Lesson 6.1 What Is Electricity?

Lesson 6.1 What Is Electricity? – Key Terms

Ampere (A) / A unit of measure of the rate of current flow. One ampere equals one coulomb per second.
Anode / The positively charged structure within a voltaic cell.
Armature / The rotating part of an electrical generator.
Atom / The smallest part of an element that contains all of the properties of that element.
Atomic Number / The atomic number is equal to the number of protons (positively charged particles) in the nucleus of an atom.
Battery / A device used to convert chemical energy into electric energy. A group of voltaic cells connected together in a series or parallel connection.
Cathode / The negatively charged structure within a voltaic cell.
Circuit / An electrical path between two points.
Commutator / Strips or bars of metal insulated from each other and arranged around one end of an armature. Used to flip the flow of electricity, so positive becomes negative and negative becomes positive.
Conductor / A device or material that permits current to flow through it easily. Most often it is a metal.
Continuity / The continuous flow through a component or an entire circuit.
Coulomb / 6.25 x 1024 electrons
Current / A flow of electric charge.
Direct Current (DC) / Current that does not reverse its direction of flow.
Electromagnet / Magnet created by passing a current through a coil of wire.
Electron / A negatively charged particle.
Electron Theory / Electrons flow from a negative point to a positive point.
Element / The simplest form of matter.
Field Magnet / Permanent magnets, arranged outside the armature.
Generator / A device used to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Insulator / A material used to electrically isolate two conductive surfaces. Mostoften it is a non-metal.
LED / A Light Emitting Diode.
Magnet / An object that is surrounded by a magnetic field and that has the property, either natural or induced, of attracting iron or steel.
Matter / Anything that occupies space.
Molecule / The smallest part of a compound that is made of individual atoms.
Motor / A device used to convert electric energy into mechanical energy.
Multimeter / An instrument for measuring the properties of an electrical circuit.
Neutron / An uncharged atomic particle.
Nucleus / The center portion of an atom containing the protons and neutrons.
Proton / A positively charged atomic particle.
Resistance (R) / The opposition of current flow.
Semiconductors / A material that is both a poor conductor and a poor insulator.
Static Electricity / An accumulation of electric charge on an insulated body.
Valence Electrons / The outermost ring of electrons in an atom. Used to determine whether an element is an insulator, conductor or semiconductor.
Voltage / The force behind the movement of electrons.

© 2011 Project Lead The Way, Inc.

PLTW Gateway – Magic of Electrons Lesson 6.1 What is Electricity? – Key Terms– Page 1