A circuit is a loop that electricity travels around to light Zoe's torch in the dark cupboard. A cell is the battery inside a torch or a toy, and it gives the electricity its push. The loop must be complete, from the cell all the way back to the cell. A gap anywhere stops the flow.
Ben is building a hand torch. He connects the cell to a switch with one wire, the switch to a bulb with a second wire, and the bulb back to the cell with a third wire. Closing the switch completes the loop and the bulb lights up. Opening it again turns the torch off.
A switch is a small gap you can open or close. Close it and the loop is complete, so the bulb or buzzer turns on. Open it and the gap breaks the loop, so the power stops.
Every circuit needs a cell to push the electricity, wires to carry it, and something that uses it, like a bulb that lights up or a buzzer that makes sound.
A simple circuit is a complete loop of cell, wires, and a bulb or buzzer, with a switch to turn it on or off.
The rewritten reading was written for this dataset.
You already know which things at home plug into a wall and which carry their own power. Ben's class is making a hand torch, and a torch has no plug.
Ben has a bulb and two wires on the desk. What does he still need before anything can light up?
Build the loop yourself: a cell, wires with no gaps, and a bulb that only lights when the path closes.
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.