What is an Electrical Circuit

An electrical circuit is a path through which electricity moves or travels. The electrical circuit must have a source of an electricity. It must also have conductors. A simple electrical circuit can be understood by thinking back to your high school days when you may have created a simple electrical circuit using citrus fruit. The citrus fruit was able to act as a voltage source produce the electricity that was conducted and turned on a small light bulb attached by a wire. This simple childhood science project is an example of a closed loop or a closed circuit since the wires all connected with each other and the electricity was able to travel around on the electrical circuit and there was no specific endpoint of the circuit. In real life, an electrical circuit can either be a closed loop if the electricity has a path back or an open loop.

What is an Electrical Circuit

Electricity is produced by a voltage source. There are many different sources of electricity, from nuclear power to solar power. The voltage source is simply an energy producing source. The voltage produced by this source of the energy produced then has to be converted into the appropriate type of energy and transported to a location where it is useful. In homes and commercial applications, the ultimate voltage often comes from external or outside power lines which are connected to your home's electrical system.

A circuit contains this voltage source, as well as a conductor to conduct the electricity or energy and help it be stored and move along. This voltage source along with the conductor, any resistors, inductors or transmission lines, produces and stores electricity that will be used to power items in your home.

When you plug an appliance or item in or turn on a light, it requests a certain voltage or a certain amount of electricity. Each plug outlet you have, for example, is rated to provide a certain amount of power or voltage. This is why you need a different plug to plug in an electrical stove than you do to plug in a smaller item such as a lamp or computer. The lamp needs a much smaller amount of power than the larger item, so the plug is a lower voltage plug. The voltage then travels along the wires on that circuit to get to the item that needs to use the electricity.