In an effort to understand why Avi's phone went up in smoke, the three students set up and discuss a very simple circuit consisting of a battery and a wire. The wire is attached to the terminals of the battery. The students touch the wire and find that it is hot. Avi: The battery is a source of heat. That is why the wire is hot.

Shannon: No. The battery is the source of current. The chemicals in the battery generate charged particles that bubble out of the positive end, like water bubbling out of a fountain.
Cameron: Current goes from the positive to the negative end of the battery, but the job of the battery is to maintain a potential difference between its terminals. It does this job through chemical reactions.
Shannon: If the battery didn't make current, the wire would be like a dry riverbed. There would be a potential for current, but nothing would be there to flow.
Cameron: A wire is not like a dry riverbed. It is more like a flat pipe full of water. The water wouldn't flow unless you pick up one end of the pipe. The battery is like the person who picks up the pipe.
Shannon: If you are right, then batteries would last forever. You wouldn't have to buy any new ones. It would be like a hill that supports one end of a pipe so the water can flow down. You don't have to replace a hill.
Avi: I don't know why you are debating this. My phone went up in smoke! It was heat that killed it. The chemical reactions in the battery create heat, and that is why the wire is hot and why my phone got so hot. It's like the chemical reactions that occur when you make a fire and the wood goes up in smoke.

Which statements about this simple circuit are correct? Check as many as apply. Then put your statements together to form a complete description.

a. Cameron is correct. A wire is not like a dry riverbed.
b. The wire gets hot because the conduction electrons collide with ions in the wire.
c. A battery is a source of energy.
d. Avi is correct. The chemical reactions in a battery are like a wood-burning fire: both are a source of heat.
e. Shannon is correct. A battery is a source of current.
f. Shannon is correct. Batteries must be replaced when they can no longer supply current.
g. A wire is a conductor with electrons that are free to travel throughout.
h. Cameron is correct. The chemical reactions in a battery maintain its potential difference.