The Ohm Depot

Overview

Throughout the "The Ohm Depot" unit, I learned about different types of circuits, electrical components, how to use a multimeter, and voltage, resistance, current, power, and wattage.

Project

This is an example of a series circuit with two batteries. When two ends of a battery (or any power source) are connected through a conductor (a material that electricity can flow through), current flows through the conductor. This electricity can be used to power electrical components. If all of the current in a circuit flows through the same path, the circuit is considered a "series" circuit. On the other hand, if the current splits through different paths, the circuit is considered a "parallel" circuit. In this circuit, the yellow component is a resistor. Resistors decrease the voltage (electrical pressure/push) of the circuit as to not break other components. Next, the red and green components on the bottom are LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). When current passes through a LED, it lights up. When two batteries are in series, their voltage, or electrical push, adds up. Therefore, they will drain more quickly, but the voltage will be higher. If another batter were added, the new battery's voltage would add to the total. If, instead, the batteries were placed in series, the voltage would not add up, and the batteries would drain more slowly. Lastly, the green component on the top is a switch. When the slider is set to "on," a conductor in the switch is connected, and electricity can pass through, but when it is set to "off," the connection is broken and the circuit stops.

As explained above, in this circuit, the batteries are in parallel. This allows the batteries to run for twice as long while only expending the voltage and current of one battery. The switch turns on and off the battery on the right, so the battery on the left will always power the lamp. Turning on the switch allows both batteries to work, increasing the light emitted. If, in this circuit, more voltage and current were required, it would be more effective to place the batteries in series.

These two circuit contrast the output of two lamps when they are in parallel with one battery or in series with two batteries. In the circuit on the right, the lamps will shine 1/4th as bright as in the circuit on the left. On the right, the voltage and current of one battery will be split between the two lamps, while on the right, the voltage and current of two batteries will flow through each lamp. Because 2/(1/2) = 4, the circuit on the left will shine 4 times as bright.

This circuit powers a motor and a lamp in series, and it allows us to contrast the effects of the motor on the circuit with and without fan blades attached to it. When there were fan blades on the motor, it required more of the energy to be used, and because the motor and lamp are in series, there was less power left for the lamp. Subsequently, the lamp was dimmer when there were fan blades on the motor.

In the circuit on the left, there is simply a motor and switch in series. When the circuit is broken by the switch, the motor stops. But in the circuit on the right, there are two switches (one a button and one a toggle). When the button is pressed, it bypasses a lamp near the beginning of the circuit. This allows more energy to be put towards the motor, spinning it quicker. Without the button being pressed, the motor turns slower than in the circuit on the right because some energy is being useed to power the lamp. When the toggle-switch is turned off, though, the circuit is broken and the flow of electricity completely stops.

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