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B. Charge gets “used up” as it flows through the circuit. This belief will result in a prediction that bulbs
will get progressively dimmer as they make their way back to the battery.
C. The battery is a constant source of energy or current. This belief will result in a prediction that
adding or removing circuit elements will not change the total current or energy delivered by the battery,
which implies that single bulbs near the battery will not change their brightness.
D. The battery produces a fixed amount of brightness that is shared or divided among bulbs,
regardless of their number or arrangement. This belief may result in incorrect predictions regarding
the order of bulb brightness in combination light bulb circuits, and how the brightness of bulbs change
when one bulb goes out.
ACTIVITY:
Use the circuit materials (cells, cell holders, wire, Christmas tree lights,
switch, etc…) and the DC Circuit Construction Kit computer simulation
found at http://phet.colorado.edu/web-pages/simulations-base.html to
construct and investigate the following circuits.
3. Add one more dry cell in series with the first two.
Describe any changes in the brightness of the bulb.
5. Why does the change(s) described in the preceding question affect the bulb brightness?
1
EFFECTS OF ADDITIONAL CELLS IN PARALLEL ON BULB BRIGHTNESS
3. Add one more dry cell in parallel with the other two.
Describe any changes in the brightness of the bulb.
6. Why doesn’t the change(s) described in the preceding question affect the bulb brightness?
4. Connect a fourth bulb in series with the other three. Again compare the brightness of the four
bulbs in series to each other, and to the brightness of the bulbs in the previous three circuits.
5. Describe what happens to the brightness of individual bulbs as more and more are connected in
series.
6. Does the order of bulb placement affect their brightness? ______ What would you have
students do to find out the answer to this question?
7. When the switch is first closed, do all bulbs in series light at the same time, or one after the
other?
8. What happens to the brightness of the other bulbs when one bulb goes out?
2
MULTIPLE BULBS IN PARALLEL
4. Connect a fourth bulb in parallel with the other three. Again compare the brightness of the four
bulbs in series to each other, and to the brightness of the bulbs in the previous three circuits.
5. Describe what happens to the brightness of individual bulbs as more and more are connected in
parallel.
6. Does the order of bulb placement affect their brightness? ______ What would you have
students do to find out the answer to this question?
7. When the switch is first closed, do all bulbs in parallel light at the same time, or one after the
other?
8. What happens to the brightness of the other bulbs when one bulb goes out?
3
4 BULBS IN COMBINATION (i.e., not all series or parallel)
4
Draw schematic diagrams to the right of each of these circuits. Without actually constructing
them, label the bulbs (A, B, C, etc….) and state the order of bulb brightness.
A.
B.
C.