Electrical SystemsKey Terms:Key termsUPS SystemsAC/DC:DC notesCircuitsAdvantages of parallel circuitsElectrical Systems10-12-2009Jonathan ChengKey Terms:•Alternating Current- also known as AC power, is the movement or flow of electric charge periodically reverses direction.•Series Circuit- a circuit in which resistors (the lights) are arranged one right after the other in a chain. •Circuit Breaker- detects when current is increasing quickly due to a short, and it opens the circuit•Ground wire- connects any metal in an electrical appliance to the Earth.•Ohm’s Law- states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference or voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between themKey terms•Short circuit- an accidental lower- resistance connection that bypasses the load or the resistance in a circuit.•Parallel circuit- is a circuit in which the current branches on the way to each resistor then comes back together after it has passed through the resistors.UPS Systems•Uninterrupted Power Source systems detect the power loss and automatically switches a building’s power to battery power. •The UPS can hold various loads of a particular grid for fifteen minutes, just enough time for power to come back on or a generator to cut on.AC/DC:•Electrical generators produce alternating current, or AC power.•The spinning magnets of the power plan generator create a voltage difference that continuously switches directions.DC notes•Batteries do not produce alternating currents, in a battery the current flows in only one direction.•Most electronic devices that plug into wall sockets are equipped with an adapter that converts the AC current to DCCircuits•In a series circuit, the wires are connected so that the current takes one path straight through multiple resistors. The current in a series circuit is the same. •In a parallel circuit, one wire connects one side of all the resistors, while the return wire connects the other ends. •In a parallel circuit, the voltage differences across each resistor is the same.Advantages of parallel circuits•More flexibility•If one bulb burns out in lighting system, the rest will stay
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