Youth Curriculum

1. VOLTMETERS, BATTERIES
AND BREADBOARDS
CIRCUIT DESIGN

2. 1. What is electricity?
2. Who invented the battery?
QUIZ TIME

3. • Think about what goes on we you flip a
switch that turns your living room lights on.
• There are four basic components to a circuit:
1. The Energy Source - Battery, power
outlet, stuff like that!
2. The Conductor - The copper wires. What
types of stuff are conductors?
3. The Switch - Pretty easy, it flips on/off
light…but how?
4. The Electrical Load - A lightbulb,
computer, playstation
WHAT ARE THE PIECES OF A CIRCUIT?

4. 1. THE ENERGY SOURCE
• What are different types of power sources?
• Whats inside a battery? How does a cellphone battery work?
The zinc loses electrons.
The solution gains the electrons

5. HOW CAN WE TELL IF A BATTERY IS CHARGED?
• We can use a voltmeter to
measure how full a battery is!
• The are basically a circuit
that can tell you how much
current runs through it.
These are
Voltmeters

6. LET’S FIND SOME GOOD
BATTERIES! I MIXED UP ALL
THE GOOD BATTERIES…

7. 2. THE CONDUCTOR
• What are conductors?
• When you touch a battery in the right way,
electrons move easily from atom to atom.
• This can be a piece of metal (a solid) or a salt
water (a liquid)

8. • The switch blocks the electrons from getting past to the light
bulb.
• It creates and “open” the circuit when switched off and a ‘closed”
circuit when switched on.
3. THE SWITCH

9. 4. THE ELECTRICAL LOAD
• Electrical loads are things that use the battery.
This could be a light bulb, lab top, television, ipad, switch, cars

10. • What if you have a really really really big battery.
• But all you wanted to power was a nightlight????
• It would be too too too much power for the night light.
• Well, that’s where resistors come in!
ANOTHER TYPE OF ELECTRICAL LOAD

11. •A RESISTOR ONLY LETS SOME
ELECTRICITY THROUGH A
CIRCUIT.
•RESISTORS ARE USED IN
ALMOST EVERY TYPE OF
CIRCUIT.
•IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO
ONLY LET A CERTAIN
AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY
THROUGH TO A NIGHT LIGHT,
COMPUTER OR
REFRIGERATOR!!!
RESISTORS
This is a resistor!

12. • A RESISTOR ONLY LETS SOME ELECTRICITY THROUGH A
CIRCUIT.
• RESISTORS ARE USED IN ALMOST EVERY TYPE OF
CIRCUIT.
• IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ONLY LET A CERTAIN
AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY THROUGH TO A NIGHT
LIGHT, COMPUTER OR REFRIGERATOR!!!
RESISTORS
This is a resistor!
A RESISTOR SAYS TO THE CURRENT!

13. CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS AND SYMBOLS
Battery
Resistor
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
• A diode acts as a one-way switch for current. It allows
current to flow easily in one direction, but severely
restricts current from flowing in the opposite direction
• Diodes change alternating current (ac) into pulsating
direct current (dc).

14. CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS AND SYMBOLS
Let’s draw some circuit diagrams!
What is the extra
symbol in the diagram
and what do you think
it does?

15. BREADBOARDS
• Breadboards would be considered a super fancy conductor.
• They make connecting circuits very easy!!!

16. BASED OFF YOUR CIRCUIT DIAGRAMS,
LET’S SEE IF WE CAN BUILD A SIMPLE
CIRCUIT WITH:
1. BATTERIES
2. SWITCH
3. RESISTORS
4. LED

17. DONEC QUIS NUNC
Circuit we will build
Just a reminder of what the led symbol meansdi