Electricity: Short Circuits & Direct Currents

Question: Which of the following materials is an insulator?

Answer: When materials are placed between the poles of a battery and no current flows, they are called insulators. Rubber, glass, plastic, and wood are usually insulators.

Question: Who invented the battery?

Answer: Alessandro Volta, for whom the volt is named, invented the first battery in 1800. It was called the Voltaic pile.

Question: Who discovered the law of electrolysis?

Answer: Michael Faraday discovered the laws of electrolysis by measuring how much material was transported by known amounts of electric current in an electrolytic cell.

Question: Which of the following is not an electrical conductor?

Answer: If material is attached across the poles of a battery and a current flows because electrons flow, the material is said to be a conductor. Glass is not a conductor.

Question: Where would you not find a cell phone tower?

Answer: Cell phone towers require positioning aboveground in order to relay their signals.

Question: What do we call a material that heat or electricity can move through?

Answer: A conductor is a material that heat or electricity can move through, such as copper.

Question: A lead acid battery stores what kind of electricity?

Answer: Batteries produce direct current, which flows in one direction.

Question: Electricity that reaches our homes through cables is called:

Answer: Electricity that flows through cables as a current flows through a river is called current electricity.