Results

• Explain basic electricity relationships in series and parallel circuits.
• Use an ammeter and voltmeter to take readings in circuits.
• Provide reasoning to explain the measurements and relationships in circuits.
• Build circuits from schematic drawings.
• Determine if common objects are conductors or insulators.
• Compare and contrast AC and DC circuits.
• Describe how capacitors and inductors behave in a circuit.
• Experimentally determine the RC time constant.
• Construct RLC circuits and determine the conditions for resonance.

The idea of the electric field, how it's useful, and explains how the electric field is defined.

There are many different processes and phenomena that emit electromagnetic radiation. Humans have taken advantage of many of these processes to develop technologies that use electromagnetic radiation.

This podcast (audio) file explains how electric current can be obtained from the sun through the solar panel using direct illumination of the sun rays

The beauty of a coral reef, the warm radiance of sunshine, the sting of sunburn, the X-ray revealing a broken bone, even microwave popcorn—all are brought to us by electromagnetic waves. The list of the various types of electromagnetic waves, ranging from radio transmission waves to nuclear gamma-ray (γ-ray) emissions, is interesting in itself.

Even more intriguing is that all of these different phenomena are manifestations of the same thing—electromagnetic waves (see Figure 15.1). What are electromagnetic waves? How are they created, and how do they travel? How can we understand their widely varying properties? What is the relationship between electric and magnetic effects? These and other questions will be explored.

An image that illustrates light reflecting off a plain mirror.

Forces at a distance are explained by fields (gravitational, electric, and magnetic) permeating space that can transfer energy through space. Magnets or electric currents cause magnetic fields; electric charges or changing magnetic fields cause electric fields.

Magnetism is an interaction that allows certain kinds of objects, which are called ‘magnetic’ objects, to exert forces on each other without physically touching. A magnetic object is surrounded by a magnetic ‘field’ that gets weaker as one moves further away from the object. A second object can feel a magnetic force from the first object because it feels the magnetic field of the first object. The further away the objects are the weaker the magnetic force will be.

• Predict how current will change when resistance of the circuit is fixed and voltage is varied.
• Predict how current will change when voltage of the circuit is fixed and resistance is varied.

Photoelectric materials emit electrons when they absorb light of a high-enough frequency.