mind map by Federico García and Daniel Ariza
Electricity or Electrical energy
electricity:is a form of energy that lets negatively charged particles move from one atom to another.
electric current:is the flow of electrons from one atom to another inside a conductive material.
electrical energy:is the most common form of energy,because it is easy to obtain it can be transported over long distances and it can easily be transformed into many other forms of energy like:light,heat,sound and motion.
Conductors and insulators
Materials that let electric current flow through them are called conductors.Materials that do not let electric current flow through them are called insulators.
electrician's can stop the electric current from travelling through metal in the tool.
Wires are made from copper but have a plastic casing to protect us from the electric current and ensure that is not diverted.
Electric circuits
An electric circuit is a series of interconnected components that an electric current flows through to produce an effect.
Power sources:components that supply the necessary electrical energy to the rest of the circuit in order to move the electrons.The generators of direct current circuit are cells and batteries.
conductors:components that transport electrical energy from the power sources to the load devices;in other wors,the electric current flows through these components.The conductive components of a circuit are the wires.
Load devices:components that receive the electrical energy from the power sources and convert it to other types of useful energy.Examples of load devices in circuits are:motors,lamps,buzzers and resistors.
Control devices:devices that regulate the circuit;in other words they allow or prevent the flow of electric current through the circuit.The main types of control devices are one-wayswitches,push switches and two way switches.
Components of a circuit
motor:convert electrical energy to kinetic energy.
power sources
cell:supplies electrical energy to the rest.Have a positive terminal and a negative terminal.
Battery:a grouped set of cells.
Lamp:converts electrical energy to light energy.
buzzer:converts electrical energy to sound energy.
resistor:a load device that opposes the flow of the electric current.Converts electrical energy to heat energy.
wire:the component that the electric current flows through.
one way-switch
push switch
two-way switch
representing circuits:electrical schematics.
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We represent electrical circuits with a very simple drawing called an electrical schematic.
every component in a circuit ha a standardised symbol to represent it in a simple way that anybody can understand.
open circuits and closed circuits
a circuit is closed when the energy of the power source reaches the load devices , so the electric current flows.
a circuit is open when the energy of the power source cannot reach the flow device