Permanent Magnets

Magnets have a north pole and a south pole. 'Like magnetic poles attract eachother, opposite magnetic poles attract one another.'

If you were to split a magnet, half of the magnet would stay north, while half would become south. See the picture below:

This is a picture of Magnetic Filed Lines.

Magnetism

"All magnetic force results from the movement of charged particles."
"Certain materials under certian conditions can have their atoms arranged so that the electrons have the same general motion."
-Exploring Creation With Physical Science chapter 12 page 305

Some materials can simply not be magnetic because of their atoms. For example, you cannot take a refigerator magnet and stick it on one of the walls.

Series and Parallel Circuits

"The idea that a break in an electrical circuitcan stop the currernt flow and thus stop the electrical device or devices in the circuit is quite useful most of the time. However, sometimesit's a real problem. Consider, for example the following circuit:"

Even though only one lightbulb is broken, neither will work. The idea is that the electrons flow through the filament in the light bulb. Notice that on the one light bulb, the filament is broken....therefore, the electrons cannot get to the next light bulb. Several years ago, if you had Christmas tree lights and one burnt out, none of them would turn on. You had to replace all the light bulbs because you didn't know which one was burnt out. Now, they have changed the way the lights are made so that when one burns out, the others will still light up. The picture above is a series circuit. A series circuit is when the electrons flow through the filament. The picture below is a parallel circuit.

The electrons cannot flow through the filament in the burnt out light bulb but they can still flow from one side of the battery to the other.



Switches and Circuits

We are now going to learn about open circuits. This will hopefully show you how light switches and other things to the same effect work. First, let me give you the definition of an open circuit. Open circuit- a circuit that does not have a complete connection with between the two ides of the power source. As a result, current does not flow.

You can now see how when you flip a light switch, you are allowing a path for the electricity to flow in. The same thing works when you turn the light off but vise versa.

Electrical Circuits

Did you know that the force that exists between charged particles can be used to make electrical circuits? For example, when a light bulb is hooked up to an electrical circuit, the bulb glows.

For electrical charges to get moving, you need something that uses electromagnetic force, such as a battery. One side of the battery contains chemicals that wish to use electrons, while the other side contains chemicals that wish to gain electrons. Therefore, one side of the battery is a source of electrons, so it's negative. They also have a positive side. When two sides of a battery are hooked together with metal, electrons will flow through the metal from the negative side of a battery to the positive side.

The number of electrons that flow through a circuit in a given amount of time can be determined by examining the electrical current in a circuit.

Electrical Current- the amount of charge that travels past a fixed point in an electrical circuit each second.