1. Miss Daly’s 4th grade class
Electric Circuits
Miss Daly’s 4th grade class

2. What is an electric circuit?
Click on the link and watch the video about electric circuits.
When the video is over, simply close the window to continue.

3. Parts of a circuit Battery – The power source Wire – The pathway
Load – The purpose
Switch – On and Off
Click on the name of each circuit part to learn more.

4. Go back!
This is not a simple PowerPoint presentation. It is a tutorial.
Click on the links, not the arrow so you can learn all you need to know about circuits.

5. Return to Circuit Parts.
Battery
A battery is the source of power for a simple circuit. Electrons move from the negative side of the battery and flow along the wire to the positive side of the battery. Both sides of the battery must be connected for the circuit to be complete.
Return to Circuit Parts.

6. Wire
Wire is the path for the electrons in a circuit. Wire is usually made from copper or another conductive metal. The wire must make a closed path for the electrons to flow.
For safety, the copper wire is usually covered with insulated plastic or rubber coating to prevent electric shocks

7. Load
A load can be a lightbulb, motor, buzzer or anything else that does work using the electricity.
Without a load the circuit is useless.
The load converts the energy in a circuit to do work such as making light, sound, or motion.

8. Switch
A switch turns the circuit off and on by opening and closing the circuit.
An open circuit means the circuit is off and the electrons will stop flowing
A closed circuit means the circuit is on and the electrons can flow.

9. Check!
Did you read about all the circuit parts?

10. Answer the following questions before you move on
Which part of a circuit changes it from open to closed?
The Load
The Switch
The Wire
The Battery

11. Incorrect - Switch
A switch turns the circuit off and on by opening and closing the circuit.
An open circuit means the circuit is off and the electrons will stop flowing
A closed circuit means the circuit is on and the electrons can flow.

12. Correct!

13. In an open circuit, the electrons…
A. Stop flowing because the switch is off the circuit is incomplete.
B. Flow through the circuit because the switch is on.
C. Flow through the circuit because the wire makes a complete circle.
D. Stop flowing because the battery has run out of power.

14. Incorrect - Switch
A switch turns the circuit off and on by opening and closing the circuit.
An open circuit means the circuit is off and the electrons will stop flowing
A closed circuit means the circuit is on and the electrons can flow.

15. Correct!

16. Which of these is NOT an example of a load?
A. Lightbulb
B. Wire
C. Motor
D. Buzzer

17. Load
A load can be a lightbulb, motor, buzzer or anything else that does work using the electricity.
Without a load the circuit is useless.
The load converts the energy in a circuit to do work such as making light, sound, or motion.

18. Correct!

19. Two Kinds of Circuits
Series Circuit
Parallel Circuit

20. Return to Types of Circuits
Series Circuit
Simple series circuits create only one path for electrons to flow. The wire often looks like one circle. Since electrons have only one path, if any item is removed or stops working, the entire circuit will fail.
Adding more loads to a series circuit will make each load get less power, lightbulbs will get dimmer when more bulbs are added.
Return to Types of Circuits

21. Parallel Circuit
In a parallel circuit there are two or more paths for electrons to flow. Because of this, if an item is removed from the circuit the electrons can continue to flow along other closed paths.

22. Check Your Knowledge: Series or Parallel
1. Wire shaped like a circle Series Parallel 2. More than one path for electrons to travel 3. If more lightbulbs are added each bulb gets dimmer.
Finished with the quiz?

23. YES!!!

24. Is this circuit built correctly?
No!
Yes!

25. Incorrect - Battery
A battery is the source of power for a simple circuit. Electrons move from the negative side of the battery and flow along the wire to the positive side of the battery. Both sides of the battery must be connected for the circuit to be complete.
Return to Question.

26. Correct!
The wire must connect to both ends of the battery.

27. Will this circuit work?

28. Incorrect - Battery
A battery is the source of power for a simple circuit. Electrons move from the negative side of the battery and flow along the wire to the positive side of the battery. Both sides of the battery must be connected for the circuit to be complete.
Return to Question.

29. Correct!
The wire must connect to both ends of the battery.

30. You are finished!
See Miss Daly for what to do next.

31. References Images Retrieved from:
Brainpop (Producer). (n.d.). Electric Circuits [Video File]. Retrieved from
Circuit Builder. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Fusebox Web Site:
Jenneration. (2004). Learning circuits. Retrieved from
Thelwell, A. (n.d.) The blobz guide to electric circuits. Retrieved from