We will be using the following PHET simulation: Circuit Construction Simulation
We will be using the following PHET simulation: Circuit Construction Simulation
Links to an external site.
Part 1: Lighting a Bulb
Open the PHET simulation and select the “Lab” tab.
Place a bulb, resistor, and battery on the work area.
Use wires to connect all three in some way that lights up the bulb.Question 1: Include a screenshot or hand drawn diagram of your working circuit.
Rearrange the pieces such that they are in a different order, but that the bulb still turns on.Question 2: Once again, include a screenshot or diagram of your circuit.
Question 3: Does the order appear to matter? Why/ Why not?
Rearrange the pieces such that the bulb will not light up.Question 4: Include a screenshot or diagram of your circuit.
Question 5: What rules must be satisfied in order to turn on the bulb? Create a circuit the lights the bulb as you did in part 3. Now, replace the resistor with various “household objects” objects.The “household objects” can be found in the last two pages of objects.
Question 6: Which ones let the light bulb turn on? Which ones didn’t? Can you think of anything in common for the objects that did work?
Part 2: A Simple Circuit
Use the yellow reset button to reset the simulation.
Open the “Advanced” tab and select “Add Real Bulbs”
Place a “Real Bulb,” battery, resistor, and a switch on the work area.
Use these to build a simple circuit that turns the bulb on when the switch is closed.
Close the switch by clicking on it.Question 7: What happens when you close the switch? Why?
Open the switch and select the “Values” check box.
Close the switch and pay attention to the resistance of the “Real Bulb.”Question 8: What happens to that resistance? Why does this happen?
Try adjusting the resistance of the resistor up and down. Pay attention to the brightness of the bulb as well as the resistance of it.Question 9: Describe your observations. How is current affected by resistance? How is brightness affected by current? How does the bulb resistance change with these?
Part 3: Series vs Parallel
Reset and set up a series circuit with a battery and 3 bulbs.See OpenStax Figure 19.14Links to an external site. to see how it is set up.
Create a similar circuit using a battery and three bulbs, but this time with the bulbs in parallel.See OpenStax Figure 19.16Links to an external site. to see how to set it up.
Observe the flow of electrons as well as the brightness of the bulbs in each circuit.Question 10: What differences are there? Why do you think those differences exist when using the same components to create different circuits?
Question 11: If you notice a strong difference between the two circuits, such as one being much brighter than the other, discuss what that means in terms of the longevity of the battery powering the circuit. (i.e. Does it take more or less energy to make the bulbs brighter? What does that imply about the battery?)