Current and Voltage

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To differentiate between current and potential difference between

differing circuits.

STARTER QUESTIONS:
Use your knowledge from Y10 complete the answers to
the questions upon the worksheet. If you finish move
onto the example questions below.
1.

2.
3.

During electrolysis 9A was passed

through some copper chloride and a
charge of 2250C flowed. How long was
the experiment on for?
Name the particles responsible for an
electrical current.
A PS4 is switched on for 5 hours. It
works on a current of 2.4A. How much
charge flowed?

Electrical Current
Electric current is caused by the flow of
charge.
Charge is created due to particles called
electrons moving within the circuit.

You cant have these on their own they are

all carried by other things:

Charge
Beauty
Confidence
Momentum

possessed by
electrons and protons
possessed by people,
paintings, ornaments,
flowers, etc.
possessed by people
possessed by objects

Beauty
Carried by people
Measured in Helens
Takes a lot of people
(about 1000 ordinary
women!) to carry one
Helen of beauty
between them

Charge
Carried by electrons and
protons
Measured in coulombs
Takes a lot of electrons
(about 6,200,000,000,000,
000,000!) to carry one
Coulomb of charge
between them

Direction of electrical current.

+

Electron
flow
direction

Electrons flow from the negative terminal of the cell and are attracted to
the positive terminal. Simply put they travel from negative to positive.
This is called a direct current, they only travel in ONE direction.
The first scientists believed that electrons flowed in the opposite
direction which has caused problems!

Direction of electrical current.

+

Electron
flow
direction

Conventional current is the flow of (imaginary) positive charges

and is always shown as going from plus to minus.
The direction of conventional current and electron flow are
OPPOSITE.

Current in a series circuit

If the current here
is 2 amps

The current
here will be

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The current
here will
be

And the
current here
will be

In other words, the current in a series circuit is

THE SAME at any point

Current in a parallel circuit

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A PARALLEL circuit is one where the current has a choice of

routes. Notice how current is conserved at each junction:

Here comes the current

Half of the current will go
down here (assuming the
bulbs are the same)
And the rest will go
down here

Parallel Circuits
- Unless otherwise told.
Assume the current is
split equally if you have
two routes with the
same amount of
resistors [i.e. bulbs,
variable resistors e.t.c.]
- If you have multiple
resistors down a
particular path then
unless told assume the
current splits in an
equal ratio.

What is wrong with the following diagram

A
4A

A
A

2.5A

A
2.5A

1. What is the error in terms of this circuit diagram?

2. What should the reading be if X is definitely 2.5A?
3. What has the student incorrectly assumed?
4. What is the current at B?

Some example questions

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6A

3A

4A

2A
1A each

1V
1J
e

Weve got all this

energy! Lets go
and give it to a bulb,
or a motor, or
something!

ee e e

The Coulomb
Gang

2V
1J 1J
e

ee e e

This battery
gives us
twice as
much!

Cells Fixed Voltage

A cell is a fixed-voltage device. It has its voltage written
upon it.
The cell will always give the same number of joules to
each coulomb coming through. A 5V battery will always
give 5 J to every coulomb of electrons.
Somehow it is always able to keep up. Even if the
coulombs are coming through thick and fast (high current),
it will still manage to give 5 J to every coulomb passing
through.
Cells give energy to electrons so that they can transfer
energy to the components in a circuit.

electrons all start

moving at once when
switch is closed

Voltage and Circuits

Series Circuits
Voltage in series circuit are related by a trend; can you
spot it from the table below?
Total Voltage, V (volts)

Voltage, V1 (volts)

Voltage, V2 (volts)

10.2

6.9

3.3

8.4

5.0

3.4

5.0

3.0

2.0

2.8

1.6

1.2

Voltage in a series circuit is always shared between the

components in a series circuit.

V = V1 + V2 + V3 +

Voltage and Circuits

Parallel Circuits
Voltage in parallel circuit are related by a trend; can you
spot it from the table below?
Total Voltage, V (volts)

Voltage, V1 (volts)

Voltage, V2 (volts)

10.0

10.0

10.0

7.5

7.5

7.5

5.0

5.0

5.0

3.4

3.4

3.4

Voltage in components with a parallel circuit is always

equal to the voltage across the power supply.

V = V1 = V2 = V3 =

Potential Difference | Voltage | whatever..

Potential difference across a component is defined
as being the energy transferred per unit charge.
Energy = Charge x Potential Difference
Energy transferred = charge x voltage

(in J)

(in C)

(in V)

High Voltage Questions

1.

A buzzer and a lamp are connected in series to a 10V supply. The voltage
across the buzzer is 3.5V. Calculate the voltage across the lamp. 6.5V
2. A series of cells are connected in a parallel circuit. The voltage supply
from the cell is 15V. What is the voltage across each lamp. 15V
3. A charge of 15C is transfers 180J of energy in a lamp. Calculate the
potential difference across the lamp.
12V
4. The potential difference across a lamp is 6.0V and the charge is 0.3C, what
is the energy transferred to the lamp. 1.8J
5. A resistor and lamp are connected in a series circuit.
15J
a] The potential difference across the resistor is 1.5V. What energy is
transferred to heat in the resistor when 10C of charge flows through it.
b] The lamp transfers 3.0J of energy into heat and light when the same
charge passes through. What is its potential difference.
0.3V
C] A current of 0.025A passes through the circuit. How long has the lamp
been left on for in minutes?

400 s = 6 mins 40 secs = 6.66 mins

Example questions

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1) In a radio circuit a voltage of 6V is applied and a

charge of 100C flows. How much energy has been
transferred?
600J
2) In the above circuit the radio drew a current of 0.5A.
How long was it on for? 200s
3) A motor operates at 6V and draws a current of 3A.
900C,
The motor is used for 5 minutes. Calculate: a) the
charge flowing through it, b) the energy supplied to it 5400J
4) A lamp is attached to a 12V circuit and a charge of
1200C flows through it. If the lamp is on for 10
2A,
minutes calculate a) the current, b) the energy
14,400J
supplied to the bulb.

Resistance
To relate resistance
to current and
voltage and calculate
it using Ohms Law.

STARTER
QUESTIONS:
TAKE OUT YOUR
HOMEWORK.
Work out the Current and
Voltages on all of the
missing V1, V2 and V3. A1A3.

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An example question:

3A

3A

6V

6V

A1
A2

V1

2A

1A
A3

3V

V2

V3

3V

Another example question:

3A

10V

A1

1.2A

3A

A2
V1

6.7V

A3
5V

V2

1.8A

V3

5V

High Voltage Questions

1.

A buzzer and a lamp are connected in series to a 10V supply. The voltage
across the buzzer is 3.5V. Calculate the voltage across the lamp. 6.5V
2. A series of cells are connected in a parallel circuit. The voltage supply
from the cell is 15V. What is the voltage across each lamp. 15V
3. A charge of 15C is transfers 180J of energy in a lamp. Calculate the
potential difference across the lamp.
12V
4. The potential difference across a lamp is 6.0V and the charge is 0.3C, what
is the energy transferred to the lamp. 1.8J
5. A resistor and lamp are connected in a series circuit.
15J
a] The potential difference across the resistor is 1.5V. What energy is
transferred to heat in the resistor when 10C of charge flows through it.
b] The lamp transfers 3.0J of energy into heat and light when the same
charge passes through. What is its potential difference.
0.3V
C] A current of 0.025A passes through the circuit. How long has the lamp
been left on for in minutes?

400 s = 6 mins 40 secs = 6.66 mins

Example questions

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1) In a radio circuit a voltage of 6V is applied and a

charge of 100C flows. How much energy has been
transferred?
600J
2) In the above circuit the radio drew a current of 0.5A.
How long was it on for? 200s
3) A motor operates at 6V and draws a current of 3A.
900C,
The motor is used for 5 minutes. Calculate: a) the
charge flowing through it, b) the energy supplied to it 5400J
4) A lamp is attached to a 12V circuit and a charge of
1200C flows through it. If the lamp is on for 10
2A,
minutes calculate a) the current, b) the energy
14,400J
supplied to the bulb.

Resistance
The current that you may get in any particular
circuit seems unpredictable. You cant tell what
its going to be until you switch it on.
However we do know know that more
components in the circuit usually means a
smaller current.
This is all to do with resistance.

Resistance
Resistance means how hard it is for electrons to
flow through something.
High resistance tends to slow them down and low
resistance allows them to travel fast (well,
relatively fast).

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Resistance
Resistance is anything that will RESIST a
current. It is measured in Ohms, a unit
named after me.

The resistance of a
component can be
calculated using Ohms
Law:

Resistance
(in )

Simon Ohm
Most peopleGeorg
remember
the
1789-1854
equation
as V=IR

Voltage (in V)

Current (in A)

Understanding Resistance
When a voltage is applied it basically causes electrons to move
towards the positive end of the battery:
Negative

Electrons

Ions

Positive

Notice that the ions were vibrating and getting in the way of the
electrons this is resistance. This effect causes the metal to
heat up.

How to use V = IR
There are two ways to use V =
IR:

Every component (e.g. bulb,

resistor) in the circuit has its own
little version of the V = IR
equation: it has a voltage across
it, a current through it, and a
resistance.
The circuit as a whole has a V =
IR equation, where:
V = voltage across battery
I = current into / out of battery
R = overall resistance of whole
circuit

How to use V = IR
A

V
Voltmeter
reads 10V

Ammeter
reads 2A

For the bulb on the left:

V = 10 V | I = 2 A
So we can work out what its resistance must
be:
R = V/I = 10/2 = 5

Calculate the resistance of a device from the current through

it and the potential difference across it C
Perform calculations that involve rearrangement of the
resistance equation A/A*
Current (A)
Potential difference
Resistance ()
(V)
a)
4.0
20
b)

3.0

c)

50

d)

0.50

e)

0.25

f)

15
200

12
60
6.0

30

Calculate the resistance of a device from the current through

it and the potential difference across it C
Perform calculations that involve rearrangement of the
resistance equation A/A*
Current (A)
Potential difference
Resistance ()
(V)
a)
4.0
20
5.0
b)

c)

3.0

45 V

15

0.25 A

50

200

d)

0.50

12

24

e)

0.25

15 V

60

0.2 A

6.0

30

f)

Varying Resistance

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Recall our earlier idea

that if you increase the
number of bulbs in a
circuit you increase the
resistance and therefore
decrease the current:

The same effect is seen when using a variable resistor:

Increase the
resistance:

Varying Resistance
The resistance of a wire is directly proportional
to its length. For example the resistance
doubles when the length of wire doubles.
With a variable resistor you can determine what
the resistance of your component is. This allows
you [given you know the voltage supplied by the
battery] to calculate the current passing through
the circuit.

Resistors, bulbs and diodes

Current Voltage Graphs

Circuits can be used to investigate how a current
varies with voltage for devises. In particular a
filament lamp, diode and FIXED resistor.

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Current-voltage graphs
I

I
V

1. Resistor
Current increases
in proportion to
_______, provided
the temperature
doesnt change

V
2. Bulb
As voltage increases the
bulb gets ______ and
_______ increases due to
increased vibrations in the
ions in the filament

V
3. Diode
A diode only lets
current go in one
_______ it has very
_____ resistance in
the other direction

Words resistance, high, voltage, hotter, direction