In Science 9, for the last 5 school days, myself and group members Ana and Viktor have been building a “house” out of a cardboard box, complete with lighting and switches.
There are 4 circuits for each room: 2 series circuits, a parallel circuit and a complex circuit with elements of series and parallel.
Project questions
1.You have three light bulbs. All have the same intensity when lit. Explain how you can prove to a classmate that they are connected in series by unscrewing one light bulb. Support your answer.
By unscrewing a light bulb, I will have broken the circuit and thus, the lights will no longer light when connected to power as the removed light bulb was needed to close the circuit.
2. You have three light bulbs. All have the same intensity when lit. Explain how you can prove to a classmate that they are connected in parallel by unscrewing one light bulb. Support your answer.
If I unscrew a light bulb from this circuit, all others will continue to light when connected to power, as it is not an essential part of the circuit. (ie: all current does not flow through it)
3. You have three light bulbs. Two are connected in parallel. This parallel combination is connected in series with the third light bulb. Describe the relative intensity of each bulb. Support your answer.
The third light bulb would be much brighter than the bulbs connected in parallel. This is because the parallel light bulbs are only receiving half the voltage that the series light bulb would receive, due to the voltage being split between the two bulbs.
4. In question number three, describe the relative intensities of the two remaining lit bulbs if one of the bulbs in parallel was unscrewed. Support your answer.
As the second parallel bulb was using half of the voltage used by both parallel bulbs, the remaining bulbs now shine the same brightness due to being in series, as well as the previously parallel bulb being able to use the voltage previously used by the removed bulb.
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