Electric Circuits and Ohm's Law

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers basic electric circuit components, units of measurement, circuit types, and the principles of Ohm's Law as presented in the lecture.

André-Marie Ampère

A French physicist who studied atoms and the behavior of electric current.

Electric Current

A flow of charge, which in metals is specifically due to the flow of electrons from the negative side to the positive side of a battery.

Ampere (A)

The unit of electric current, measured by an ammeter placed in the electrical path.

Ammeter

An instrument placed at a single point in a circuit to measure the flow of charge (electrons) passing through that point.

Alessandro Volta

An Italian physicist for whom the unit of the electrical 'pushing force' is named.

Voltage

The 'pushing force' that causes charges to move, which increases with the number of cells in a battery.

Volt (V)

The unit of voltage, measured by a voltmeter connected between two points of a circuit.

Voltmeter

An instrument put at two points of a circuit to measure the voltage and determine which side has a higher 'force' to push electrons.

Cell

A circuit component represented by two lines; the longer line is the positive terminal and the shorter line is the negative terminal where electrons leave.

Battery

A component consisting of two or more cells connected together.

Series circuit

A circuit arrangement where electrons leave the negative terminal and must pass through all lamps in the path before returning to the positive terminal.

Parallel circuit

A circuit arrangement where current divides at a junction, allowing electrons to pass through only one branch before merging again.

Georg Ohm

A German physicist who defined the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance.

Resistance

A measure of the 'total difficulty' for current to pass through a circuit, which slows down the flow of electrons.

Ohm (\Omega)

The unit of resistance, represented by the Greek letter omega.

Ohm's Law

The mathematical principle stating that $\text{Voltage} = \text{Current} \times \text{Resistance}$ ($V = I \times R$).

Energy Transfer (Cell to Lamp)

The process where chemical energy in the cell is converted to electrical potential energy, which electrons carry to the lamp to be converted into light and thermal energy.

Total Resistance in Series

The cumulative difficulty in a circuit that increases as more lamps are added, resulting in less current.

Total Resistance in Parallel

The cumulative difficulty in a circuit that decreases as more branches (lamps) are added, resulting in more total current.

Van de Graaff generator

A device that can generate high voltages up to $100\,kV$ by accumulating charges on a metal sphere via a belt and rollers.