How Electric Circuits Work
Like Duolingo, but for How Electric Circuits Work. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
24 levels across 4 sections, about 48 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Closing the Loop and Building Connections, Measuring and Controlling the Flow, Routing Paths and Switching Signals, and Storing Charge and Handling Mains Power. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in How Electric Circuits Work
- Current must leave one battery terminal and return to the opposite terminal to flow
- A single wire creates an open circuit with no return path
- Electric charge does not gather or do work at a dead end
- Current takes the path of least resistance, bypassing the bulb almost entirely
- A path with nearly zero resistance lets massive current surge through, creating dangerous heat
- A short circuit starves the intended load of power
- Simple resistive loads like incandescent bulbs work in either direction
- LEDs are one-way valves that block current when reversed
- Certain polarized components can be permanently ruined by backwards voltage
- Turning a switch off creates a physical air gap that breaks the conductive loop
- Current stops flowing through the entire loop the instant the break occurs
- Switches do not absorb or consume electricity; they mechanically interrupt the path
- Circuit ground is simply the chosen baseline reference point, defined as zero volts
- Battery-powered devices do not need a physical stake in the earth to establish a ground reference
- Voltages throughout a circuit are measured relative to this common ground return path
- Hidden spring clips beneath the plastic holes pinch inserted wires mechanically
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives How Electric Circuits Work the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
You connect only one wire between a battery and a light bulb. What kind of path did you make?
Get it right to open this lesson and 23 more in the app.
Where How Electric Circuits Work takes you
Learn how electricity moves through everyday devices and gain the confidence to build your own circuits. From breadboarding components to debugging with a multimeter, discover the practical rules that bring hardware to life.
- 1
Closing the Loop and Building Connections
- Making Your First Circuit Work
- Prototyping on a Solderless Breadboard
- 2
Measuring and Controlling the Flow
- Balancing Voltage, Current, and Resistance
- Diagnosing Faults with a Multimeter
- 3
Routing Paths and Switching Signals
- Series and Parallel Configurations
- Controlling Current with Diodes and Transistors
- 4
Storing Charge and Handling Mains Power
- Storing and Timing Energy with Capacitors
- Alternating Current, Transformers, and Practical Safety
4 sections · 8 units · 24 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
How Electric Circuits Work is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Technology on Tomo
Electric Circuits: Follow the Flow
Learn to trace, build, and troubleshoot the invisible paths that power our world, from simple flashlights to home wiring.
The Flow of Power: Basic Circuits
Stop guessing and start building. Learn to direct the invisible force of electricity to power lights, motors, and your own inventions.
Mastering the Flow: Practical Electronics
Move beyond simple batteries and bulbs to design circuits that solve real problems. Master the math of power, troubleshoot like a pro, and understand how modern gadgets actually think.
Everyday Circuit Fundamentals
Understand how electricity actually moves, how Ohm's law shapes every circuit, and how to wire, test, and troubleshoot basic electronics with intuitive mental models.
Electric Circuits
Build an intuitive and practical grasp of electrical circuits from the ground up. Master current, voltage, and circuit laws, simplify complex networks with proven theorems, and predict dynamic circuit behavior over time.
How Electronics and Sensors Work
Discover how tiny electrical currents are tamed to measure the physical world. Build an intuitive mental model of circuits, sensors, and the quantum physics powering modern silicon chips.
Start How Electric Circuits Work today.
Download Tomo, search How Electric Circuits Work, and play your first lesson in under a minute.