Circuits Gizmo Worksheet.docx - Name: Benisha Date:...

Name: Benisha Date: Thursday October 28th 20
Student Exploration: Circuits
Vocabulary: ammeter, circuit, current, electron, ohmmeter, Ohm’s law, parallel circuit,
resistance, resistor, series circuit, voltage
Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo
.)
Strings of holiday lights can be designed in one of two ways. In some strings of lights, each light
is connected to the others along a single wire (in series). In others, each light is attached to its
own wire (in parallel).
1. Suppose a single light bulb burns out. How do you think this will affect lights that are strung
along a single wire? They won't get affected because nothing happened to the wire just the
single light bulb
2. How will a single burned-out bulb affect the string of lights if each light is attached to its own
wire? It won't affect the others because they have their own wires
Gizmo Warm-up
The Circuits Gizmo shows a circuit board and a variety of
components. Create a circuit with a battery, a light switch, a wire,
and a light bulb, as shown. (Click the light switch to turn it to OFF .)
2. Turn on Show current and select Electron flow . The moving dots represent a current
electrons —tiny, negatively charged particles—moving through the wire. Voltage is a
measure of how much more potential energy an electron at one end of a battery has than an
electron at the other end of the battery.
A. How does changing the battery’s voltage affect the current?
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2018