Chapter 13: Electrical Systems Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering electrical components, circuits, power calculations, energy effects, and safety hazards based on the Chapter 13 lecture notes.

Electricity

Energy resulting from the flow of electric charges.

Power source

A component, such as a battery, that provides energy for electric charges to flow.

Conductors

Materials, such as copper wire, that provide a path for electric charges to flow.

Loads

Electrical appliances, such as lamps, fans, or ovens, that convert electrical energy into other forms of energy to do work.

Control Devices

Components like switches or relays used to start or stop the flow of electric charges.

Protective Devices

Components like fuses or circuit breakers that stop the flow of charges when the current gets too high.

Electric Current ($I$)

The measure of the rate of flow of electric charges, measured in the SI unit Ampere ($A$).

Ammeter

An instrument used to measure electric current that must be connected in series to the circuit.

Potential Difference ($V$)

Also called voltage, it is the work done or energy used to drive a unit charge through a component, measured in the SI unit Volt ($V$).

Voltmeter

An instrument used to measure potential difference that must be connected in parallel with the component.

Resistance ($R$)

A measure of how difficult it is for an electric current to pass through a material, measured in the SI unit Ohm ($\Omega$).

Series Circuit

A circuit arrangement where loads are connected one after another in a single loop, providing only one pathway for current to pass.

Parallel Circuit

A circuit arrangement where loads are connected to the source in two or more loops, allowing multiple pathways for current to flow.

Ohm's Law Formula

The relationship where potential difference is the product of current and resistance, expressed as $V = IR$.

Effective Resistance in Series

The total resistance calculated as the sum of all individual resistances: $R_{Total} = R_1 + R_2 + R_3...$

Effective Resistance in Parallel

The value where the reciprocal of the total resistance is the sum of the reciprocals of individual resistances: $\frac{1}{R_{Total}} = \frac{1}{R_1} + \frac{1}{R_2}...$

Electrolysis

A chemical effect of electric current used for the chemical separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen.

Electromagnet

A device utilizing the magnetic effect of electric current, used in telephones, motors, and recycling scrapyards.

Nichrome

A material used in heating elements due to its high resistivity, converting electrical energy into thermal energy.

Tungsten

A material used in filament lamps because its high resistivity causes it to glow and give off light.

Electrical Power ($P$)

The rate of converting electrical energy into other forms of energy, measured in the SI unit Watt ($W$).

Kilowatt-hour ($kWh$)

A unit of electrical energy consumption used for commercial billing, calculated as $\text{Power (kW)} \times \text{Time (h)}$.

Fuse

A safety device containing a thin wire that melts and opens the circuit if the current becomes too large.

Circuit Breaker

A safety device that switches off the electrical supply during a large current flow and can be reset after tripping.

Earth Wire

A safety wire that provides a low resistance path for leakage current to flow to the ground, typically colored yellow and green.

Live Wire

The wire in a plug, usually brown, to which the fuse is connected to disconnect the appliance from high potential.