Parallel Circuitry & Ohm’s Law: Many Paths for Electricity
Students explore the composition and practical application of parallel circuitry, compared to series circuitry. Students design and build parallel circuits and investigate their characteristics, and apply Ohm's law.
Yoky Matsuoka, an engineer who completed a Ph.D. in both electrical engineering and computer science, used her knowledge of electricy, neuroscience, and robotics to create a realistic robotic prosthetic arm.Copyright National Science Foundation http://www.nsf.gov/cise/csbytes/newsletter/vol1i7.html
Engineers have developed a very complicated circuit — called an integrated circuit — that combines thousands to millions of parallel and series circuits working together. One type of integrated circuit that works as a complete computation engine is a microprocessor, known as a central processing unit or a CPU. Microprocessors are essential in automobiles, video games, smoke detectors, DVD players, garage-door openers, cordless phones, clocks and calculators. Engineers continuously develop new technology so that they may use electricity to find solutions to everyday challenges — efforts that contribute to a healthier, happier, and safer environment.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Distinguish between series and parallel parts of a circuit.
- Describe how current changes in a parallel circuit when a light bulb is removed from or added to the circuit.
- Describe the connections among representations of circuit symbols
- Recognize that electrical engineers, materials scientists/engineers, mechanical engineers, and physicists contribute to the development of electronic technologies.