Lesson · Grade 7 · Science
What an Electric Current Is
- Grade 7
- Science
- 1 min 5 s
- British Columbia
- BC7-SC-21
A single circuit diagram builds up step by step: a cell with its positive and negative ends, wires and a bulb forming a loop, the electrons in the metal, and the cell pushing them round so the bulb lights. Opening a switch stops the flow and darkens the bulb, closing it restores the current, an ammeter shows the current measured in amperes, and the video ends on the recap that a current is a flow of electric charge round a complete loop.
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In one sentence
The question this lesson answers
What is an electric current? Let us build a circuit to find out.
A cell has a positive end and a negative end.
Transcript
What the lesson says
What is an electric current? Let us build a circuit to find out.
A cell has a positive end and a negative end.
Metal wires join the cell to a bulb, making a loop.
The metal is full of tiny charged particles called electrons.
The cell pushes the electrons out of its negative end, so they all move the same way round the loop.
This steady flow of electric charge is an electric current.
When the current passes through the bulb, it lights up.
Open a switch and the loop is broken. The electrons stop, and the bulb goes out.
Close the switch and the current flows again. A current needs a complete loop.
In a single loop like this, the current is the same all the way round.
We measure current with an ammeter, in units called amperes, or amps for short.
So an electric current is a flow of electric charge around a complete loop.
Curriculum
Where this fits
The outcomes and strands follow the British Columbia curriculum.
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