ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM

PART 1

CSEC 2021 RESOURCE

• “In the matter of physics, the first lessons
should contain nothing but what is
experimental and interesting to see. A
pretty experiment is in itself more valuable
than 20 formulae.” Albert Einstein
 ATOM
• All materials are made of atoms, which
contain electrically charged particles.

Around the outside of an

atom are electrons, which
have a negative charge.

The nucleus at the center of

an atom contains protons, which have a
positive charge.
 ATOM
• An atom has equal amounts of negative and
positive charges, which balance each other, so
the atom has no overall charge. Not to be
confused with an ION (Charged particle that typically
results from a loss or gain of electrons)

• Electrons do not always stay attached to

atoms and can sometimes be removed by
rubbing.
 TYPES OF MATERIAL
• Conductors
– Materials, such as metals, that allow the free
movement of charges
Metals have a “sea” of free This is why metals
electrons (-ve charge) that are such good
are free to flow through the conductors of
metal electricity.

• Insulators
– Materials, such as rubber and glass, that don’t
allow the free movement of charges
Valence electrons are much more tightly bound to the
atoms and are not free to roam about
 STATIC ELECTRICITY
• Static electricity is due to electric charge that
builds up on the surface of an insulator, such
as a plastic comb.
• The charge that has built up cannot easily flow
away from the insulator, which is why it is
called static electricity
•Static electricity is all about charges
which are not free to move.

•As a result they build up in one place,

resulting in a spark or shock when they
do move.
 FIELD
• The electric field is the space around an
electrical charge where an electric force act.
 ELECTRIC FIELD LINE

Lines that indicate the strength and direction

of the electric field.
The more dense the lines, the stronger the
field.
 CHARGES INTRODUCTION
✔ Just as most particles have an attribute known as mass, many
possess another attribute called charge. Charge and mass are
intrinsic properties, defining properties that particles possess by
their very nature.
✔ Unlike mass, there are two different kinds of charge: positive and
negative.
✔ Particles with a unlike charges attract, while those with like
charges repel.
✔ Most everyday objects are comprised of billions of charged, but
usually there are about the same number of positive charges as
negative, leaving the object as a whole neutral.
✔ A charged object is an object that has an excess of one type of
charge, e.g., more positive than negative. The amount of excess
charge is the charge we assign to that object.
 CHARGE (Q)
• Coulomb, unit of electric charge in the  system
of units which forms the basis of the SI
system of physical units. It is abbreviated as C.
It is approximately equivalent to 6.24 ×
1018 electrons/Proton. The charge on a single
electron is -1.6 x 10 -19 Coulomb. The charge
on a single proton is +1.6 x 10 -19 Coulomb
• When electric charge flows from one place to
another, we say it forms an electric current.
 ELECTRIC CURRENT
• As we said, electricity is when electrons move
around a circuit and carry energy with them.
Each electron has a negative CHARGE.
• A flow of charge is called an electric current
• The more charge that flows, and the faster it
flows, the greater the electric current, thus
• Electric current is the rate of flow of electric
charge.
 Cont’d
• Size of current in a conductor is the amount of
charge passing any point of that conductor per
second.
• If 1 Coulomb of charge (6.25 x 1018 electrons)
passes a point each second, the current is 1
Ampere.

• I=Q C
t s
• Unit: Ampere (A) or __Cs-1__ C/s _
 Examples
1) A circuit is switched on for 30s with a current of
3A. How much charge flowed? __90__Coulomb
2) During electrolysis 6A was passed through some
copper chloride and a charge of 1200C flowed.
How long was the experiment on for? 200s
3) A bed lamp is switched on for 10 minutes. It
works on a current of 0.5A. How much charge
flowed?
 Practice Questions
Charge (C) Current (A) Time (s)

5 2

0.4 1

20 0.5

50 250

3 60
 CONVENTIONS
• Current is in the direction that positive charge
flows
• But in reality, current is transported by an
opposite flow of negatively-charged electrons

Sometimes described as “conventional current” (positive) or “electron flow” (negative)

A
(lternating) C vs. D C
(irect)
 VOLTAGE
The potential difference (p.d.), or voltage,
of a battery/Electric source is a measure of the
electrical energy given to one coulomb of
charge passing through the battery.
6.25*10^18 =1C (-1)
SI UNIT = Volts
A 1.5 V battery will give how much energy
to each coulomb of charge passing
through the battery?

1.5 Joules of energy

 VOLTAGE
* One VOLT
is the electric potential difference
between two points when one Joule of work
is done in moving one Coulomb of charge
between the points
E Potential difference, or
voltage, is the electrical
V Q potential energy per coulomb
of charge.
 Question (worded)
• Potential difference (also called _Voltage___)
is how big the push on the electrons is. We
use a ________ to measure it and it is
measured in ______, a unit named after Volta.
• Electric current is when electrons start to flow
around a circuit. We use an _________ to
measure it and it is measured in ____.
 Question (work out)
1) A battery gives out a current of 0.2A and has
a voltage of 1.5V. If it is used for 30 seconds
how much energy has it transferred?
2) An electric fire runs at a voltage of 230V and a
current of 8A. If it is left on for 2 hours how
much electrical energy has it transferred?
 Electric Resistance
Electric Resistance: The ability of a material to
resist the flow of charge
Units: Ohms (Ω)
The amount of charge that flows through a
circuit depends on two things:
Voltage provided by source
Electric resistance of the conductor
 OHM’s Law
V = IR

• The voltage , V, across a resistor is

proportional to the current, I, that flows
through it.
• In general, resistance does not depend
on the voltage.
 Fun facts
• For metals: as temperature increases the
resistance increases. At very low
temperatures resistance can become zero:
superconductivity.

• For semiconductors: the opposite occurs.

Fixed resistor
 Potentiometer
• A variable resistance.

• Used for dimmers, fan

speed controls, etc.
 Voltmeter
• Measures the voltage between
two points in an electric circuit.

• Must be connected in parallel.

 Ammeter
• Measures electric current.

• Must be placed in series.

 Q3
• How much current flows in a 1000-ohm
resistor when 1.5 volts are impressed across
it?
• How much resistance allows an impressed
voltage of 6 V to produce a current of 0.006 A?
• What voltage will produce 3 A through a 15-
ohm resistor?
Circuit diagram
Switches
 Connections in a Circuit
▪ Electrons flow from negative to positive;
therefore, a complete circuit must have wires
that connect the negative pole of the energy
source to the positive pole of the energy source.

▪ The circuit is established when there is a

continuous path for electricity to travel from
one end of the energy source to the other end.
 Types of circuits
• Look carefully
 Series Circuit
In a Series Circuit there is only one
path for the electric current or
electricity to flow.

All of the loads in a

series circuit share the same current.

If there is any break

in the circuit, the charges will stop flowing.
Imagine that your house
is
wired in a series circuit.
What would have to
happen if you wanted to
watch TV?

You would have to turn on other

appliances in order to watch TV.
Stupid right?
Circuits in buildings are wired in
Parallel.
 Parallel Circuit
In a Parallel Circuit there is more
than one path for the electric
current or electricity to flow.
• The electric current
branches so that
electrons flow
through each of the
paths

• If one path is broken,

electrons continue to
 Comparing Series & Parallel
In a Series circuit, the current has to travel
through each bulb; therefore, adding more
light bulbs makes each bulb dimmer because
the resistance of the whole circuit has
increased.
Resistance is how difficult it is for electrons
to flow through a material (friction).
 Think of the relationship between Electric Current,
Voltage, and Resistance as shown in the diagram
below.

As the bucket is raised, potential energy is

increased (increase in voltage) and there is
less resistance (friction) in the hose;
therefore the flow of water (electric current)
 Comparing Series &
Parallel
Another advantage of a Parallel circuit is
that you can connect loads that need
different currents to the same parallel
circuit.

For example, you can connect a hair

dryer, which needs a high current to
run, to the same circuit as a lamp,
which needs less current to run.