The vocabulary of circuits

Science · Energy · ages 9-11

Name ______________________ Date ____________

A cell or battery stores electrical energy and pushes current around the circuit.
Circle one: True False
Which part of a circuit lets you open or close the current's path?
- Switch
- Battery
- Insulator
What word describes the push that moves current through a circuit?
- Resistance
- Voltage
- Component
Which pair correctly matches a term with its meaning?
- Resistance: how hard it is for current to flow
- Current: the electrical push in a circuit
- Insulator: a material that lets current flow easily
In a series circuit, one bulb burns out. What happens to the rest of the circuit?
- The other bulbs stay lit, because current finds another path
- Nothing changes, because the battery keeps working
- The other bulbs go out too, because there's only one path
Count the components in this circuit loop. Type how many there are.
Answer: ______________
A circuit has high resistance. What effect does this most likely have on the current?
- The voltage disappears completely
- The current gets bigger
- The current gets smaller
Maya wires two bulbs so each bulb has its own separate path back to the battery. She calls it a series circuit. What's her mistake?
- She actually built an insulator, not a circuit
- She actually built a parallel circuit, since each bulb has its own path
- She actually measured resistance instead of building a circuit

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

True · The cell or battery is the circuit's energy source, providing the voltage that pushes current through the other components.
Switch · A switch opens or closes the circuit, turning the current on or off.
Voltage · Voltage is the electrical push, measured in volts, that moves current around the circuit.
Resistance: how hard it is for current to flow · Resistance is how hard it is for current to flow. Current is the flow itself, and an insulator blocks flow rather than helping it.
The other bulbs go out too, because there's only one path · A series circuit is one single loop, so a break anywhere stops the current everywhere.
4 · Cell, wire, switch, and bulb: four separate components in this one loop.
The current gets smaller · More resistance makes it harder for current to flow, so for the same voltage, the current gets smaller.
She actually built a parallel circuit, since each bulb has its own path · A series circuit has one shared path. Since each bulb here has its own separate path, this is actually a parallel circuit.