Multimeters

A multimeter is an instrument that is designed to measure electric current, voltage, and resistance. The values can range from around mili- to kilo-. If you are on a current setting that is measuring too high then it will beep and you can normally change it to another setting that will be able to handle the current. The beep is also saying that the wire would not be safe and it could possibly blow the circuit. Electricians use these multimeters to find live wires and dead wires, along with figuring out what the source of a problem is. We can use the multimeter as a more accurate way to measure wires rather than assuming that the labels on things are right and using math.

Series and Parallel Circuits

Series Circuit (left) is a circuit with only one path of current and one voltage. You can hook up as many light bulbs (resistors) as you want on to the series circuit but the more you put on the circuit, the dimmer each bulb will be. If you have 1 bulb then that bulb will be the maximum brightness, if you have 2 bulbs then each bulb will be half of the maximum brightness. If you break the circuit by either having two bulbs then taking one out, or having a switch in the line, the current will not flow until you have two bulbs in the circuit or the switch is turned on.

A parallel circuit (right) is a circuit in which you can have as many paths as you want. You can hook up as many bulbs to this circuit as you need. The voltage will be the same through each of the paths of electricity but the current will be different through all of them. No matter how many bulbs you put on the circuit the brightness will always be the same for all of the bulbs. If one path is broken in parallel, the electricity will continue to flow through the rest of the paths just not the path that has been broken.

Ohm's Law and Power

Ohms law is an equation that consists of V=IR which also can be rewritten as I=V/R and R=V/I. This equation can be used in life as an electric engineer to find the relationship between current, voltage and resistance. It can also be used to determine if a circuit is safe or not. Voltage (V)(measured in volts) is directly related to current and resistance. Current (I)(measured in amperes) is directly related to voltage and inversely related to resistance. Resistance (R)(measured in Ohms) is directly related to voltage and inversely related to current.
Power is the energy used per unit of time. The units of power is joules per second. Power is used in our everyday lives in our homes.

Electricity, Importance of electricity, Electric Current, Resistance

Electricity is a energy form that is resulting from the existence of charged particles, such as positive and negative charges orbiting around the nucleus. Electricity is used for cooking, communication, laptops among many other things in our everyday lives. Electricity is important because it helps us to see at night when its dark, power our televisions, it is made by burning oil and natural resources. Electric Current is the rate of charge flow past a given point in an electric circuit, measured in coulombs/second also known as Amperes. Resistance is the ratio of voltage applied to the electric current that flows through it using the equation R=V/I. If the resistance is constant over a range of voltage then Ohm's law can be used which is, I=V/R.

Capacitance

There are many uses of capacitors in our everyday lives, but the first one that i found was what i am using to type this right now and control my computer which is my mouse pad. Our mouse pads have two metal plates with terminals and a dialect in between them. The duty of a capacitor is just to store a charge. More examples of a capacitor besides the mouse of our keyboard are, the keys on our keyboard, our touchscreen phones, our TV remotes. All the buttons that we press have little capacitors inside of them. Without capacitors most of our electronics wouldn't be able to function.

Electric Potential Energy

Electric Potential Energy is the amount of energy a charge has based on the position of the charge in an electric field. The unit of Electric Potential Energy are Joules. In a diagram like the one above, the positive charges always have the higher potential energy and the negative charges always have the lower potential energy. Also, the flow of the energy in the diagram above goes from positive to negative. So if the positive test charge is near the positive charges it will have high potential energy, but if the positive test charge is near the negative charges then it will have a lower potential energy.

Electrostatics

Electrostatics is studying stationary electric charges or fields. This is talking about positive and negative charges along with neutral charges. In this picture a student is rubbing there socks on the ground which is charging by static friction. If it was in a cold dry environment and the student was to rub their socks and then touch someone, they would get a static shock. This is caused because of electrons building up and when they get near a neutral or positive charge they would want to jump off causing a shock. It doesn’t work very well in wet environments, the charge depletes quicker in that kind of environment.