Kanaan Global School

Grade 9: Physics
A junction of conductors is the location
where conductors in electrical circuits
meet.
A cell is a single electrical energy
source which uses chemical
reactions to produce a current
(ampere) while a battery usually
consists of group of cells.
A typical cell has a voltage of 1.5
volts (we write this as 1.5 V). By
connecting cells in series, we can
makes batteries with 3 V, 6 V and
so on.
A power supply is an electrical device
that supplies electric power to an
electrical load
A component which controls the open-
ness or closed-ness of an electric
circuit. They allow control over current
flow in a circuit (without having to
actually get in there and manually cut or
splice the wires)
An ammeter (from ampere meter) is a
measuring instrument used to measure
the current in a circuit. An ammeter is
put in a series so it can measure the
current (in ampere) that is passing
through it
An instrument used for measuring
electric potential difference between
two points in an electric circuit. A
voltmeter is placed in parallel circuit so
it can calculate the potential difference.
It also has a high resistance so no
current will pass through the voltmeter
A filament lamp is a common type of
light bulb.
It contains a thin coil of wire called the
filament. This heats up when an electric
current passes through it, and produces
light as a result.
This is used in circuits to stop too much
current from flowing.
• The fuse has a thin section of wire and will
melt when too much current passes through
so that the wire would not burn out and
cause fire.
• The current (A/amp/ampere) shown in each
wire is the amount of current that it would
melt on.
• Thicker wires would be able to withstand
higher current flows.
This is used to heat up the air.
• Electric current is passed through and
made into heat.
A bell rings and makes a bell sound,
while the buzzer makes beeping sound

Bell
• When current is passed
through it, it allows an
object to hit the bell making
it ring.

Buzzer
• When current is passed
through it, it allows a
ceramic disk to expand and
contract causing it to vibrate
• The vibration of the disk
causes the beeping sound.
It is used to produce magnetic field or
provide electrical resistance
• The coil is turned around on a magnetic
material, magnetizes it to create the
magnetic field/electrical resistance.
It is used to measure small amounts of
electrical current
• Current flows through and the galvanometer
is able to find and show how much current is
passed through from the reading.
It converts alternating current (AC) to
another type of current
• It induces current to other coils causing the
current to be changed.
A conductor that can be used to control
the amount of current flowing around a
circuit.
A resistor works by converting some of the
electrical energy into heat which helps
increase the resistance. Resistance is a
measure of the opposition to current flow
in an electrical circuit.
Resistance is measured in ohms.
The formula for resistance is R= V/I. There
are 2 types of resistors: fixed resistors and
variable resistors.
V = Voltage and I = Ampere
Fixed resistor and variable resistor
Carbon Film Resistor
• Has 2 terminals
• Has a resistance of a fixed value.
• Using a fixed resistor is expensive because
each time the resistance is changed, we need
to buy a new fixed resistor.
• In case of variable resistors, we use a single
resistor for different resistance values. The
resistance of the fixed resistors are measured
by using the ammeter. Common types of fixed
resistors are carbon film resistors and wire-
wound resistors.
Potentiometer
Wire Wound Resistor
• A variable resistor has a resistance that can be varied.
This particular resistor is used to alter amount of
current flowing through the circuit. This resistor is
usually used to control the volume of a radio or a
stereo system.
• A variable resistor is provided by a track of resistive
wire or carbon. A variable resistor usually has 3
terminals (two fixed and one movable).
• It works by moving the slider along the metal rod, the
length of wire through which current flows can be
varied.
• When a variable resistor is used as a potential divider
by using 3 terminals it is called a potentiometer.
• Rheostat is a lab version of the variable resistor, it
only uses 2 terminals, while potentiometer uses 3.
The variable resistor
symbol at the top is used
if the resistor has 3
terminals.

The variable resistor

symbol at the bottom is
used if the resistor has 2
terminals
A transducer is a device that converts
energy from one form to another.
Usually a transducer converts a signal
in one form of energy to a signal in
another.
Transducers are often employed at the
boundaries of automation,
measurement, and control systems,
where electrical signals are converted
to and from other physical quantities.
(energy, force, torque, light, motion,
position, etc.)
LDR stands for Light Dependent
Resistor (also known as photoresistors)
and it is an electronic component that is
sensitive to light.
It is a type of variable resistor.
When light falls upon it, then the
resistance changes. Values of the
resistance of the LDR may change over
many orders of magnitude the value of
the resistance falling as the level of light
increases.
A thermistor is a type of resistor whose
resistance is dependent on
temperature, more so than in standard
resistors.
The word is a combination of thermal
and resistor.
Thermistors are of two opposite
fundamental types: With NTC
thermistors, resistance decreases as
temperature rises.
A relay is an electrical switch that
uses electromagnet to link two
circuits together.
A relay coil is placed on a circuit and
a switch on the other circuit.
Current flowing from the coil makes
it magnetized, pulling on the switch
on the other circuit to allow current
to flow.
Relay coil Relay switch
To find out how electrical components work with others,
we can find Figure 19.8 (Coursebook page 265).

The thermistor detects the

temperature first.
The thermistor has a high resistance
when temperature is low, and low
resistance when temperature is high.
Because of the high resistance, too
little current is present, causing the
relay switch to still be open.
But low resistance causes current to
be present, causing the relay switch
to be closed and the bell on the
second circuit would ring.
A diode is defined as a two-terminal
electronic component that only
conducts current in one direction (so
long as it is operated within a specified
voltage level). An ideal diode will have
zero resistance in one direction, and
infinite resistance in the reverse
direction.
There are two types of diodes, Regular
regular diodes and LED. Diodes
Light emitting diode (LED) is a type
of diode that emits light when
current flows through.
It converts electrical energy to light
energy and uses different
semiconductor materials to emit
different colors of light.

LED
The 22 Circuit Components Symbols
April Hansson