Basic Electricity

What is an electron?

A negatively charged particle that is not considered in determining the weight of an atom

What is a neutron?

A neutrally charged particle that's located in the nucleus

What is the electron current theory?

An abundance of electrons flow out of the negative source to an area that lacks electrons or the positive source

What are the two competing schools of thought and analytically practices regarding the flow of electricity?

Conventional current theory and the electron current theory

What does DC stand for?

Direct current

What is dynamic electricity?

Electrons in motion

What is one of the most frequent causes of damage to a solid state component or integrated circuits?

Electrostatic discharge

The ability to do work

Energy

How is the schematic representation of conductors shown?

Generally as a solid line

What symbol represents resistance in ohm's law formula?

Greek letter omega

Electromagnetism was discovered by who?

Hans Christian Oersted

What is the formula for current?

I=Q/t

What is the left hand rule?

If the conductor is grasped in the left hand, with the thumb pointing in the direction of current flow, the fingers will be wrapped around the conductor in the same direction as the lines of the magnetic field

Glass and plastic are examples of what?

Insulators

The process by which an atom loses or gains electrons

Ionization

The property of an object that attracts certain metallic substances

Magnetism

What is the unit measurement for resistance?

Ohms

What are free electrons?

Outermost electrons that can be easily dislodged from the atom. They can travel from atom to atom becoming current in an electrical circuit.

What type of variable resistor is controlled by light intensity?

Photoconductive cells

_____ in sunlight are taken in by the solar panels, where they are then absorbed by semiconducting materials

Photons

Rate of energy consumption or conversion within that system. The amount of energy used or converted in a given amount of time

Power

What are the four most common ways to produce electrical energy?

Pressure, chemical, thermal, and light

What is the formula for resistance?

R=E/I

Material that falls in between the characteristics of conductors and insulators

Semiconductors

What is caused when non-conductive materials such as rubber, plastic, or glass are rubbed together, causing a transfer of electrons?

Static Electricity

Define Ohm's Law

The law that explains the relationship between the flow of electrons (current), electrical pressure (voltage), and the opposition to flow (resistance). The amount of current flowing in a circuit is directly proportional to the circuit voltage and inversely proportional to the circuit resistance

What is a thermal source?

The most common source of thermal electricity found in the aviation industry comes from thermocouples. Thermocouples are pairs of dissimilar metal wires joined at least at one end, which generate a voltage between the two wires that is proportional to the temperature at the junction

What type of variable resistor is temperature sensitive?

Thermistors

What four factors affect resistance?

Type of Conductor material Length Cross-sectional area Temperature

What type of resistor is constructed so that the resistive value can be changed and this adjustment can be manual or automatic?

Variable resistors

What type of resistor typically control large amounts of current and have high power ratings?

Wire-wound

What is a proton?

a Positively charged particle that's located in the nucleus

What is a compound?

a compound is a chemical combination of two or more elements

What is the unit of energy?

a joule

What makes a carbon composition resistor?

a mixture of finely grouped carbon/graphite, an insulation material, and a substance for binding

What is pressure source?

a result of the application of mechanical pressure on a dielectric or nonconducting crystal.

What is an element?

a substance that cannot be reduced to a simpler form by chemical means

What is a rheostat?

a variable resistor used to vary the amount of current flowing in a circuit

What is energy level?

amount of energy an electron requires to stay in orbits.

Electrons in motion make up what?

an electric current

The imbalance of charges between the two materials mean that the object will exhibit an _____ or ____ force

attractive or repulsive

What is an atom?

basic building block of all matter. Made up of a proton, neutron, electron, and nucleus

The strength of the magnetic field of the electromagnet can be increased how?

by either increasing the flow of current, the number of loops in the wire, and the type of metal core

We can demonstrate the characteristics of magnetic flux by what method?

by tracing the flux patterns of two bar magnets with like poles together

What is a chemical source?

chemical energy can be converted into electricity; the most common form of this is the battery. A primary battery produces electricity using two different metals in a chemical solution, where a chemical reaction between the metals and the chemicals frees more electrons in one metal than in the other

What is an electron shell?

closely spaced energy levels are grouped into shells. The first shell can contain 2 electrons; the second can contain 8; the third, 18; and so on until the seventh shell

Materials that offer low resistance to current flow

conductor

Elements such as gold, copper, and silver possess many free electrons and make good ______

conductors

The best ______ are materials which possess a large number of free electrons

conductors

What is a potentiometer?

considered to be a three terminal device

The two fundamental properties of _____ and ____ are related by a third property known as resistance

current and voltage

What is the conventional current theory?

developed by Ben Franklin who reasoned that current flowed out of a positive source into a negative source

What's it called when current flows in one direction?

direct current (DC)

If the magnet is suspended to swing freely, it will align itself with the _____ _____ ____

earth's magnetic poles

A field of force that exists around a charged body

electrostatic field

What does the 1st digit in a color band mean?

first digit in the numerical resistance value

Most objects become charged with static electricity by means of what?

fricition

How are voltmeter connected?

in parallel with a circuit

materials that offer a high resistance to current flow

insulator

What is the resistor color code?

it's made up a group of colors, numbers, and tolerance values. Each color is represented by a number, and in most cases, by a tolerance value

An invisible but always present field that surrounds magnets and exists between the poles

magnetic fields

What does the 4th digit in a color band mean?

multiplier for percentages of tolerance

What are two types of magnets?

natural or artificial

What does the 3rd digit in a color band mean?

number of zeros to be added to the 2 digits from the first two bands

Mega (M) means

one million

Kilo (k) means

one thousand

Micro (u) means

one-millionth

Milli (m) means

one-thousandth

What is another name for artificial magnets?

permanent magnets

A _______ ____ is a device that converts light energy into electricity.

photovoltaic cell

Pressure source is commonly known as what?

piezoelectric

What are the control properties that resistors are constructed and sized for?

resistance value, the precision of the resistance value, and the ability to dissipate heat.

ability of a magnet to hold magnetism is what?

retentivity

A ____ is a variable resistor used to vary the amount of current flowing through a circuit

rheostat

What are the two basic types of manual adjusters?

rheostat and potentiometer

What does the 2nd digit in a color band mean?

second digit of ohmic value

What is a molecule?

smallest particle of matter that can exist and still retain it's identity

There is no known insulator for magnetic flux, but instruments can be surrounded by a path of ____ ____ and the lines of force will take the easier path through

soft iron

What is Kirchhoff's Voltage Law?

states that the algebraic sum of all voltages around a closed path or loop is zero. The sum of all the voltage drops equals the total source voltage

A buildup charge on the surface of an object

static electricity

What special alloys are permanent magnets made of?

strontium and iron

The polarity of the electromagnet is determined by what?

the left-hand rule

The actual value of a resistor is known as what?

the tolerance of the resistor

What uses the same type of meter movement as the ammeter but employs a different circuit external to the meter movement?

the voltmeter

A______ is a variable resistor that works based on a negative temperature coefficient

thermistors

What is the general use of a resistor in a circuit?

to limit the amount of the current flow

What is the basic idea of a multirange ammeter?

to make the meter usable over a wide range of voltages

What is the function of a ohmmeter?

to measure resistance

The percentage variation between the marked value of resistance and the actual value of a resistor

tolerance of a resistor

A unit of energy can be called a ______ or more recognizable from the electric bill, a _____

watt-second (Ws) or kilowatt-hour (kWh)

What is it called when the ohmmeter leads are open, and the meter is at a full scale deflection indication an infinite resistance or open circuit?

zero adjustment