Circuit Vocabulary Slides PDF

Vocabulary For Snap Circuits® Electricity 101 Instructor: Brandon Bucklin Atoms - the building blocks of matter. Atoms are composed of smaller particles, neutrons with no charge, protons with a positive charge, and electrons with a negative charge. The neutrons and protons make up the nucleus o...

Vocabulary For Snap Circuits® Electricity 101 Instructor: Brandon Bucklin Atoms - the building blocks of matter. Atoms are composed of smaller particles, neutrons with no charge, protons with a positive charge, and electrons with a negative charge. The neutrons and protons make up the nucleus of the atom and the electrons zip around the nucleus. Circuit - a series of wires or electric devices that form a closed path for the flow of electricity. You are not able to see current moving through a circuit, but you can see the effects when a bulb lights or a motor spins. A circuit needs a source of electric energy traveling through it to operate electric devices. Computer - an electronic device that stores, processes, and receives information in the form of ones and zeroes. Conductors - materials such as metals with loosely held electrons in their atoms. The electrons are able to move from atom to atom fairly easily. The flow of electrons through a conductor is called electric current. All metals are conductors. Some nonmetals such as graphite (a form of carbon) are also conductors. Current - a measure of how fast electrical energy is flowing through a circuit. Diode - a device which allows electric current to flow in only one direction. Dry cell - electrochemical cell usually made with a zinc can, a carbon rod, and a chemical paste. A cell has a positive and negative terminal. The dry cell converts chemical energy into electrical energy. If the terminals are connected to a wire, direct current will flow until the chemicals are used up and the dry cell is dead. Most people refer to dry Electricity - moving electrons produce electric current. Electricity and magnetism are closely related. Electricity can be produced by a moving magnet. Electricity moving through a wire creates a magnetic field around the wire. Electric current can be direct (DC) or alternating (AC). Batteries produce direct current. The electricity in your house is alternating current. Electromagnet - a large coil of wire, which acts like a magnet when a current flows through it. Placing an iron bar inside increases the magnetic effects. Electronics - the use of electrons to control, communicate or process information. An electronic signal is a varying electric current. The parts in electronic circuits change the flow of electricity. Some slow the flow down, others speed up the flow. Energy - Energy can change from one form to another. Electrical energy can be changed to mechanical energy, energy of movement, when current is run through a motor. It can be changed to heat and light when current runs through a lamp.  Insulators - materials which do not allow electric current to flow through them under normal conditions. Examples are glass, rubber, and plastic. Integrated circuit - a circuit that has been made on a small semiconductor chip (silicon). It has many diodes, transistors and resistors which are very tiny. In this kit you have a blue music integrated circuit U1. Lamp- In your kit a lamp is a small light bulb which screws into the lamp socket. The lamp has a filament of wire inside which glows when an electric current flows through it. LED - Light Emitting Diode. A diode allows electricity to flow in only one direction, and only if the voltage exceeds a turn-on threshold. LEDs have a semiconductor inside, a material which only allows some electricity to flow. LEDs only need a small amount of electricity to light up so they are put in a circuit with a transistor. Many electronic devices use LEDs as indicator lights. They are often seen on CD players, televisions, mechanical motion. Electricity is closely related to magnetism, and an electric current flowing in a wire has a magnetic field similar to that of a very, very tiny magnet. Inside the motor is three coils of wire with many loops. If a large electric current flows through the loops the magnetic effects become concentrated enough to move the coils. The motor has a magnet on a shaft so, as the electricity moves coils to align them with the permanent magnet, the shaft spins. Parallel circuit - a circuit with a number of separate paths for electricity to flow through. Resistance - anything that opposes the flow of electricity in a circuit. The wires in a circuit provide some resistance, as do lamps, motors, speakers, LEDs, transistors, and integrated circuits. It is expressed in ohms. Semiconductor - a material, usually silicon, which only lets some electrons flow through it. Series circuit - a circuit with only one path for electricity to flow through. All of the parts in a series circuit are connected one after the other. The light bulbs in a series circuit become dim as more lights are added. When resistance increases, current decreases. Terminals - the point where connections are made to an electrical device. For example, a dry cell has two terminals. One is positive and the other is negative. Transistor - a device which either amplifies an electronic signal, or switches current on and off. Transistors found in computers and most electronic devices act as switches. One computer chip can hold millions of transistors. Voltage - a measure of how strong an electric charge between materials is. It can be thought of as the electrical pressure pushing electric current through a circuit. It is expressed in volts.