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Electric Current & Its Heating Effect

Electric current is the flow of electric charge through a conductor. Materials that allow current to pass through easily are conductors, while insulators do not allow current to pass. An electric circuit is a complete pathway for current to flow, and includes components like cells, batteries, bulbs, switches, and wires. Current flowing through a wire can produce heating and magnetic effects.

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67 views6 pages

Electric Current & Its Heating Effect

Electric current is the flow of electric charge through a conductor. Materials that allow current to pass through easily are conductors, while insulators do not allow current to pass. An electric circuit is a complete pathway for current to flow, and includes components like cells, batteries, bulbs, switches, and wires. Current flowing through a wire can produce heating and magnetic effects.

Uploaded by

Ashok Sharma
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Ch 14 - Electric current and its effect

Electric current
● Flow of electric charge (moving electron) in a wire produces electric current.
● Materials through which electric current can easily pass are called conductors of electric
current. For example - silver, gold, copper, aluminum, mercury, steel, iron,
seawater, etc.
● Materials through which electric current can not pass are called insulators of electric
current. For example - glass, air, plastic, rubber, wood, etc.

Electric circuit
A complete pathway for the flow of electric current is called an electric circuit.

Symbols for some electric circuit components


1. Electric cell - Provides energy for the current to flow.

2. Battery - Combination of 2 or more electric cells to produce higher electricity. For


example - torch, toys, UPS, car, etc.

Q. What is a battery?
Ans. Combinations in which the positive (+) terminal of one cell is connected to the negative (-)
terminal of another cell (In a cell, a thin/longer line is a positive terminal and a thick/shorter line
is a negative terminal).
Cell holder

.
3. Bulb - Lights up when an electric current flows through it.

Q. Why does the bulb glow?


Ans. Bulb glows due to the presence of filament made up of thin tungsten (W)
wire (high melting point) inside the bulb through which electric current passes.

4. Switch ON - Keep the circuit ON.

5. Switch OFF - Keep the circuit OFF.

6. Wire - Help to conduct the electric current and complete the circuit.

Important points
1. विद्यत
ु धारा, जितनी चलती है , जहाँ से चलती है ... उतनी ही आती है , वहीँ पर आती है ।
2. Switch can be placed anywhere in a circuit.

3. Switch ON Circuit Closed (Complete circuit)

Current flows
4. Switch OFF Circuit Open (Incomplete circuit)

No Current

Effects of electric current

Heating effect of electric current


➔ Heat produced through electricity is called Heating effect of electricity.
➔ Iron, room heater, electric heater, immersion heater, hot plate, geyser, hair dryer, etc.
➔ All these contain a coil of wire called an element.
➔ The amount of heat produced depends upon the material, length and thickness.
➔ Large currents can melt & break wire.
➔ Eg. Nichrome wire melts easily (14.3)
➔
➔ In order to make a bulb glow using the heating effect of electricity, filament should be
connected properly.
➔ Disadvantages of heating effect of electric currents is wastage of energy. Thus, we use
CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lamps) and LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) to reduce
wastage of energy.
➔ If high current is given to the bulb, then filament melts (breaks) and the bulb will get
fused and it won't glow.
➔ To prevent such incidents, we use fuse in switchboards.
➔ Fuse: A safety device which prevents damage to electric circuits which may occur due to
short circuit (live wire + neutral wire) or overloading. It is made by inserting a short wire
into porcelain or insulating material.
➔ Nowadays MCBs are used in place of a fuse.
➔ MCB: Miniature Circuit Breakers switch off automatically when current in circuit exceeds
the safe limit.

Magnetic effect of electric current


➔ Needle of the compass gets deflected when it comes near the current carrying wire.
➔ Needle of the compass is a tiny magnet which points in the North - South direction.
➔ Hans Christian Oersted
➔ When electric current passes through a wire then it behaves like a bar magnet. This is
called the magnetic effect of electric current.

Fig. - Effects of current on compass needle


➔ A current carrying coi1`l of an insulated wire wrapped around a piece of iron is called an
electromagnet.

➔ Electromagnet - Coil of wire wound on a soft iron core.


➔ Coil behaves like a magnet when current flows through it.
➔ Uses
1. Separate magnetic material from the junk.

2. Medical field - Eg. MRI, Doctors use tiny electromagnets to take out small pieces
of material that have accidentally fallen in the eye, etc.
3. Many toys also have electromagnet inside them.
4. Motors.
5. Lifting loads
6. Magnetic Levitation Train.
7. Electric devices like generators and transistors.
8. Electric bells - The inner structure of electric bells contains a coil of wire,
hammer, iron strip, battery and switch.

Gong

coil
Question
1. Why do we use symbols to represent electrical components in a circuit diagram?
A. It is very convenient to represent electric components by symbols in an electric circuit
diagram.

Extra knowledge
● Materials through which electric current can pass very easily are called superconductors.
● Materials through which electric current can somewhat pass are called semiconductors
(Mid range of conductors and insulators).
● Resistance - Opposition of electric current.

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