Introduction to Circuits Remote Lab

Introduction to Circuits Remote Lab Learning Goals ● ● ● ● Explore basic electricity relationships. Explain basic electricity relationships in series and parallel circuits. Use an ammeter and voltmeter to take readings in circuits. Provide reasoning to explain the measurements and relationships in circuits. Prediction Questions Consider the pictures of each of these circuits, then answer the questions below. Series Circuit Parallel Circuit Complex Circuit 1. From the circuits above, predict which bulb (or bulbs) will be the brightest. Why do you think that? I would say the parallel circuit because they each have theyre own path so they won’t share an electron. 2. Current is the flow of charge (measured in coulombs/sec = amps) in a circuit. Describe how you think current will flow in the different types of circuits above. There is alternating current and direct current, for the direct current it flows in the series circuit but for alternating current it flows in the parallel circuit and the complex circuit. Develop your understanding: 3. Explore the Intro screen of Circuit Construction Kit DC a. Build a circuit that shows how to make a light bulb light up. b. Figure out how to measure current and voltage. c. Insert an image of your circuit with the current and voltage measured. 4. Imagine you’re an engineer making a string of battery powered holiday lights. If a bulb burns out current cannot flow through that bulb any longer like if the wire at the bulb has been cut. Figure out how to hook up 2 light bulbs and a battery so that when one bulb burns out or is disconnected the other stays lit. a. Insert images (Take pics with your phone, or screen shots from your computer and insert them here!) to illustrate that your circuit works as expected. b. Explain why you think it works. It works becuase it is a parallel circuit. It has two routes the electrons can flow through, so that if one gets cut, they can easily flow through the circuit to power the bulbs using their own path. 5. Imagine that you want to make sure the battery for your string of lights will last as long as possible. A battery will last longer if it powers a circuit with low current. How could you hook up a battery and 2 light bulbs so the least amount of current flows through the battery? Use the measurement tools in the simulation to check your design. a. Insert images to illustrate that your circuit works as expected. b. Explain why you think it works.Hooking up the bulb to the battery in a series arrangement will draw the least amount of current. In this case now, the bulb will serve as the load on the battery (resistance). For the current to last longer, the least amount of energy must be drawn. The least amount of energy will be drawn when the arrangement provides the maximum resistance possible. Develop your understanding Part 2 Instructions: Your goal in this part is to write rules to describe how patterns of current and voltage in a circuit relate to the structure of the circuit. You will need to measure current and voltage in multiple places on several different circuits. Examples: Measuring Current Measuring Voltage “Current” is the flow of charge, measured in Amps (Coulombs/s). An ammeter measures the current past a single point in the circuit. “Voltage” is a measure of the difference in electric potential between two points. The voltmeter measures this difference by placing the two leads (pronounced “leeds”) at two different points. The current flowing through point 1 can be written as: = 0.09 A. The voltage between points A and B can be written as = 9 V. Use the table below to record your measurements and patterns you notice. You decide where will be the most useful places to take measurements, and how many to take. Circuit Label the places where you decide to measure current and voltage. Try several places. 1) Simple Circuit Current Measurements (Amps) Voltage Measurement s (Volts) . Example: = _1.00__ A = _0.45__ A = _0.45__ A Example: = 10.00_ V = -10.00 V = _0.00_ V What patterns do you notice? ● Where is the current the same? Where is it different? ● Where does the voltage change? Where doesn’t it change? ● How do the different circuits compare? The current is the same along all the places I measured. The voltage stays the same throughout the circuit. Label on the picture the places where you measure (See examples above ). 2) Series Circuit = _0.45__ A = _0.45__ A = -4.50_ V The voltage and current stayed = _9.00_ V. the same while I measured = _0.45__ A = _9.00_ V. them. 3) Parallel Circuit = _1.80__ A = _0.90__ A = _1.80__ A = -9.00_ V. The voltage stayed the same = -9.00_ V. throughout the whole circuit = -9.00_ V. but when i measured the current, it changed when i got far away from the battery, it changed from a 1.80 A to a -9.00 V 4) Complex circuit = _4.20__ A = _1.40__ A = _4.20__ A = 28.00_ V The voltage stayed the same = -28.00_V when I measured the battery = 14.00_ V and the light bulbs. The current changed as I got further away from the battery, it went from 1.35 A to 0.90 A to 0.45 A. Summarize your understanding: 6. Compare the patterns you see in a series circuit to the ones you see in parallel and complex circuits. Write rules about voltage and current for each type of circuit. For example, “In a series circuit, I see that the current ….., whereas in a parallel circuit I see… ”. In the series circuit the voltage and current stayed the same throughout the whole circuit but when i measured the parallel and complex circuit, the voltage did stay the same but the current decreased the further i got from the battery, that is because the electrons only have a certain amount of energy and if there is more bulbs, then the electrons have to split the energy to get to the bulbs equally. In a series circuit, I see that the current stays the same, whereas in a parallel circuit I see it changes (the current decreases) the further away I get from the battery, same with the complex circuit. Test your understanding 7. Predict from your rules above, the order of the light bulbs in these circuits from brightest to dimmest. Some bulbs might be the same brightness. a) (order the bulbs by brightness) 1 and 6 are brighter than 2 ,3, 4,5, ( they are all the same), 7. 8,9 have the same brightness b) After you make your rankings, build circuits to check your answers and list the correct ranking below. Insert images from the simulation to support your sequence. Did your rules allow you to correctly rank the bulb brightness? If not, correct your rules in #6. Yes they did Did you use any meters to help you make your list? If so, explain why. I used the current meter to help me see which current is the largest, if the current is large, then the bulb is bright. If the current is low then the brightness of the bulb won't be the best. 8. If you want to make a flashlight and have two batteries and a lightbulb. a) Predict how you would hook them up to make the brightest flashlight, and explain why. b) Build circuits to check your answer and insert images from the simulation for evidence. I would make a series circuit with the batteries beside each other and the bulb on the bottom. The energy would be stronger if the circuit is all together, it would catch on fire if it was a parallel circuit. Too much heat would be produced.