Name: ________________________ Date: _________ #
Electricity Study Guide
Test on _Tuesday May 1________
Define the following terms:
1. Current – A continuous flow of electrons
2. Circuit – The path current flows through
3. Conductor – A material that allows electricity or a
current to flow through it easily.
4. Atom – The smallest unit of a material. It contains a
nucleus surrounded by electrons.
5. Electron – The negatively charged particles that revolve
around the nucleus of an atom.
6. Proton – The positively charges particle found in the
nucleus of an atom.
7. Series Circuit – A circuit with only one path for the
current to flow through.
8. Parallel Circuit – A circuit with more than one path for
the current to flow through.
9. Insulator – A material that does not allow electricity or
current to flow through it easily.
10.
Conductor – See # 3. 
11.
Switch – A device that allows a circuit to be turned
“on” or “off” easily. It opens and closes the circuit.
12.
Amp – Unit measuring the amount of current that
flows through a circuit.
13.
Volt – Unit measuring the flow or “pressure” of the
current through a circuit.
14.
Static electricity – The build up of similar charges
on an item from rubbing two items together.
15.
Electromagnet – A temporary magnet formed by
using electricity. These involve wrapping a coil of wire
around a metal core and running a current through that
wire. Electromagnets can be made stronger by increasing
the current or the number of wire coils around the metal
core.
16. Give three examples of each:
Insulators
Conductors
wood
metals
plastic
tinfoil
rubber
paper clip etc
17. Label the following circuit:
Your circuit should have the power source, conductor,
output device and switch labeled.
18. Most modern houses and buildings are wired with
parallel circuits.
19. Bulbs in series circuits get dimmer when more bulbs
are added to the circuit.
20. Bulbs in a series circuit get brighter when another
battery is added to the circuit.
21.
Electricity can be turned into heat, mechanical, and
light energy. Give an example of each.
Heat – a toaster
Mechanical – a fan
Light – a flashlight
22. Give two examples of static electricity. lightning
and build-up of charges from rubbing a balloon on your
head