Series/Parallel Circuits - Lab postponed to Monday, New OP Assign.

** bring lab journals monday/tuesday**
New optional Assignment: Ohm's Law
Today in class:  Reviewed notes from Wednesday (see wednesday's post).
New material: Circuit types:

•Open – has a break in the path

•Closed – complete path

•Series – one path for current

–If one part of a series circuit is opened, current stops

•Parallel – multiple paths for current

–Most circuits have series and parallel parts within themWe drew different circuit elements such as resistors, batteries, switches, and meters, and a couple of examples of series and parallel circuits. (below)

  

A shows 3 resistors in series.   b shows 3 resistors in parallel.  C and D are combinations of series and parallel circuits.

 Finally, we discussed circuit protection - Fuses and Circuit breakers.  They're overcurrent protection, so if a circuit is short circuited or overloaded, they act to open the circuit and stop current.  A fuse or circuit breaker would be placed in line with a branch of parallel circuits.  In the diagrams above, the location of the resistor R1 in (c) would be an appropriate place to locate a fuse/circuit breaker.  Some examples were passed around, and I explained how they work.  (how fuses work)   (how circuit breakers work)  After notes, we watched demonstrations involving Ohm's law on the laserdisc player and a couple of classes had a quiz.