GenPhys 2

GENERAL PHYSICS 2

UNIT 5: Direct-Current Circuits

1. Resistors in series and parallel
2. Kirchhoff’s rules
3. R-C Circuits
4. Experiments with batteries-and-resistors circuits

Learning Competencies:
1. Draw circuit diagrams with power sources (cell or battery), switches, lamps, resistors (fixed and
variable) fuses, ammeters and voltmeters;
2. Evaluate the equivalent resistance, current, and voltage in a given network of resistors connected in
series and/or parallel;
3. Calculate the current and voltage through and across circuit elements using Kirchhoff’s loop and
junction rules (at most 2 loops only);
4. Describe the initial, transient, and steady state behavior of current, potential, and charge in a capacitor
that is either charging or discharging;
5. Solve problems involving the calculation of currents and potential differences in circuits consisting of
batteries, resistors, and capacitors; and
6. Plan and perform experiment involving batteries and resistors in one or more electric circuits and
analyze the data.
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Combination of Resistors
Electric Circuit – group of electrical components that are
connected together to form a complete path for current.
Direct Current (DC) – circuit where current flows in one
direction; battery or DC generator supplies the voltage.
Ex: flashlights, automobiles, cell phone wirings
Alternating Current (AC) – current flowing through the
circuit constantly changes direction and magnitude;
here, the current, as well as the voltage provided, varies
sinusoidally with time. Ex: household wiring (because
electric distributors supply alternating current and
voltage)

Series and Parallel Circuits

Series Circuit – circuit that contains more than one electrical component connected one after the other in a
single path; the current flows in a single path and is the same in all parts of the circuit; if the circuit is
broken at any point, no current will flow. Ex: Christmas tree lights
Parallel Circuit – circuit in which two or more electrical components are connected across each other in such
a way that the current is distributed between them; each component operate independently of the
others; hence, even if a component fails, the current still flows through the others. Ex: Household
appliances

Resistors
Equivalent Resistance (Rtotal) – resistance of the resistor that can replace any combination of resistors
(series, parallel, or series-parallel combination) without altering the total current and potential
difference.
Properties of Series and Parallel Resistors
Quantity Series Resistors Parallel Resistors

Current (I)

Voltage (V)

Equivalent
Resistance
(Rtotal)

note: In series, adding resistors increases equivalent resistance; in parallel, adding resistors decreases
equivalent resistance.

Ex 1: Four resistors when connected in series give an equivalent resistance of 75.0 Ω. Three of the resistors
have values of 18.0 Ω, 6.0 Ω, and 24.0 Ω, respectively. What is the resistance of the fourth resistor?
Ex 2: Three resistors with values of 60.0 Ω, 30.0 Ω, and 20.0 Ω, respectively, are connected in series to a
110.0 V battery of negligible internal resistance. Draw a circuit diagram and find the (a) equivalent
resistance of the combined resistors, (b) current flowing through each resistor, (c) voltage drop across
each resistor, and (d) the power dissipated by each resistor.
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Ex 3: Find the equivalent resistance of the combination of resistors shown below.

Ex 4: Suppose the four resistors in Ex 1 are connected in parallel.

What is the equivalent resistance of the combined resistors?
Ex 5: Suppose the resistors in Ex 2 are connected in parallel. Find
the (a) equivalent resistance, (b) current flowing through
each resistor, (c) voltage across each resistor, and (d) power
dissipated by each resistor.
Ex 6: Find the equivalent resistance of the combination of resistors
shown.

Galvanometer – electrical device primarily used to detect the presence of current; basically
consists of a coil of wire that is free to rotate between poles of a permanent magnet,
and the coil rotates whenever current passes through it.
Luigi Galvani – famous for experiments on “animal electricity” using frogs as specimen.

Ammeter – galvanometer with a low resistance called shunt resistor Rs connected parallel to it.
– always connected in series with the circuit element whose current is to be
determined.
Shunt Resistor – provides a bypass for the current in excess of the galvanometer’s
full-scale limit.

Ex 1: A galvanometer has a coil resistance of 50.0 Ω and a full-scale current of 1.0 mA. What shunt resistance
is needed to convert this into an ammeter with a 10.0 A full scale?
Ex 2: A galvanometer with a resistance of 15.0 Ω gives a full-scale reading for a current of 3.0 A. What shunt
resistance is needed to convert this into an ammeter with a 30.0 A full-scale reading?

Voltmeter – galvanometer that measures the electromotive force or potential difference between two points in
a circuit; the voltmeter range of a galvanometer can be extended by connecting a high resistance Rs in
series
– always connected parallel to the circuit element which potential difference or electromotive force is to
be determined
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(a) conversion of galvanometer to ammeter (b) conversion of galvanometer to voltmeter (c) proper connection of ammeter and voltmeter

Ex 1: A galvanometer has a coil resistance of 50.0 Ω and a full-scale current of 1.0 mA. What resistance
connected in series with this galvanometer is needed to convert this into a voltmeter with a 3.0 V full-
scale reading?
Ex 2: A galvanometer with a resistance of 15.0 Ω gives a full-scale reading for a current of 3.0 A. (a) What is
the voltage corresponding to the full-scale deflection of the galvanometer? (b) What
resistance connected in series with this galvanometer is needed to convert this into a
voltmeter with a 300.0 V full-scale reading?

Digital Multimeter – its internal circuitry senses the electrical signal (voltage or current) or the
resistance of the sample under test, and converts them to a digital data through a built-in
analog-to-digital converter; it has a microcontroller that processes the digital data and
displays the readout to a liquid crystal display (LCD) matrix.

Battery
Battery – referred to as canned electricity; it provides ready-to-use
mobile source of electrical energy that power
modern gadgets and other devices.
Alessandro Volta (1799) – created the first battery
(called voltaic cell) by stacking alternating
layers of zinc and brine-soaked cloth

John Frederick Daniell (1836) – used copper plate

immersed in copper sulfate solution and a
zinc plate in zinc sulphate solution

Combination of Cells

(a) cells in parallel (b) cells in series

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Properties of Series and Parallel Combination of Cells

Quantity Cells in Series Cells in Parallel
Total
electromotive
force (Ɛtotal)
Total internal
resistance
(rtotal)

Current (I)

Ex 1: Twelve identical cells, each of Ɛ = 2.0 V and r = 0.5 Ω, are used to form a battery. Determine the
electromotive force and internal resistance of the battery formed if it consists of (a) all cells in series, (b)
all cells in parallel, and (c) three parallel groups of four cells in series.
Ex 2: The series combination of five cells, each with electromotive force of 1.5 V and internal resistance of 0.5
Ω. Find the (a) total internal resistance, (b) electromotive force of the battery, (c) total resistance of the
circuit, (d) current through the external circuit, (e) terminal voltage of the battery, and (f) terminal
voltage of a cell.
Ex 3: A student has four identical cells, each Ɛ = 5.0 V and r = 1.0 Ω. How would the students arrange all four
cells to get (a) maximum possible Ɛ, (b) the minimum possible Ɛ, and (c) an Ɛ of 10.0 V? For each
case, determine the total internal resistance.
Ex 4: Repeat Ex 2, but this time, the cells are connected in parallel.

Kirchhoff’s Laws
1. Kirchhoff’s first law – Junction Rule (or nodal rule)
“The algebraic sum of all currents entering and leaving a junction must be equal to zero.”

Junction (or node) – point in an electric circuit where three or more wires are connected.
a.k.a Kirchhoff’s current law: statement of conservation of charge

2. Kirchhoff’s second law – Loop Rule

“The algebraic sum of the electromotive force and the voltage drops in any loop must be zero.

Loop – closed conducting path

a.k.a Kirchhoff’s voltage law: consequence of the conservation of energy
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Steps in applying Kirchhoff’s Laws:
1. Label the current in each branch as I1, I2, and so on.
2. Assume a direction for each current.
3. In writing the junction equation, the current entering a junction is positive, whereas the current leaving a
junction is negative.
4. In applying the loop rule, begin at a point in the loop and go around in a clockwise or counterwise
manner.
5. In writing the loop equation, the following sign conventions must be observed:
a. The electromotive force is positive if it traverses from the negative terminal to the positive
terminal. It is negative if it traverses from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.
b. The potential difference across a resistor is negative when the resistor is traversed in the
direction of the current; otherwise, it is positive.
6. The unknown currents are usually determined by solving simultaneous loop equations as well as
junction equations.

Ex 1: Determine I1, I2, and I3 given that Ɛ1 = 5.00 V, Ɛ2 = 10.00 V, Ɛ3 = 12.00

V, R1 = 2.00 Ω, R2 = 3.00 Ω, and R3 = 4.00 Ω.
Ex 2: Determine the current through each resistor.
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Resistor-Capacitor (RC) Circuit
RC Circuit – a circuit containing resistors and capacitors.
note: a capacitor combined with a resistor in a DC circuit produces a time-varying
electric current.
First-order RC circuit – contains one resistor and one capacitor

Charging the Capacitor

Time constant (τ) – product of resistance and capacitance; time for the voltage in the capacitor to be 63% of
the electromotive force of the source or the time for the current to drop to 37% of its maximum or initial
value.

⁄
Charge as a function of time:

⁄
Current as a function of time:

⁄
Voltage as a function of time:

Where: q is the amount of charge, C is the capacitance, Ɛ is the electromotive force, i is the instantaneous
current, R is the resistance, VC is the potential (voltage) across the capacitor.
note: For engineering purposes, the transient period is from t = 0 to t = 5τ; the period greater than 5τ is the
steady-state period. At τ = 5τ, the capacitor is considered fully charged.

(a) Graph of voltage versus time when capacitor is charging (b) Graph of current versus time when capacitor is charging

Ex 1: An RC circuit consists of a 25 µF capacitor and a 125 Ω resistor connected to a 30.0 V DC source. Find
the (a) time constant, (b) maximum current, (c) maximum charge on the capacitor, and (d) charge on
the capacitor after 2τ.
Ex 2: An RC circuit consists of a 15 µF capacitor, a resistor with an unknown resistance, and a 12.0 V battery.
Five seconds after the switch is closed, the voltage across the capacitor is found to be 8.0 V. Find the
(a) time constant, (b) charge of the capacitor 5.0 s after the switch is closed, and (c) resistance of the
unknown resistor.
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Discharging the Capacitor
⁄
Charge as a function of time:

⁄
Current as a function of time:

⁄
Voltage as a function of time:

(a) Graph of voltage versus time for a discharging capacitor (b) Graph of current versus time for a discharging capacitor

Ex 1: After the capacitor in an RC circuit had acquired charges, the battery was removed. As a result, the
capacitor discharged. The time constant of the RC circuit is 1.25 s. Find the time after the battery was
removed, such that the charge in the capacitor is 65% of its initial charge.
Ex 2: A capacitor in an RC circuit was allowed to discharge through a resistor. How long will it take to reduce
the charge in capacitor to 50% of its original value? Express your answer in terms of time constant.