Scientific enquiry

7J.1 Switches, circuits and symbols

You should already know Outcomes Keywords

Making a circuit
Electricity will only flow when there is a complete path to conduct the
electricity. We call this a complete circuit. These diagrams show four
attempts at making a bulb light up. Only one will work.

switch

copper wires

There is no source of There is a gap. It is This circuit is connected This is a complete

energy to make the not a complete circuit, using wood. Wood does circuit. Electricity can
electricity flow, so the so the electricity not let electricity flow flow and the bulb will
bulb will not light up. cannot flow around. through it. Wood is not a light up.
conductor.

Using a switch
Sometimes we need to be able to break the circuit to stop the electricity
flowing. We can do this by using a switch. When a switch is closed, the
circuit is complete and electricity can flow. When the switch is open,
the circuit is not complete and so electricity cannot flow.
A torch is a device that contains a simple circuit. A battery is connected to a You can break the circuit with a
switch and a bulb. When the torch is needed the switch can be closed. switch. No electricity then flows.
This makes a complete circuit and the bulb lights up.
When the torch is not being used, the switch is opened. This breaks
the complete circuit and the bulb goes out. This stops the battery
running down.
switch

When the circuit is complete,

electricity flows through the
switch and the bulb.

bulb cell

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128 7J Electrical circuits

 7J.1 Switches, circuits and symbols
Drawing a circuit
It is useful to have an easy way of drawing the components in a Component Symbol
circuit. Instead of drawing pictures, we use symbols to represent
the components. cell

There are many different symbols for components in circuits.

battery
The circuit diagram shows two cells connected together in a
complete circuit with a bulb. The arrows on the connection lines connection
show the flow of the electric current.
open switch
When you connect two or more cells together, you make a
battery. The symbol in the table for a battery can be used when closed switch
you do not know how many cells there are. The symbol in the
circuit diagram shows a battery made from two cells. bulb

Six common symbols.

Question 3 4

Where do the symbols for a cell and a battery come from?

In 1780, an Italian scientist called Luigi Galvani was studying frogs’ legs.
He put the legs from a dead frog on a copper hook attached to an iron wire.
The legs twitched even though they were dead. Galvani thought electricity
must be producing electrical pulses in the nerves to make the muscles move.
Another Italian scientist called Alessandro Volta guessed that the electricity
was coming from a reaction between the copper, iron and the salt water
used to preserve the legs. Volta experimented with combinations of different
metals like copper, zinc, silver and iron to make a pile of plates that
produced electricity.
The diagram shows a pile made out of silver cardboard discs soaked
in salt solution
discs and zinc discs separated by cardboard
pads soaked in salt water. A single cell is
made from one silver disc and one zinc disc silver discs
separated by a cardboard disc. The whole pile
of cells is called a battery. Volta’s pile was the
first battery ever made. The symbols for a cell
and a battery include lines to represent the
plates in Volta’s pile.
zinc discs

Question 5 6

7J Electrical circuits 129

 7J.2 Inside a circuit (HSW)

You should already know Outcomes Keywords

The things in an electric circuit like bulbs and batteries are called
components.
In a series circuit, all the components are connected in one loop. This
diagram shows a circuit with two bulbs in series.
There is only one path around the circuit for the current to follow. All of
the current has to flow through each of the components in the circuit.
We say that this current flows from the positive side of the power supply,
around the circuit and back to the negative side of the power supply.
This direction of flow is shown by arrowheads on the diagram.
We measure the size of an electric current using an ammeter. An ammeter
shows the value of the current in amperes (amps or ‘A’ for short).

A This is the symbol for an ammeter.

Two bulbs in a series circuit.
The ammeter is connected in the circuit so that the electric current flows
through the meter. It is put in series with the other components.
The diagram shows how it should be connected.
The ammeter in the diagram is showing a reading of 0.15 amps, which is
written as 0.15 A.
The diagrams below show the places where an ammeter can be put in a
series circuit.

A
ammeter

A
A
bulb
2 cells
A

All of the ammeters show the same reading, which shows that the electric
current stays the same all the way round a series circuit. The current does
not get used up. It stays the same as it passes through each bulb.

Question 1 2 3

130 7J Electrical circuits

 7J.2 Inside a circuit
Changing the current
Dimmer switches can be used to change the brightness of lights.
The circuits show three different dimmer switch settings and how
these affect the size of the current and the brightness of the bulbs.

It is harder for the current to flow through some materials. We say that
these materials have a high resistance. The current gets smaller if the
resistance of a circuit is increased.
Resistors are components that have a known amount of resistance.
Variable resistors have a resistance that can be changed, often by turning a
knob. Volume and tone controls are usually made from variable resistors.

This is the symbol for a resistor. This is the symbol for a variable resistor.

Turn up the volume control.

If you make the resistance larger then the current will be smaller, provided
you do not change anything else.
A dimmer switch is an example of a variable resistor. As you turn the
dimmer switch, you change the resistance. Increasing the resistance
decreases the current and makes the bulb dimmer. Decreasing the
resistance increases the current and makes the bulb brighter.
All electrical components have their own resistance. Changing the number
of bulbs in a circuit changes the total resistance of that circuit.
A A A

As bulbs are added to this circuit, the total resistance increases. This means
the current decreases if you keep the same number of cells in the circuit.
The bulbs become less bright as the current falls.

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7J Electrical circuits 131

 7J.3 Energy for the circuit

You should already know Outcomes Keywords

A source of energy is needed for a current to flow around a circuit.

The cell or battery provides the energy to make the current flow.
bulb
Cells and batteries
This picture shows a torch. The energy to make this torch light up is
supplied by two cells. Two or more cells connected together are called
a battery. In science, the word ‘battery’ means ‘ a group of cells’.
switch
Unfortunately, in everyday English, the word ‘battery’ is also used to refer
to a single cell. This can be very confusing.
Cells and batteries have a number marked on them with a letter V after it.
This is the number of volts for the cell or battery. It tells us how strong the
cell or battery is.
battery
A higher voltage can mean brighter bulbs, but you have to be careful.
A voltage that is too high will blow the bulb and it will stop working.
The most common cell used in everyday appliances is a 1.5 V cell. Some
appliances use a 9 V battery with two studs on top. The 9 V battery in the
diagram is actually made of six tiny 1.5 V cells in a stack inside the case.
It actually is a battery in the scientific sense of the word.

A 1.5 V cell. Two 1.5 V cells make Three 1.5 V cells make A 9 V battery has six cells
a 3.0 V battery. a 4.5 V battery. hidden inside the case.

Question 1 2

132 7J Electrical circuits

 7J.3 Energy for the circuit
Inside a cell
When a cell is connected in a complete circuit, it makes the current flow. manganese dioxide
and carbon
+ carbon rod
Inside the cell are chemicals that react together. It is this chemical reaction
+
that makes the current flow.
+
When you connect cells together to make a battery, you need to make ammonium
sure that the positive end of one cell is connected to the negative end of chloride +
the next. +
The most common type of cell produces a voltage of 1.5 volts. There are +
several different ways of making this type of cell. The diagram shows one zinc case +
very common way of making a cell, known as a ‘zinc–carbon’ cell.
–
Question 3
Cross-section of a zinc–carbon cell.
A
Inside a circuit
It can be difficult to picture what happens in an electric circuit because you
can’t see anything moving. The flow of electric current around a circuit can
be compared to the flow of water around a system of pipes.
tap
The cell or battery is like the pump.
If you put an ammeter in the electrical
circuit, it would be like putting a paddle
paddle
wheel in the water circuit to show how A pump wheel
fast the water is flowing. The ammeter
measures the flow of an electric current
in amperes.
water
tap
Electric current Water current
Object Job Object Job
battery pushes the current around pump paddle
pushes the water around
the circuit pump wheel the pipes
current flows around the circuit water flows around the pipes

ammeter shows how fast the current paddle

water
wheel shows how fast the water
flows around the circuit flows around the pipes
switch breaks the circuit and the tap stops the flow of water
flow of current

Comparing an electrical circuit to a water circuit.

Question 4

7J Electrical circuits 133

 7J.4 Parallel circuits

You should already know Outcomes Keywords

So far, the circuits we have studied have been series circuits.

The other main type of circuit is called a parallel circuit.

Bulbs in parallel
junction A
In a series circuit, there is just one route for the current around the
circuit. In parallel circuits, there are junctions where the current can
go along two or more different routes.
This circuit diagram shows two bulbs connected in parallel. The
electric current leaves the battery. When it gets to junction A, some
of the current goes through bulb 1 and some through bulb 2. The bulb 1 bulb 2
current splits up.
When the current reaches junction B, it joins back together again and
travels back to the battery.
junction B

Electric current in parallel circuits

In a parallel circuit, the total current from the battery is the same as 1.0 A

the current through each of the separate branches added together.

0.5 A 0.5 A
This diagram shows two identical bulbs connected in parallel; these
bulbs have the same resistance. The electric current flowing through
each bulb is the same, 0.5 A.
The current from the battery is the same as the current through the 1.0 A
bulbs added together:
0.5 A + 0.5 A = 1.0 A
X
In this diagram, the three bulbs are identical. This means the current
in bulb C must be the same as the current in the other bulbs, 2 A.
2.0 A 2.0 A ?
If each bulb has a current of 2 A then the current flowing at point X
must be 6 A. This is because the current from the battery is the same
as the current through the bulbs added together. bulb A bulb B bulb C

The same current goes back into the battery as leaves it, so the Y
current at point Y is also 6 A.

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134 7J Electrical circuits

 7J.4 Parallel circuits
Bright bulbs in parallel
In a parallel circuit, each bulb is connected
directly to the battery. The voltage across
each bulb is the same as the voltage across
the battery. This means that all of the
bulbs are bright. When you connect more
bulbs in parallel, the current from the
battery increases. If you have a lot of
bulbs connected, the battery will go flat
very quickly!
Bright Two bulbs in Two bulbs in
series – dim parallel – bright
Question 4

Series or parallel?
When designing an electrical circuit, you need to consider whether a series
or a parallel circuit is the best.
Some Christmas tree lights are wired in series. The lights in houses are
wired in parallel.
230 V
The parallel circuit is better if you want to be able to switch each light on supply
or off on its own. This is what you want for the lights in a house. The series
circuit can be safer because the current in the circuit is smaller and you do
not need as much wire to connect the bulbs. A series circuit can be useful if
you want to light several bulbs that do not need to be very bright.
Tree lights in series
The series circuit is also good for Christmas tree lights because, if you
can get special bulbs that flash on and off, you only need one of them in a
series circuit and it makes all the bulbs flash on and off.

Series circuit Parallel circuit

if one bulb blows, all the bulbs if one bulb blows, it does not
go out affect the others
230 V
one switch operates all of the bulbs each bulb can be turned on or off supply

with its own switch

the power supply voltage is shared each bulb gets the full power
between the bulbs supply voltage
the current from the power supply the current from the power supply Household lights in parallel
is low is high

A comparison between series and parallel circuits.

Question 5 6 7 Check your progress

7J Electrical circuits 135

 7J.5 Using electricity safely (HSW)

You should already know Outcomes Keywords

Electricity is very useful but it can also be very dangerous. We need NEVER use appliances
to protect ourselves when using electricity, especially when it is with frayed cables or if the
mains electricity. This uses a higher voltage than batteries. cables are repaired with
tape.
Safety at home
Most accidents with electricity are caused by carelessness. If you touch a
insulating
bare wire connected to the mains, a current can flow through you, causing tape
a fatal shock. The other main danger is the risk of fire if things overheat.
under the tape
Tap water conducts electricity and can increase the risk of an electrical wires twisted
together
accident.
A few sensible safety precautions will reduce the danger.

NEVER NEVER touch sockets

use mains or switches with wet NEVER pull a plug
appliances hands. out by the cable.
in the
bathroom.

insulating
insulating
tape
tape

under
under the
the tape
tape
wires
wires twisted
twisted
pull together
together

pull

NEVER overload
a socket. NEVER leave a kettle
lead switched on when
disconnected from the
kettle.

pull
pull

Question 1 2

136 7J Electrical circuits

 7J.5 Using electricity safely
Fuses
Sometimes a fault in a circuit produces a very large electric In a normal circuit,
current. This is dangerous. A current that is too big can
damage electrical appliances and cause a fire. the fuse wire is warm.
normal current
A fuse is used in a circuit to stop the current getting too big.
This is the circuit symbol for a fuse. In a faulty circuit,

the fuse wire becomes

hot and then… high current
A fuse has a piece of wire inside it called fuse wire. If the
current gets too big, the fuse wire gets hot and melts. When
the fuse wire melts, the circuit is broken and the current stops
flowing. If you look up the word ‘fuse’ in a dictionary you will …the fuse wire melts and
breaks the circuit. zero current
see it has several different meanings. One of them is ‘to melt’.

Question 3

Mains plugs have three pins, called terminals. If you look inside a mains
plug, there are three different colours of wire. live wire connected
to this terminal metal
• The blue wire goes to the neutral terminal. fuse wire
• The green-and-yellow wire goes to the earth terminal. glass
• The brown wire goes to the live terminal.
The live terminal is the one the electric current is delivered through. The fuse
is connected to the live terminal so that the current will stop if the fuse melts.

5A
Fuses have different current ratings. The fuse wire will get hot and melt if
the current through it is bigger than its rating. When the fuse wire melts and
inside
breaks, we say the fuse ‘blows’. This sounds like the fuse explodes but it just the fuse
means the wire has melted! The fuse drawn here has a current rating of 5 A.
If a current of more than 5 A flows then the fuse will blow.
Different things use different sizes of fuse. Appliances are fitted with a fuse live pin in here
of a size that makes the fuse the weakest link in the circuit. The wire to the
reading lamp, for example, might carry 5 A safely so the fuse must have a
lower rating than this. If you put a 13 A fuse in a reading lamp then the wire
has a lower rating than the fuse. If there is a fault in the lamp, the wire will
catch fire and melt before the fuse blows.

Household appliance Typical fuse size

kettle 13 A
reading lamp 3A
hairdryer 5A
Review your work

Question 4 5 6 Summary

7J Electrical circuits 137

 7J.HSW Electricity: the pluses and the minuses

You should already know Outcomes Keywords

Using electric currents has transformed the way people live. The first
electric light bulb that would last for a reasonable length of time was
invented in 1879. By 1900, there were still very few homes in the UK that
used electricity for lighting. By 2000, it would have been hard to find a
home that did not have electric lights. Now, we use electricity for many
more things. We use it to transfer energy from place to place, and to make
hundreds of different things work.

We use electricity for communication and information transfer in

television, telephones, the internet and computing. These are only a
few examples.

However, electricity can kill. It is also quite difficult to make safely on a

large scale.

There are some problems to solve because of our high use of electricity.
Electric lights like these have only
Some are practical problems. been in common use for the past
70 years.
• How can we make enough electricity to meet the demand?
• How can we get the electricity from one place to another safely?
• How can people use electricity in their homes and stay safe?

Solving these problems is not only a matter of science. It also involves

moral and ethical questions because different solutions have different
effects on how people live and on the environment.

• Power stations contribute to global warming. Should we build more of

them just because people want to use electricity or should we limit their
use of it?
• Do power lines near homes make people ill?
• Does it matter if people electrocute themselves by being careless? Is
it their own fault or should the design engineers make it impossible to
happen by accident?

Applying science to solve these Using science has ethical and

problems is called technology or moral implications. Large power stations produce
engineering. electricity and cables carry the
electricity all over the country.

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138 7J Electrical circuits

 7J.HSW Electricity: the pluses and the minuses
Assessing the risk
When you do an experiment in science, you must always assess the
risks. This means thinking about all the things that could harm people or
equipment. These are called hazards. You then work out what to do about
each hazard with questions like

• Can I get the same result a different way with less hazard?
• How do I do this in a way that reduces the hazard?
In electricity experiments at school, the answers to these questions will be
things like:

• use a battery or low voltage power supply for the experiment rather than
the mains; This engineer has assessed the
risk. The strap from his wrist
• check that the circuit is connected correctly before it is turned on.
reduces the hazard of a spark
In the home and around the country, it is not as simple as that. from his body damaging the
Scientists and engineers need to answer questions like these. computer chips.

• How far away from the houses must the power lines be?
• How high up should the power lines be?
• Should people be allowed to fit their own plugs and fuses?
• What size of voltage should we supply to peoples’ homes?
In the EU, the voltage supplied to homes is between 220 V and 240 V.
The supply voltage to homes in North America and the Caribbean is 110 V.
This lower voltage is much safer. It is less likely to give a fatal shock if
someone touches a bare wire. However, if you use the lower voltage, you
need to use higher currents. This increases the risk of electricity causing a
fire. Whether you supply electricity at 240 V or 110 V is about the balance This fuse box has been designed
to reduce hazards. It uses switches
between the risk of shocks and the risk of fire.
that can be reset. The user cannot
touch any part carrying electricity.
Supply voltage Reducing the risk Disadvantages

110 V Use thick wires so the Thick wires are a lot more
high currents do not get expensive than thin ones.
them too hot.
240 V Use well designed plugs Safer designs adds to the
and appliances so that cost of appliances.
people cannot get shocks A 13 A plug from the UK,
designed for maximum
safety for the user.
Working out the balance between the risk of fire and the risk of fatal
shock involves moral and ethical decisions and affects the way
people live.

Question 4 5 6

7J Electrical circuits 139

 7J Questions

7J.1
1 Explain what is meant by a complete circuit.
2 Explain why a switch is able to turn the current on and off in a torch.
3 Draw a circuit containing one cell, two bulbs and one switch.
4 What do arrows on connection lines show in an electric
circuit diagram?
5 What substances were used to produce electricity in Volta’s battery?
6 What is the difference between a battery and a cell?

7J.2
1 What is meant by a ‘series circuit’?
2 a What is the name of the meter used to measure the size of an
electric current?
b What units does it measure current in?
3 Why does an ammeter have the same reading wherever it is put in a
series circuit?
4 How does the size of a current affect the brightness of a bulb?
5 What is meant by ‘resistance’?
6 How can a dimmer switch be used to change the brightness of a bulb?

7J.3
1 What does the voltage of a cell tell you?
2 How many 1.5 V cells are needed to make a 4.5 V battery?
3 What do you think would happen if you connected one cell the wrong way
round in a battery?
4 Write a list of similarities and differences between an electric circuit and the
flow of water in pipes.

7J.4
1 What is the difference between a series circuit and a parallel circuit?
2 What can you say about the current from the battery and the currents in each
branch of a parallel circuit?
continued

140 7J Electrical circuits

 7J Questions

3 A parallel circuit has two bulbs in parallel connected to a battery. One bulb
carries a current of 2 A and the other carries a current of 3 A. What is the
current coming from the battery? Give a reason for your answer.
4 What happens to the brightness of other bulbs if you keep adding bulbs in
parallel to a parallel circuit?
5 Give an example of lights that are often wired in series.
6 Give an example of lights that are usually wired in parallel. Give a reason
why this is so.
7 Give one advantage of a parallel circuit over a series circuit.

7J.5
1 How does the voltage in mains electricity compare with the voltage
from batteries?
2 Explain three safety rules for electricity in the home.
3 How does a fuse protect equipment in a circuit?
4 Why is it dangerous to use a 13 A fuse in a reading lamp plug?
5 a What are the three different colours of wire inside a mains plug?
b Where do the three wires go?
6 Why is the fuse connected to the live terminal?

7J.HSW
1 Research the history of the electric light bulb (e.g. on the Internet) and draw
a timeline.
Why are some countries banning the old type of light bulbs that have a hot
wire in them?
2 List all the things you use in a day that need electricity. Write a short account
of how you would manage without them. Find out how the use of electricity
has changed people’s lives in the recent past.
3 Why is there a moral and ethical question about building a power line near to
someone’s house?
4 Find out what size of voltages are carried on power lines.
Why are power lines high up? What problems still might happen with power
lines even though they are put out of people’s reach?
5 Most appliances come with a fitted plug so that people do not have to fit their
own. This makes them a bit more expensive. Do you think this is a good
thing or a bad thing? Justify your answer.
6 What are the advantages and disadvantages of the voltage levels used in
different countries?

7J Electrical circuits 141

7J Summary

Keywords

Bulb. Switch. Cells.

Circuit breakers can be Circuit symbols are used

used instead of fuses. to draw circuit diagrams.

A fuse melts to stop Parallel circuits. Series circuits.

too-high a current
from flowing.
The current is the
A complete circuit same all the way
is needed. around a series circuit.
There are hazards
when using mains
electricity in the home. Electric current Current is measured
in amps.
flows in a circuit.

An ammeter is used to
Voltage makes the measure current.
current flow around
the circuit.
Resistors reduce
Luigi Galvani the current.
discovered that nerves Voltage is produced by
a cell. It is measured Variable resistors can
carry electric current
in volts. be used as dimmer
around the body.
switches.

The first cell was These change the

made by Two or more cells resistance.
Alessandro Volta. make a battery.

Check your progress Review your work Scientific enquiry

Summaries 145