10 MORE points!

Now today's topic for the fifth blog so far, will be a continuation of current electricity and circuitry. So here are 10 (more) points about those two topics from pages 553-563. In other words, here is what I learned from reading 10 pages.

1. The measurement of opposition to the current flow is known as electrical resistance. To determine the resistance one must first discover the quantities of potential difference across the load and the current passing through the load. Therefore, knowing this, the equation can be developed. R (Resistance) = V (potential difference) / I (Current). The result is measured in units known as the "ohm" (Ω). One ohm is equivalent to one volt one volt of potential difference flowing through a current of one ampere.


This is Ohm's triangle which corresponds
with his formulas calculating resistance



2. The unit of ohms was named after Georg Simon Ohm who discovered that the V/I ratio was always consistent if the same resistor was used. The ratio he discovered is now known as Ohm's law.

3. There are many different ways to determine the resistance of something. Firstly, thinner wires usually have a higher resistance than a thicker wire. Other determining factors include the material of the conductor, the temperature (usually higher temp = higher resistance), the length (longer = more resistance), and even the cross-sectional area (wider = less resistance).

4. There is also something known as superconductivity (awesome name, I know). It is basically just the ability of a material to conduct electricity without any heat loss from electrical resistance. The first superconductors that were created only worked at low temperatures (how useless..) however, in recent years a high-temperature superconducting material known as HTSs at, well, higher temperatures. In fact, the HTSs work at temperatures over twice as high as the old superconductors.

Series (right) vs. Parallel (left)

5. At a review, now I will begin to discuss about series and parallel circuits. A series circuit is created when the loads are connected on a single path (in a series, obviously). In a parallel circuit on the other hand, the loads are placed in parallel (seriously). In other words, they're placed side by side and the connection could be cut off seperately.

This is Kirchhoff!!

6. A man by the name of Kirchhoff composed two very important laws that are beneficial to the circuits. The first one is his current law. It simply states that the total amount of current that flows into a junction point is equivalent to the total current that flows out of that same junction.

Diagram for his current law



7. The second law Kirchhoff created was his voltage law. This one states that the total of all electrical potential decreases in any complete circuit will be equal to the potential increases in the same circuit.

8. Utilizing Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws, we can determine loads within a parallel circuit would receive less power than a series circuit. Since in parallel circuits there are more junctions, the energy is further split up to provide power to all junctions rather than flowing in a straight path like in a series circuit. This means that loads in a series circuit could receive more power (therefore producing a more powerful load) than loads in a parallel circuit.

9. Kirchhoff's laws are also corresponding with the laws of conservation of electric charge and the conservation of energy. This means that in any circuit, there will be no random gains or losses of charge or energy.

10. Also noted in the pages that were assigned, there was a definition for the gauge number. First thing that came up to mind was something about a shotgun... but it is in fact a code used to determine the cross-sectional area of a wire. One that possesses a small gauge number has a greater cross-sectional area as to a large number which indicates a smaller cross-sectional area

There are the 10 points I have learned from page 553-563 in the textbook. I hope you enjoy reading this more than I enjoyed writing, because in these pages it was quite difficult to cough up 10 whole points of information! Thanks for reading!! :)