Series Circuit - Complete Toolkit

Objectives

1. To recognize a series circuit, to distinguish it from a parallel circuit, and to construct and/or interpret a schematic diagram of a series circuit.
2. To compare the values of current and electric potential at various locations within a series circuit and to explain the principles that form the basis of such comparisons.
3. To calculate the equivalent resistance of a series circuit from values of individual resistances.
4. To mathematically analyze a series circuit in order to relate the current value in each resistor to the battery voltage and the resistance values of the individual resistors.
5. To mathematically analyze a series circuit and use the Ohm’s law equation in order to determine the voltage drops across each resistor and to compare each of these values to the voltage of the battery.

Readings from The Physics Classroom Tutorial

1. Current Electricity Chapter, Lesson 4a - Circuit Symbols and Circuit Diagrams
    
2. Current Electricity Chapter, Lesson 4b - Two Types of Connections
    
3. Current Electricity Chapter, Lesson 4c - Series Circuits

Interactive Simulations

1. Nerd Island Studios DC Circuit Builder
   
   In cooperation with The Physics Classroom, Nerd Island Studios has produced an iPad, tablet, Chromebook, and mobile-friendly app for investigating electric circuits. Users can easily drag circuit elements onto the workspace to build any type of circuit. Battery voltage and resistance values can be easily modified, providing users with a virtual circuit kit capable of exploring circuit concepts. The DC Circuit Builder is accompanied by three different classroom-friendly and ready-to-use activities prepared by The Physics Classroom.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
2. PhET DC Circuit Construction Kit
   
   Robust interactive simulation lets students drag wires, batteries, resistors, bulbs, and switches to construct a model of a DC circuit. They can take measurements with the virtual ammeter and voltmeter. The circuit can be built in series, parallel, or more complex configurations. Right click, change the resistance, and watch the effects on the light bulb. 
    
   Note:  Here’s an additional link to a comprehensive student guide, developed by a high school teacher specifically for use with this simulation.
   http://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/3654
   
   
   
   
    
3. The Concord Consortium:  Electric Current Model
    
   Take a deep exploration into the relationships between voltage, current, and resistance with this set of interactive models for introductory physics.  It starts with atomic-level models to investigate how voltage and resistance affect electron flow. Then it explores how current is different from voltage and finishes with models of a hydrogen fuel cell and an incandescent light bulb filament.  Students can take snapshots of their models, annotate them, and save or share.  Allow 90 minutes. 
   
   
   
   
    
4. Electric Circuit Diagram Template 
    
   Login to your Google account to use this free tool for making sharable electric circuit diagrams.  It’s part of the Google Engineering ToolBox.  This tool is appropriate for more advanced students, as it allows choices of AC or DC, capacitance, variable inductors, and more.
    

Video and Animations

Labs and Investigations

Demonstration Ideas

Minds On Physics Internet Modules:

1. Electric Circuits, Assignment EC7 -  Series Circuits Concepts
2. Electric Circuits, Assignment EC9 -  Series Circuits Calculations

Conceptual Building Exercises:

1. The Curriculum Corner, Electric Circuits, Series Circuits
2. The Curriculum Corner, Electric Circuits, Circuit Analysis

Problem-Solving Exercises:

1. The Calculator Pad, Electric Circuits, Problems #20 - #28

Science Reasoning Activities:

1. Science Reasoning Center, Electric Circuits, Bulb A and Bulb B
2. Science Reasoning Center, Electric Circuits, Series and Parallel Lab

Real Life Connections:

1. Edison vs. Westinghouse:  A Shocking Rivalry  
   
   Science is the story of real people, real rivalries, heroic efforts, and (sometimes) not-so-heroic tactics. The “Battle of the Currents” pitted Thomas Edison (developer of the DC current system) against Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse, proponents of AC power systems. Edison engaged in a smear campaign by using AC current systems to electrocute a dog, elephant, and even a condemned prisoner. He told shocked audiences that AC was dangerous and would kill them within months after installation.  (This feature article from Smithsonian Magazine is an excellent resource for a lesson on ethics in scientific enterprise.) 
   
   
    
2. Department of Energy:  The History of the Light Bulb 
   
   Nicely presented interactive timeline with background article that discusses the evolution of the light bulb.  It covers the early arc lamp, Edison’s carbon-filament incandescent bulb, tungsten filament bulbs, fluorescent breakthroughs, Edward Hammer’s CFL (compact fluorescent light) and LED lighting. 

Common Misconception:

1. Current Gets Used Up
   
   It is helpful to often repeat the phrase “current is everywhere the same.” And it is also helpful to be on the lookout for the common and faulty student twist of this phrase into “current never changes.” Emphasize to students that the charge in a circuit is not used up or consumed. It simply flows about the circuit together when an electric potential difference is impressed across the circuit. So for a series circuit, each resistor in the series has the same current in it. Because students will be insistent that something is getting used up, describe the lowering of electric potential energy possessed by the charge as it passes through a resistor. This energy is being transformed into non-electrical forms (heat, light, mechanical, etc.). This conversion of energy causes the charge to lower its electrical potential as it passes through a circuit. Charge is not becoming used up; it is simply becoming less energized.

Related PER (Physics Education Research)

1. Students’ understanding of direct current resistive electric circuits, Engelhardt and Beichner, American Journal of Physics 72 (1), 98 (2004).
   
   This article reports on the use of the DIRECT diagnostic test (Determining and Interpreting Resistive Electric Circuit Concepts Test) to analyze student understanding of DC circuit concepts. Researchers found that both high school and college students, especially females, held multiple misconceptions – even after instruction. The main source of misconception, according to the authors, is with confusion about the underlying mechanism of electric circuits and the meaning of “current”. Free download
   
   Link: http://www.ncsu.edu/per/Articles/Engelhardt&Beichner.pdf

Elsewhere on the Web:

1. Museum of Electricity and Magnetism
   
   Great collection of stories about 50+ key inventions in the field of electricity and magnetism, all with high-quality photos of actual devices or replicas.  You’ll find the Bell telephone, Tesla coil, cyclotron, electrophorus, the first hydroelectric power plant, Oersted’s compass, a Wimshurst machine, and more. From the Florida State University Digital Collection.

Assessments

1. All About Circuits:  Series DC Circuits
   
   A set of open-access problems with user-activated answer keys.  The 27 problems, all related to series circuits, provide practice through multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, and completion of data tables.  

Standards:

• High School – HS-PS2-6   Communicate scientific and technical information about why the molecular-level structure is important in the functioning of designed materials or systems.
• High School – Develop and use models to illustrate that energy at the macroscopic scale can be accounted for as a combination of energy associated with the motions of particles and energy associated with the relative positions of particles.

• MS.PS2.B.i  Electric and magnetic (electromagnetic) forces can be attractive or repulsive, and their sizes depend on the magnitudes of the charges, currents, or magnetic strengths involved and on the distances between the interacting objects.
• HS-PS1.A.i   The structure and interactions of matter at the bulk scale are determined by electrical forces within and between atoms
• HS-PS3.A.i  Electrical energy” may mean energy stored in a battery or energy transmitted by electric currents.
• HS-PS3.D.i Although energy cannot be destroyed, it can be converted to less useful forms—for example, to thermal energy in the surrounding environment.

• Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. A major activity of science is investigating and explaining causal relationships and the mechanisms by which they are mediated.

• Defining the system under study (specifying its boundaries and making explicit a model of that system) provides tools for understanding and testing ideas that are applicable through science and engineering.

• Tracking fluxes of energy and matter into, out of, and within systems helps one understand the systems’ possibilities and limitations.

• Develop and/or use multiple types of models to provide mechanistic accounts of phenomena
• Develop and/or use a computational model to generate data to support explanations, predict phenomena, and analyze systems.

• Plan and conduct an investigation individually and collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence … and consider limitations on the precision of the data
• Select appropriate tools to collect, record, analyze, and evaluate data.
• Collect data about a complex model or system to identify failure points or improve performance relative to criteria for success or other variables.

• Analyze data using tools, technologies, and/or models to make valid and reliable scientific claims or determine an optimal design solution.
• Analyze data to identify design features or characteristics of the components of a proposed system to optimize it relative to criteria for success.

• Create and/or revise a computational model or simulation of a phenomenon, designed device, process, or system.
• Use mathematical and/or algorithmic representations of phenomena or design solutions to describe and/or support claims and explanations.
• Apply techniques of algebra and functions to represent and solve scientific and engineering problems.
• Apply ratios, rates, percentages, and unit conversions in the context of complicated measurement problems involving quantities with derived or compound units.

• Construct and revise an explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from a variety of sources (including students’ own investigations, models, theories, simulations) and the assumption that theories and laws that describe the natural world operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

• Critically read scientific literature adapted for classroom use to determine the central ideas or conclusions and/or to obtain scientific and/or technical information to summarize complex evidence, concepts, processes, or information presented in a text.
• Gather, read, and evaluate scientific and/or technical information from multiple authoritative texts.
• Communicate scientific and/or technical information or ideas in multiple formats (i.e., orally, graphically, textually, mathematically).

• Scientific inquiry is characterized by a common set of values that include: logical thinking, precision, open-mindedness, objectivity, skepticism, replicability of results, and honest and ethical reporting of findings.
• Scientific investigations use a variety of methods, tools, and techniques to revise and produce new knowledge.

• F-IF.4 – For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features.
• F-IF.6 – Calculate and interpret the average rate of change of a function (presented symbolically or as a table) over a specified interval. Estimate the rate of change from a graph.

• F-LE.1.b – Recognize situations in which one quantity changes at a constant rate per unit interval relative to another.
• F-LE.5 – Interpret the parameters in a linear or exponential function in terms of a context.

• RST.11-12.3 – Follow precisely a complex multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks; analyze the specific results based on explanations in the text.
• RST.11-12 – Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.

• RST.11-12.5 – Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 11-12 texts and topics.
• RST.11-12.6 – Analyze the author’s purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text, identifying important issues that remain unresolved.

• RST.11-12.9 – Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.

• RST.11-12.10  -- By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.

• Students understand that an electrical energy transfer from the source of electric current to the electrical device(s) in a circuit can change the energy stored in the system. All electrical devices transfer energy out of the system. The energy changes within the system depend on the properties of the electrical energy source and the electrical device(s) in the circuit. The electric charges that flow in the circuit are in the conductors of the circuit. A battery or other source moves electric charges through the circuit but does not create electric charges.