Playing with Circuits

Honors Physics reviewed their light exams, Friday’s homework and then moved further into resistance. We discussed how certain factors such as temperature, cross-sectional area, length and material identity influence the resistance charges experience and related these factors to practical home applications. We started on capacitors next, with a definition of capacitance and a look at examples of capacitors. We’ll discuss capacitors tomorrow and demo how they function to store electric potential energy.

Physical Science B worked with the Snap Circuits kits to examine series and parallel circuits. Students built basic circuits with lamps, and more complex ones with motors and audio components. We’ll continue with this piece tomorrow and discuss the results before taking on more complex circuits and new components such as capacitors and diodes.

Physical Science E reviewed series and parallel circuits and took time to go over the math worksheet for this chapter. Attention then turned to the Snap Circuits kits and we previewed the type of work we will be doing over the next several days. Tomorrow, students begin constructing and evaluating series and parallel circuits.

Physics F conducted their Ohm’s Law investigation. Students tested a 50-ohm and 100-ohm resistor and found that the proportional relationship between voltage and current, when graphed, produced straight lines whose slope matched the tested resistor. The light bulb, however, was non-ohmic: the resistance at low voltages was lower than at higher voltages. The mystery resistor was definitely ohmic and folks found out pretty easily that it had a value of 68-ohms. That was verified by the banding pattern on the resistor that students interpreted using a chart and an iPhone app. Tomorrow, we’ll go into this lab in more detail and continue on discussing voltage, current and resistance.

Physics G reviewed Friday’s lab investigation and then moved into a general review of electric potential energy and potential difference. The function of a power source as a promoter of potential difference was described, as was the role of the power source to move charges from a low potential energy area to a high potential energy area. We’ll review this tomorrow, before tackling current and resistance. We’ll discuss these three specters for the remainder of the unit and they will also carry over to our work with magnetism.

Homework

Honors Physics A: None
Physical Science B: None
Physical Science E: Read Snap Circuits information packet
Physics F: Complete lab write up
Physics G: None