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 Electric Current and Its's Physical effects

The term "electric current" pretty common in our daily life. But have you ever wondered what is electric current , what are its effects.                                                                                              So, let us study what is electric current and it's effects :-

Physical effects of electric current

Basics-

What is electric current ?

An electric current is a stream of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space. It is measured as the net rate of flow of electric charge past a region. 

What are conductors ?

Materials which allow electricity to pass/flow through it are called conductors of electricity.

For eg : copper wires , iron , gold and etc.  

What are Insulators ?                                                     

Materials which don't allow electricity to pass through them are called Insulators of electric current.

For eg : Plastics , wood , cloth , paper , rubber and etc.

What are Poor Conductors ?

Poor conductors are also insulators but not 100% insulators as in certain conditions , poor conductors also conduct electricity. That is why the word "conductor" is added with poor.

For eg : sometimes we see electricity falling on earth during storm or rain.

What is LED ?

LED (Light emitting diode) glows even when a weak electric current is passed through it.

Heating Effect of Electric current

When an electric current is passed through a conductor, the conductor becomes hot after some time and produce heat. This happens due to the conversion of some electric energy passing through the conductor into heat energy. This effect of electric current is called heating effect of current.

You might have observed that sometimes gadgets like mobile phones , Laptops , tablets     and appliances like Television and Refrigerator gets heated when used for a long duration of time , this is due to flow of electric current through them. By this we also understand the working principle of electric water heaters  , water heating rods , electric iron , room heaters and etc.

> Working of an electric bulb :

 

When electricity pass/flow through an electric bulb , It's  filament gets heated up and glows. The Filament of s bulb is a thin wire of tungsten. A Bulb is said to be fused when the filament of bulb breaks.

> Working of an electric iron :

An electric iron works on the same principle as same of an electric bulb , but the use of them are different. When current pass through electric iron's wire , the metalic sole/base of iron gets heated and is used to iron the cloths.

Magnetic effect of electric current

The magnetic effect of electric current is known as electromagnetic effect. It is observed that when a compass is brought near a current carrying conductor the needle of compass gets deflected because of flow of electricity. This shows that electric current produces a magnetic effect.

When current is passed through a conductive material (like wires) , along with the heating effect the wires also produce magnetic effect. This the reason when a magnetic compass comes near an electric wire , the magnetic compass starts to show deflection.

The most common example of an electromagnet is an electric school bell.

>Working of a electric bell :

An electric bell consist of a small hammer and a gong.

The electromagnet attracts the iron strip towards it when the circuit is complete. This is the moment when you hear the ringing sound since the hammer keeps hitting the gong. Meanwhile, at its rest position, the hammer is held away from the gong on account of the spring attached to its arm. This is an anchored arm.

Now that you have an understanding of the important parts in an electric bell, the step-by-step process of the working of the electric bell is described below:

• The switch is pressed and current flows through the circuit.
• The electromagnet is powered and generates a magnetic field that attracts the iron strip towards it.
• The striker strikes the gong (bell).
• When the striking arm strikes the gong, the contact is broken and current stops flowing through the circuit.
• This causes the electromagnet to lose its magnetic field.
• The connected spring arm returns the striker to its original rest position.
• The contact is restored and current flows through the circuit (provided the main switch is still pressed).
• The process is repeated from the beginning.

Thanks for Reading !!