Electricity-chapter 8 vocab

Potential Difference

(synonyms with voltage difference) The difference in electrical potential between two points, measured in wolts. Electrical potential difference can be compared with the difference in water pressure between two containers of of water. When connected by a pipe, water flows from the container having the higher pressure to the one having the lower pressure-untill the two pressures are equal. Similarity, when two points having different electrical potential are connected by a conductor, charge flows from the point having the greater potential to the one having the lesser potential so long as a potential difference exists.

Ion

A charged atom-one with excess or deficiency of electrons

Series Circuit

An electric circuit in which electrical devises are connected in such way that the same electric current exists in all of them.

Parallel Circuit

An electric circuit in which electrical devises are connected in such way that the same voltage acts across each one and any single one completes the circuit independently of all the others.

Electric Field

Defined as force per unit charge, it can be considered an "aura" surrounding charged objects and is a store house of electric energy. About a charged point, the strength of the electric field decreases with distance according to the inverse square law.

Direct Current (dc)

Electrically charged particals flowing in one direction only.

Alternating Current (dc)

Electrically charged particals that that repeatedly reverse direction, vibrating about relatively fixed positions. In the US the vibrational rate is 60 Hz.

Coulomb's law

For any two electriclly charged bodies, the relationship among the electric force the bodies exert on each other, the charge on the two bodies, and the distance between them: F= K(Q1*Q2/D2)

Electrically polarized

Term applied to an atom or molecule in which the charges are aligned so that one side has a slight excess of positive charge and the other side a slight excess of negative charge

Coulomb

The SI unit of electrical charge. One coulomb (symbol C) is equal in magnitude to the total charge of 6.25 x 10^18 electrons.

Ohm's Law

The current in a circuit varies in direction proportion to the voltage across the circuit and inversely with the circuit's resistance. Current= Voltage/Resistance

Electric Potential

The electric potential energy per amount of charge, measured in volts.

Electrical potential energy

The energy a charge possess by virtue of it's location in an electric field.

Electric Current

The flow of electric charge that transports energy from one place to another. Measured in amperes.

Electrical Resistance

The property of material that resists the flow of charged particals through it; measured in ohms.

Electric Power

The rate of energy transfer, or the rate of doing work; the amount of energy transferred per unit time, which electrically can be measured by Power= current x voltage measured in watts

Ampere

The unit of electric current; 1 ampere= 1 coulomb per second (the flow of 6.25 x 10^18 electrons per second); 1A = 1C/s

Volt

The unit of electrical potential, a potential of one volt is equal to one joule of energy per 1 coulomb of charge; 1V= 1J/C.