Miley 3/7

To begin the class period, Mr. Ebersole reminded us of all the upcoming things and assignments due: Section 4 Lab and Homework are due tomorrow (3/8), Windmills on Friday (3/9), and our third electricity quiz tomorrow. We then continued by learning about Ohm’s Law and Equivalent resistance. Ohm’s law is V=iR and helps prove that resistance and current are inversely proportional. Equivalent resistance is when the resistance of the single resistor would produce the same effect as what is produced by the network. Both of these concepts are the math used to prove what we have been learning in the circuit labs. After taking our notes and finishing the example problems, Mr. Ebersole handed out a circuit worksheet that review what we have previous learned and the new concepts learned today. This worksheet is also due tomorrow (3/8). DON’T FORGET: 3 DAYS TILL WINDMILLS!

QOD: Use the mathematical equations for finding equivalent resistance to explain the results you observed for bulb brightness in the lab.

As seen in the equations for resistance equivalence, series and parallel circuits vary in how they are calculated. For a series, you just add the resistances together. And for a parallel circuit, you add the reciprocals for each resistor. As we’ve seen in the labs, the parallel circuits provide more pathways for the current to travel through, which can help decrease the resistance. In a series, one pathway is used which can sometimes cause more resistance. When executing the equations with actual problems, we can see that these ideas hold true. With less resistance the bulb can be brighter, as we’ve seen in parallel circuits and with more resistance the bulb may be dimmer, as seen in series. Though I’m confident with this answer, I’m not 100% sure that I’m correct.