Friday, 20 December 2013

Practicing Circuits - P5

We're going to use the Circuit Builder to have a look at series and parallel circuits: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-ac-virtual-lab

Use the simulation to construct a series circuit with 2 batteries and 1 bulb. Look at how fast the electrons move and how bright the bulb is. Use the voltmeter and ammeter to measure voltage and current at different points in the circuit. Add another bulb and see how this changes things. Can you find out a rule for current and voltage in a series circuit? Search the web for what this might be and see if your circuit obeys these rules.

Now try a parallel circuit. See what happens if you make a circuit with one bulb, then add another bulb in parallel. What happens to the brightness of the bulb, and the current and voltage. Why is that? Add a few more bulbs in parallel to see if you can work out the rule for current and voltage in series and parallel.

Follow this Bitesize link to check if you are right: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_ocr_21c/electric_circuits/parallelandseriesrev1.shtml

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