PHYSICS STUDY GUIDE

Current

- Electrical current is a measure of the amount of electrical charge transferred per unit time. It represents the flow of electrons
through a conductive material.

Current is a scalar quantity (though in circuit analysis, the direction of current is relevant). The SI unit of electrical current is the
ampere, defined as 1 coulomb/second.

Multi-loop Circuits and Kirchoff's Rules

A junction is a point where at least three circuit paths meet.
A branch is a path connecting two junctions.
In the circuit below, there are two junctions, labeled a and b. There are three branches: these are the three paths from a to b.

Multi-loop circuits
In a circuit involving one battery and a number of resistors in series and/or parallel, the resistors can generally be reduced to a single
equivalent resistor. With more than one battery, the situation is trickier. If all the batteries are part of one branch they can be combined
into a single equivalent battery. Generally, the batteries will be part of different branches, and another method has to be used to
analyze the circuit to find the current in each branch. Circuits like this are known as multi-loop circuits.
Finding the current in all branches of a multi-loop circuit (or the emf of a battery or the value of a resistor) is done by following
guidelines known as Kirchoff's rules.
Kirchoff's first rule : the junction rule. The sum of the currents coming in to a junction is equal to the sum leaving the junction.
(Basically this is conservation of charge)
Kirchoff's second rule : the loop rule. The sum of all the potential differences around a complete loop is equal to zero.
(Conservation of energy)
To analyze a circuit using the branch-current method involves three steps:
1. Label the current and the current direction in each branch.
2. Use Kirchoff's first rule to write down current equations for each junction that gives you a different equation. For a circuit
with two inner loops and two junctions, one current equation is enough because both junctions give you the same equation.
3. Use Kirchoff's second rule to write down loop equations for as many loops as it takes to include each branch at least once. To
write down a loop equation, you choose a starting point, and then walk around the loop in one direction until you get back to
the starting point. As you cross batteries and resistors, write down each voltage change. Add these voltage gains and losses
up and set them equal to zero.
When you cross a battery from the - side to the + side, that's a positive change. Going the other way gives you a drop in potential, so
that's a negative change.
When you cross a resistor in the same direction as the current, that's also a drop in potential so it's a negative change in potential.
Crossing a resistor in the opposite direction as the current gives you a positive change in potential.
An example
Running through an example should help clarify how Kirchoff's rules are used. Consider the circuit below:
Step 1 of the branch current method has already been done. The currents have been labeled in each branch of the circuit, and the
directions are shown with arrows. Again, you don't have to be sure of these directions at this point. Simply choose directions, and if
any of the currents come out to have negative signs, all it means is that the direction of that current is opposite to the way you've
shown on your diagram.
Applying step 2 of the branch current method means looking at the junctions, and writing down a current equation. At junction a, the
total current coming in to the junction equals the total current flowing away. This gives:
at junction a : I1 = I2 + I3
If we applied the junction rule at junction b, we'd get the same equation. So, applying the junction rule at one of the junctions is all we
need to do.
There are three unknowns, the three currents, so we need to have three equations. One came from the junction rule; the other two
come from going to step 3 and applying the loop rule. There are three loops to use in this circuit: the inside loop on the left, the inside
loop on the right, and the loop that goes all the way around the outside. We just need to write down loop equations until each branch
has been used at least once, though, so using any two of the three loops in this case is sufficient.
When applying the loop equation, the first step is to choose a starting point on one loop. Then walk around the loop, in either
direction, and write down the change in potential when you go through a battery or resistor. When the potential increases, the change
is positive; when the potential decreases, the change is negative. When you get back to your starting point, add up all the potential
changes and set this sum equal to zero, because the net change should be zero when you get back to where you started.
When you pass through a battery from minus to plus, that's a positive change in potential, equal to the emf of the battery. If you go
through from plus to minus, the change in potential is equal to minus the emf of the battery.
Current flows from high to low potential through a resistor. If you pass through a resistor in the same direction as the current, the
potential, given by IR, will decrease, so it will have a minus sign. If you go through a resistor opposite to the direction of the current,
you're going from lower to higher potential, and the IR change in potential has a plus sign.
Keeping all this in mind, let's write down the loop equation for the inside loop on the left side. Picking a starting point as the bottom
left corner, and moving clockwise around the loop gives:

Make sure you match the current to the resistor; there is one current for each branch, and a loop has at least two branches in it.
The inner loop on the right side can be used to get the second loop equation. Starting in the bottom right corner and going counter-
clockwise gives:

Plugging in the values for the resistances and battery emf's gives, for the three equations:

The simplest way to solve this is to look at which variable shows up in both loop equations (equations 2 and 3), solve for that variable
in equation 1, and substitute it in in equations 2 and 3.
Rearranging equation 1 gives:

Substituting this into equation 2 gives:

Making the same substitution into equation 3 gives:

This set of two equations in two unknowns can be reduced to one equation in one unknown by multiplying equation 4 by 5 (the
number 5, not equation 5!) and adding the result to equation 5.

Substituting this into equation 5 gives:

I2 = ( -4 + 1.5 ) / 5 = -0.5 A
The negative sign means that the current is 0.5 A in the direction opposite to that shown on the diagram. Solving for the current in the
middle branch from equation 1 gives:
I3 = 1.5 - (-0.5) = 2.0 A

electromotive force, or most commonly emf is "that which tends to cause current (actual electrons and ions) to flow.
*EMF=V when there’s no internal resistance
EMF= V= E-IR (with resistance, E is potential supplied by the cell

Ohm’s Law

- Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference or
voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them.

- V=IR (V is the potential difference in volts, I is the current, R is the resistance

Magnetic Field lines- move towards South pole, away from North pole

Lorentz Force Law

- the Lorentz force is the force on a point charge due to electromagnetic fields. It is given by the following equation in terms of the
electric and magnetic fields:[1]

where
F is the force (in newtons)
E is the electric field (in volts per metre)
B is the magnetic field (in teslas)
q is the electric charge of the particle (in coulombs)
v is the instantaneous velocity of the particle (in metres per second)
× is the vector cross product
-Right hand rule

Charged particles move in circles when they enter a magnetic field

Magnetic Force on a Current Carrying wire in Magnetic Field

magnetic moment of a magnet is a quantity that determines the force the magnet can exert on electric currents and the torque that a
magnetic field will exert on it. A loop of electric current, a bar magnet, an electron, a molecule, and a planet all have magnetic
moments.
Both the magnetic moment and magnetic field may be considered to be vectors having a magnitude and direction.

Torque on Loop of wire in Magnetic Field

If a current-carrying loop of wire is placed in a uniform magnetic field, the net force on the loop is zero. The magnetic field may,
however, exert a torque (or twist) on the loop. The general formula for the torque on an object is

where is the vector that points from the center of rotation to the point where the force is applied. If this torque formula is
integrated around a loop of current to find the net torque on the loop due to the uniform magnetic field, the result is
RIGHT HAND RULES

Right-Hand Rule #1 (RHR #1)

Right-Hand Rule #1 determines the directions of magnetic force, conventional current and the magnetic field. Given any two of
theses, the third can be found.

Using your right-hand:

point your index finger in the direction of the charge's velocity, v, (recall
conventional current).
Point your middle finger in the direction of the magnetic field, B.
Your thumb now points in the direction of the magnetic force, Fmagnetic.

Right-Hand Rule #2 (RHR #2)

Right-Hand Rule #2 determines the direction of the magnetic field around a current-carrying wire and vice-versa

Using your right-hand:

Curl your fingers into a half-circle around the wire, they point in the
direction of the magnetic field, B
Point your thumb in the direction of the conventional current.

Applying the Right-Hand Rules:

The Right-Hand Rules give only the direction of the magnetic field. In order to determine the strength of a magnetic field , some
useful mathematical equations can be applied.

For a long, straight wire, the magnetic field, B is:

B = moI / 2pr;
where,
mo = 4p x 10-7 T · m / A and os called the permeability of free space, r is the
radial distance from the wire in meters, and I is the current in amperes.

For a single loop of wire, the magnetic field, B through the

center of the loop is:
B = moI / 2R;
where,
mo is the permeability of free space, and R is the radius of the
the circular loop of wire, measured in meters. Both the fields
for a coil of wire and a solenoid can be constructed from this
equation.

Difference between a motor and generator

motor= electrical to mechanical

generator = mechanical to electrical

motor= current flown through coil in presence of magnetic feild. resulting in motion
generator= a coil is rotated in a magnetic feild causes generation of electricity

Magnetic flux (most often denoted as Φm), is a measure of the amount of magnetic field passing through a given surface (such as a
conducting coil). The SI unit of magnetic flux is the weber (in derived units: volt-seconds). The CGS unit is the maxwell.
Faraday’s Law
Any change in the magnetic environment of a coil of wire will cause a voltage (emf) to be "induced" in the coil. No matter how the
change is produced, the voltage will be generated. The change could be produced by changing the magnetic field strength, moving a
magnet toward or away from the coil, moving the coil into or out of the magnetic field, rotating the coil relative to the magnet, etc.

Len’z Law

Lenz's Law, which tells which way the induced current flows, based on the horse-sense observation that the magnetic field generated
by an induced current must oppose the change in the flux that caused it.

Mutual Inductance
When an emf is produced in a coil because of the change in current
in a coupled coil , the effect is called mutual inductance. The emf is
described by Faraday's law and it's direction is always opposed the
change in the magnetic field produced in it by the coupled coil
(Lenz's law ). The induced emf in coil 1 is due to self inductance L.
The induced emf in coil #2 caused by the change in current I1 can be
expressed as

The mutual inductance M can be defined as the proportionalitiy between the emf generated in coil 2 to the change in current in coil 1
which produced it.
The most common application of mutual inductance is the transformer.

Self Inductance
We do not necessarily need two circuits in order to have inductive effects. Consider a single conducting circuit around which a current
is flowing. This current generates a magnetic field which gives rise to a magnetic flux linking the circuit. We expect the
flux to be directly proportional to the current , given the linear nature of the laws of magnetostatics, and the definition of
magnetic flux. Thus, we can write

(241)

where the constant of proportionality is called the self inductance of the circuit. Like mutual inductance, the self inductance of a
circuit is measured in units of henries, and is a purely geometric quantity, depending only on the shape of the circuit and number of
turns in the circuit.
If the current flowing around the circuit changes by an amount in a time interval then the magnetic flux linking the circuit
changes by an amount in the same time interval. According to Faraday's law, an emf

(242)

is generated around the circuit. Since , this emf can also be written
 (243)

Thus, the emf generated around the circuit due to its own current is directly proportional to the rate at which the current changes.
Lenz's law, and common sense, demand that if the current is increasing then the emf should always act to reduce the current, and vice
versa. This is easily appreciated, since if the emf acted to increase the current when the current was increasing then we would clearly
get an unphysical positive feedback effect in which the current continued to increase without limit. It follows, from Eq. (243), that the
self inductance of a circuit is necessarily a positive number. This is not the case for mutual inductances, which can be either
positive or negative.
Consider a solenoid of length and cross-sectional area . Suppose that the solenoid has turns. When a current flows in
the solenoid, a uniform axial field of magnitude

(244)

is generated in the core of the solenoid. The field-strength outside the core is negligible. The magnetic flux linking a single turn of the
solenoid is . Thus, the magnetic flux linking all turns of the solenoid is

(245)

According to Eq. (241), the self inductance of the solenoid is given by , which reduces to

(246)

Note that is positive. Furthermore, is a geometric quantity depending only on the dimensions of the solenoid, and the number
of turns in the solenoid.

An inductor or a reactor is a passive electrical component that can store energy in a magnetic field created by the electric current
passing through it. An inductor's ability to store magnetic energy is measured by its inductance, in units of henries. Typically an
inductor is a conducting wire shaped as a coil QuickTimeª and a
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In alternating current (AC, also ac) the movement of electric charge periodically reverses direction. In direct current (DC), the flow
of electric charge is only in one direction. AC power source symbol: QuickTimeª and a
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Reactance is the opposition of a circuit element to a change of current, caused by the build-up of electric or magnetic fields in the
element. Those fields act to produce counter-emf that is proportional to either the rate of change (time derivative), or accumulation
(time integral), of the current. An ideal resistor has zero reactance, while ideal inductors and capacitors consist entirely of reactance,
with neither series resistance nor parallel conductance.
In a complex impedance, reactance is the imaginary counterpart of resistance, and uses the same SI unit, the ohm. The inverse of
reactance is susceptance.
· Reactance in an inductor (inductance is usually designated as L) is calculated as:
Reactance (L) = 2 x Pi x Frequency (in Hertz) x Inductance (in Henrys)
R (L) = 2 X (3.1416) X F X L
Ex: for a 5 Henry inductor at 1 KHz, R = 2 X (3.1416) X 1000 X 5 = 31,416 Ohms
· 2
Reactance for a capacitor (capacitance is usually designated as C) is calculated as:
Reactance (C) = 1 divided by the total of (2 x Pi x Frequency (in Hertz) x Capacitance (in Farads)
R(C) = 1 / ( 2 X (3.1416) X F X C)
Ex: for a 10 microFarad capacitor at 1 KHz, R(C) = 1 / ( 2 X (3.1416) X 1000 X 0.00001) = 15.9 Ohms
impedance, describes a measure of opposition to alternating current (AC). Electrical impedance extends the concept of resistance to
AC circuits, describing not only the relative amplitudes of the voltage and current, but also the relative phases. When the circuit is
driven with direct current (DC) there is no distinction between impedance and resistance; the latter can be thought of as impedance
with zero phase angle.
The symbol for impedance is usually and it may be represented by writing its magnitude and phase in the form . However,
complex number representation is more powerful for circuit analysis purposes. The term impedance was coined by Oliver Heaviside
in July 1886.[1][2] Arthur Kennelly was the first to represent impedance with complex numbers in 1893.[3]
Impedance is defined as the frequency domain ratio of the voltage to the current[4]. In other words, it is the voltage–current ratio for a
single complex exponential at a particular frequency ω. In general, impedance will be a complex number, with the same units as
resistance, for which the SI unit is the ohm (Ω). For a sinusoidal current or voltage input, the polar form of the complex impedance
relates the amplitude and phase of the voltage and current. In particular,
• The magnitude of the complex impedance is the ratio of the voltage amplitude to the current amplitude.
• The phase of the complex impedance is the phase shift by which the current is ahead of the voltage.
The reciprocal of impedance is admittance (i.e., admittance is the current-to-voltage ratio, and it conventionally carries units of
siemens, formerly called mhos).
Formula:Z = SQR (R² + XL²)
Where:
Z = Impedance (ohm)
R = Resistance (ohm)
XL= Inductance Reactance (ohm)