Direct Current Circuits-Princeton AP Physics I

coulomb

One ________ per second is an ampere (abbreviated A), or amp.

higher potential

The longer line represents the positive (________) terminal, and the shoerter line is the negative (lower potential) terminal.

Electric Current

-Although the electric field would travel through the wire at nearly the speed of light, the electrons themselves would still have to make their way through a crowd of atoms and other free electrons, so their drift speed, vd, would be relatively slow, on the order of a millimeter per second

Kirchhohoffs Rules

1

Voltage

creates a current

Circuit

an electric current maintained when the terminals of a voltage source are connected by a conducting pathway

Electromotive Force (also known as an emf)

The job of the voltage source is to provide a potential different

First law

The total current that enters a junction must equal the total current that leaves the junction

Second Law

The sum of the potential differences (positive and negative) that traverse any closed loop in a circuit must be zero.