pre-lab preparation sheet for lab 4—batteries, bulbs, and current

Name_________________________ Date____________ Partners________________
LAB 4: BATTERIES, BULBS, AND CURRENT*
You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him to find it within
himself.
OBJECTIVES
—Galileo
• To understand how a potential difference (voltage) can cause an electric current to flow
in a conductor.
• To learn to design and construct simple circuits using batteries, bulbs, wires, and
switches.
• To learn how to draw circuit diagrams using standard circuit symbols.
• To understand the measurement of current and voltage using microcomputer-based
sensors.
• To understand what currents will flow in various parts of simple DC circuits, and why.
OVERVIEW
In the following labs, you are going to discover and extend theories about electric charge
and potential difference (voltage), and apply them to electric circuits. What you learn will
be one of the most practical parts of the whole physics course, since electric circuits form
the backbone of modern technology. Without an understanding of electric circuits we
wouldn’t have lights, air conditioners, automobiles, telephones, TV sets, dishwashers,
computers, or photocopying machines.
A battery is a device that generates an electric potential difference (voltage) from
other forms of energy. The type of batteries you will use in these labs are known as
chemical batteries because they convert internal chemical energy (energy stored in
chemical bonds) into electrical energy.
As a result of a potential difference, electric charge is repelled from one terminal of
the battery and attracted to the other. However, no charge can flow out of a battery unless
Lab 04 – Batteries and Current