Electricity Assessment
1) Define current and voltage
Current electricity is the flow of electric charge through a circuit, it shows how much charge is moving through the circuit each second. Current needs a complete circuit to flow.
Voltage is the difference in electrical energy between two points in a circuit. It provides the push or force that makes electric charges move. Voltage is measured in volts. A higher voltage generally gives the charges a stronger push, which can cause more current to flow if the resistance stays the same.
The difference is that voltage provides the push that causes charges to move while current is the actual flow of those charges. You can think of it like water in a pipe. Voltage is like the water pressure pushing the water, while current is like the amount of water flowing through the pipe.
2) PHET Circuits & Circuit Diagrams
3) Parallel vs Series Bulbs
Bulbs in a parallel circuit are usually brighter than bulbs in a series circuit. In parallel, each bulb gets the full voltage from the battery, so more energy is transferred to each bulb. The current splits between the different branches.
In a series circuit, the voltage is shared between the bulbs, and the same current flows through each bulb. Because each bulb gets less voltage, they usually receive less energy and are dimmer.