3
Follow the electricity
Workbook 2: Topic 6.3, pp. 75–80
GoalTrace the flow of electricity round a circuit and draw a circuit of your own.
New words
trace · to follow a line with your finger or your eyeloop · a path that goes round and ends where it begandraw · to make a picture with a pencil or crayon
Explanation
We cannot see electricity moving, but we can imagine where it goes. Put your finger on one end of the cell. Follow the wire up to the lamp. Go through the lamp, and then down the other wire. You end up back at the cell. That is the path of the electricity. It flows round and round the loop for as long as the circuit is complete. When we draw a circuit, we draw each part and the wires that join them in a loop.
Worked examples
Nodira traces the circuit with her finger. Cell, wire, lamp, wire, and back to the cell. She has made one full loop.
A circuit with two cells is also a loop. Tariq traces it in the same way, through both cells.
To draw a circuit, Ali draws the cell, the lamp and the wires. He checks that his drawing makes a loop with no gaps.
Class activity
Trace and draw: look at a picture of a circuit in this lesson, and trace the loop with your finger. Say the parts as you pass them. Then draw your own circuit on paper with a cell, two wires and a lamp. Check with a friend that your loop has no gaps.
Practice
1
Trace Nodira’s circuit in the first example with your finger. Which parts does the electricity go through?
The cell, the wires and the lamp, all the way round the loop.
2
Cell, wire, lamp, wire … What comes next in the loop?
The cell again. The electricity goes back to the other end of the cell.
3
Draw a circuit with one cell, one lamp and two wires. Is your loop complete?
A drawing of a closed loop of cell, lamp and wires with no gaps.
4
How many cells does the electricity pass through on its way round this loop?
Three. It goes through every cell, the wires and the lamp.