| A | B |
|---|
| electric charge | a property that causes subatomic particles such as protons and electrons to attract or repel one another |
| electric force | the attraction or repulsion between electrically charged objects |
| electric field | a field in a region of space that exerts electric forces on charged particles; a field produced by electric charges or by changing magnetic fields |
| static electricity | the study of the behaviorof electric charges, including how charge is transferred between objects |
| law of conservation of charge | law stating that the total electric charge in an isolated system is constant; electric cahrge is never created or destroyed |
| induction | the transfer of charge without contact between materials |
| electric current | a continuous flow of electric charge |
| direct current | a flow of electric charge in only one direction |
| alternating current | a flow of electric charge that regurarly reverses its direction |
| electrical conductor | a material through which electric charge can flow easily |
| electrical insulator | a material through which charge cannot flow easily |
| resistance | the opposition to the flow of electric charges in a material |
| superconductor | a material that has almost zero resistance when it is cooled to low temperatures |
| potential difference | voltage, or the difference in electrical potential energy between two places in an electric field |
| voltage | potential diffference, the difference in electrical potential energy between two places in an electrical field |
| battery | a device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy |
| Ohm's law | the realationship of voltage, current, and resistance: V=IR |
| electric circuit | a complete path through which electric charge can flow |
| series circuit | an electric circuit with only one path through which charge can flow |
| parallel circuit | an electric circuit with two or more paths through which charge can flow |
| electric power | the rate at which electrical energy is converted to another from of energy |
| fuse | a device that prevents overheating due to current overload in a circuit |
| circuit breaker | a switch that opens when the current in a circuit is too high |
| grounding | the transfer of excess charge through a conductor on Earth |
| electronics | the science of using electric currents to process or transmit information |
| electronic signal | information sent as patterns in controled flow of electrons through a circuit |
| analog signal | a smoothly varying signal produced by continuously changing the voltage or current in a circuit |
| digital signal | a signal that encodes information as a string of 1's and 0's |
| semiconductor | a crystalline solid that conducts electric current only under certain condition |
| diode | a solid-state component with an n-type semiconductor joined to a p-type semiconductor |
| transistor | a solid-state component with three layers of semiconductor material, used to turn current on or off or to increase the the strength of electronic signals |
| integrated circuit | a thin slice of silicon that contains many solid-state components, a microchip |
| computer | a programmable device that can store and process information |
