Hi, I am Jared, welcome to Fun Science Demos. We are kind of in the dark today because
we are talking about electricity.
And to show you electricity, we need to light up some light bulbs.
And to light up some light bulbs, we need it a little bit dark. I have in front of me
an electrical mystery. In another video we talked about the idea that electricity
needs a path to move through and follow. Scientists call that a circuit.
Take a look at these two different circuits
I have in front of me. These circuits look almost the same.
They both have batteries, they both have a switch to turn them off and on,
they both have wires and they both have light bulbs. So how are they different?
Now, remember, electricity needs
to move through a path. It has to follow
a path. So let us take a look at this blue side. Let us see if we can follow
electricity. So, electricity is going to come out of my battery,
and if I turn on the switch it will move through the switch,
through this wire, through this light bulb, through this wire,
through this light bulb, through this wire, back into the battery.
It is a circuit, a circle that electricity will flow through.
Let us see if it works. Now I am going to turn on our switch to complete our circuit.
And we have the light bulbs
lighting up, but they are not very bright. These light bulbs are not bright at all.
I mean, I can barely see light coming out of these light bulbs.
There has got to be a reason why. I think by taking a look at the red side
we can start to figure out the reason. I have my circuit,
a battery, electricity flows through this wire, it will flow through this switch,
through this wire, through this light bulb...wait a second.
I think my electricity can travel
a different path! I think it has some options.
It does not have to just travel one way. I think my electricity
can travel two different ways. Let us take a closer look
and see if we can see the path that that electricity will move through.
So, let us turn the switch on and see if we can actually follow the electricity
as it moves through my circuit.
I have electricity coming out of the battery, through this wire, through the
switch, through this wire
and when it gets to this light bulb, my electricity can move two different ways.
It can move through this light bulb, and then back through this wire, back to the
battery
or my electricity can flow through the wire, through the switch, through the wire.
It can then pick up with this wire, flow through this wire, through this light
bulb, through this wire, through this wire and back to the battery.
There are two different paths running at the same time.
So why are these light bulbs so much brighter then these light bulbs on the
blue side?
Well, think of it like this. As the electricity moves through this wire and
it gets to this light bulb,
it does not move so easily through this light bulb. This light bulb slows it down.
So, now the electricity cannot move as easily through these light bulbs, so it is
dimmer.
Look at this. The electricity flows through this light bulb, then back to the
battery,
but we also have electricity flowing in one path.
It does not move through that light bulb, it moves up through this wire
through this light bulb and it can flow easily
in a different path. Now, remember when I look at the blue side
the electricity only has one path to follow
and move through. One. On the red side my electricity has two paths to
follow.
They can go one loop or it can go
a second loop. Scientists call
any kind of circuit that has one path a series.
Scientists call any kind of circuit that has two paths to follow
parallel. So, using science we have solved the electrical mystery.
And believe it or not, circuits are all around us. These switches
are just like the light switches on your wall. And
every switch can start or stop the move of electricity through those circuits.
It is pretty neat. If you want to learn more about circuits, check out our link
in the video description. We hope we have switched you
on to electricity. Science is so cool.
Thanks for watching.