuits have branches or junctions. There is more than one
path that current can flow along.

 Switches can be placed in the branches, and be

able to control each bulb individually.
 If one bulb breaks, only the bulbs on the same
branch of the circuit will be affected.
 Each branch of the circuits receives the same
voltage of the supply.
 Therefore if more bulbs are added to a circuit
in parallel they all stay bright.

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 Ammeter and Voltmeter
In what type of In what type of Voila! They can
circuit is the circuit is the both go together
ammeter in? voltmeter in? in the circuit

What is this
voltmeter
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measuring?
 Prac time!

• Please turn to page 247 on your textbooks

• Complete the practical on Series and Parallel circuits
• Read the instructions carefully before attempting the practical.

• The link for the simulation used in this lesson is:

• https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc
• Have a go at creating your own circuits and simulating them! 

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