Electricity Vocabulary List

Circuit: A path in which electricity flows.

Conductor: allows electrons to flow. Examples of materials that allow electric current to flow through them are wires made of aluminum, steel or copper.

Electrons: type of elementary particle that, along with protons and neutrons, makes up atoms and molecules.

Electric Current: The movement of electrons which creates the flow of electricity. You may think of it as water flowing in a garden hose.

Insulator: does not allow electricity to flow through it. Plastic or wood are examples of insulators.

Parallel Circuit: one in which electric current travels along more than one path, because there is more than one path for the electrons to follow. Unlike in a series circuit, the current through each element is not necessarily the same. However, the voltage across each element is the same.

Power Supply: "pushes" electrons through a circuit. This power supply can come in many different forms (for example, a battery is a power supply). You can think of the power supply as a pump that creates pressure to force water to flow in a hose.

Series Circuit: a circuit in which the circuit elements (such as batteries and light bulbs) are connected in sequence. All of the electrons flow along the same path. Therefore, the current through each of the circuit elements is the same.

Voltage: can be thought of as electrical pressure which pushes the electrons through the circuit. Electric pressure is measured in volts.