There's a direction to the electrical current. The light bulb doesn't notice this, and you have to observe carefully to realize that the motor cares, but there are many electrical devices whose function requires having the current go the right way. We stop to look at these to reinforce this part of the analogy between electrical flow and fluid flow, and also because it introduces some new devices that are fun to play with.

Main pages in this section	Estimated time required	Link to activities in teacher manual
Exploring the direction of current	30 minutes	..
Current direction and the buzzer	30 minutes	Electric circuits #3
Light emitting diode	30 minutes	Electric circuits #X
Science content: direction of current	30 minutes
Discussion of direction of current	30 minutes

Why study direction of current?

More about light emitting diodes and buzzers

Materials needed for this section

• batteries *
• battery holders *
• wires with clip ends *
• light bulb and socket *
• buzzer *
• light emitting diodes *

Next section:Sources of electrical energy