Circuit

Electric Current

Current • What is an Electric Circuit?

Review • Electric potential is the amount of electric potential energy per unit of charge that would be possessed by a charged object if placed within an electric field at a given location

Review • l. Electric potential difference is simply the difference in electric potential between two different locations within an electric field.

•The above illustration comes close to demonstrating the meaning of an electric circuit.

• The fact that the light bulb lights and remains lit is evidence that charge is flowing through the light bulb filament and that an electric circuit has been established.

• The electric circuit demonstrated by the combination of battery, light bulb and wires consists of two distinct parts: the internal circuit and the external circuit.

• The part of the circuit containing electrochemical cells of the battery is the internal circuit. The part of the circuit where charge is moving outside the battery pack through the wires and the light bulb is the external circuit.

• An electric circuit is a conducting path, external to the battery, which allows charge to flow from one terminal to the other.

Requirements of a Circuit • Suppose that you were given a small light bulb, an electrochemical cell and a bare copper wire and were asked to find the four different arrangements of the three items that would result in the formation of an electric circuit that would light the bulb