What’s an electrical circuit? How do light switches work?


Electric circuits  are collections of wires and electric components connected together in such a way that electric current can flow through them.

They’re everywhere even though you might not notice them!

Every electrical appliance you can think of contains an electric circuit. 

If a circuit is broken, electricity won’t flow at all. Sometimes breaks in the circuit can be helpful – think about switches, like light switches!

When you click them one way, it breaks the circuit and the light goes off.  Switch it the other way and… ON!

A simple circuit of a light switch will have a line travelling in a square to show the route that the electricity takes.

The bulb is shown as a circle. The power source is shown with a plus sign where the energy comes from and a minus sign to show where it comes back.


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