Volts, Amps, Power and Resistance

Ok, so Uni has started, and pretty much, my group's starting with electrical circuits. Which is good actually because I happen to have a lot of interest with this subject ever since I started learning it last year through Team CAME. Awsome stuff really, because when I was at Team CAME, I can honestly say that I wasn't listening half of what was being said from the lecturer though I was more interested in the practical work, and now we're just revising the basics, such as series circuits and parallel circuits.

So just today, this morning, we completed the series circuit, which I'm happy about because I finally understood everything that works in a series circuit like.. what happens, why the voltage is there, amps, watts, resistance, everything!! Well, maybe I don't understand fully, but I understand enough just for me to understand whats going on in the circuit. It's all interesting stuff really.

So heres what I learnt so far,
Voltage (V) is pretty much a unit that gives electrical pressure to move the electrons in the circuit thus creating current in it.
Now the Ampere(amps) (I) is what we use in electrical to measure the current that is flowing within the circuit. The larger amount and the flow of electrons, the larger the current will be.
Ohms (insert horse shoe picture here) is pretty much the unit of resistance to the flow of the electrons. It is there to either reduce or limit the current flow and voltage in the circuit.
Wattage (watts) (W) is the practical unit of power. It's the one that pretty much produces the output.

Another interesting thing that I learnt and understood fully during the lessons is the OHMS law and Power Law. It's fun to solve the equations once you get the system of each law. All you got to do is find two of each unit from the Law for example, Volts and Amps, and you should be able to solve the last remaining unit which is the resistance. Volts, Amps and Resistance is what you call the Ohms Law. The sequence is also the same for the Power Law. If you look at the two formula's on the top of this post, it is shown how it works and what it looks like.

So on day 1, we were made to do some practical working in the morning which we will have everyday starting from 8:30 till 12.
So anyways, working on a series circuit with only one light bulb as a resistance, we were made to do a voltage drop measurement. Now the term "voltage drop", is used to measure the amount of voltage that is being used on each component in the circuit, and the only components that should be using the voltage are the resistor aka bulb number 1. So as we measured it, it shows that the bulb takes most of the voltage seeing as it is the only resistance in the circuit. Now today, we were made to measure the voltage drops with 2 bulbs and later on, with 3 bulbs. Through those practical work hours, I have come to a conclusion and an understanding of the term "voltage drop" because it has showed that the more resistance/bulbs there is on the circuit, then the voltage that is given from the conductor will be divided evenly in order for the bulbs to work. If one voltage drop from one bulb is different from the other, then there is another component in the circuit that is consuming the voltage. If so, then you must go back and measure all the components until you find where the rest of the voltage is being used. For example, if the switch was using 2 volts, which it shouldn't, then that means you would need to get a new switch.

Also from the past few days, we we're also taught how to measure the amps. I have learnt that the measurement of amps from each component should remain constant or the same because it is the current of the circuit. If one of the readings isn't the same as the other, then there is a problem in the circuit. Of course we were also told to measure the amps with the 2 and 3 light bulbs and the message that i got out of it is that, the more resistance there is, you get less current going through the circuit.

What I also learnt from the circuit is the "available voltage". I don't know how to explain this, but from what I understood is that, say for example, the amount of voltage you get given from a conductor is 12 V and if you were to have 3 light bulbs, the 12 volts will reduce as it passes by through each bulb. So from the conductor, the available voltage is 12 V. It soon then gets to bulb number 1 and it takes a certain amount of voltage. You then measure the wire after bulb number 1 and you get 8 volts. The process repeats, and when the 8 volts reach bulb number 2, the volts reduces, and pretty much the remaining voltage that is left, is given to bulb number 3. So there should be no available voltage at all coming from the wire after bulb number 3.

This is what I have learnt so far. This is my understanding of the series circuits. I will soon upload photos from my practical work. I'd probably do them tomorrow. It is now 11:58 pm. I have to get some sleep for Uni. Thank You for reading. And i Hope you enjoy it. :)