Chapter 1

DC Circuits:
Basic components and electric
circuits

Objectives
To be familiarized with
Basic electrical quantities and associated units
Current direction and voltage polarity
The passive sign convention for calculating
power
Ideal voltage and current sources
Dependent sources
Resistance and Ohms law

Units and scales

Six basic units

Quantity
Length
Mass
Time
Electric current
Thermodynamic
temperature

Basic unit
meter
kilogram
second
ampere
kelvin

Symbol
m
Kg
s
A
K

Luminous intensity

candela

cd

Units and scales

The derived units commonly used in
electric circuit theory

Decimal multiples and

submultiples of SI units

Charge, Current and Voltage

Charge the most basic quantity of electric circuit measured in Coul

Elements of an atom : electrons, protons and neutron

negative charge positive charge

neutral

1 electron carries 1.602 x 10-19 C of (negative) charge

i.e. - 1 C consist of 1/(1.602 x 10-19 ) of electrons
= 6.24 x 1018 electrons

Charges

Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles

of which matter consists, measured in coulombs (C).
The charge e on one electron is negative and equal in
magnitude to 1.602 10-19 C which is called as
electronic charge.
Q for constant charge and q(t) if time variant.
Coulomb is a large unit and in 1C of charge there are
1/(1.602 x 10-19) = 6.24 x 1018 electrons.
The charges that occur in nature are integral multiples
of the electronic charge

Example
How much charge represented by 4600
electrons?
Solution: each electron has -1.602 x 10-19
C. hence 4600 electrons will have 1.602
x 10-19 C/electron x 4600 electrons =
- 7.369 x 10 -16 C

Charge, Current and Volta

When electrons move in an electric circuit, they cause the Current

Direction of
electron flow

Direction of current flow = movement of positive charge

Current : time rate of change of (positive) charge
Mathematically, i

dq
dt

, measured in amperes
(A)

Charge, Current and Volta

dq
i
dt

i dt
to

- Charge transferred between to and t

e.g. 1 A = 1 coulomb of charge flows in 1 second

i (A)
1

t (s)

q (C)
1

t (s)

Charge, Current and Volta

q (C)
1

t (s)

i (A)
1
t (s)
-1

Charge, Current and Volta

Two common types of current flow
i (A)

Direct current - DC
- constant with time
t (s)
i (A)

Alternating current - AC
t (s)

- varies sinusoidally with tim

we will discuss more on
this later in the course

Charge, Current and Voltage

Voltage (potential difference) between two points, being equal
to the electrical energy gained by a unit positive electric
charge moving from one point to the other.
Voltage: The amount of energy needed to move a unit
positive electric charge from one point to the other - measured
in volts (V)

dw
Mathematicall v
dq
y,
1 V = 1 J/C

Charge, Current and Voltage

Voltage (potential difference) between two points, being equal
to the electrical energy gained by a unit positive electric
charge moving from one point to the other.

Vab b

Vab : Electrical energy

gained by a unit positive
charge when it moves
from b to a
Point a is at potential of Vab
higher than point b
Potential at point a with
respect to point b is Vab

As a unit charge moves from a to b it looses electrical

energy. Where does the energy go ?

Charge, Current and Voltage

a

a
+
10 V

- 10 V
+

Point a is at potential of
10 V higher than point b

Point a is at potential of
-10 V lower than point b

Point b is at potential of
10 V lower than point a

Point b is at potential of
-10 V higher than point a

Charge, Current and Voltage

Two common types of voltage
v (V)

DC Voltage
- constant with time
t (s)
v (V)

AC Voltage
t (s)

- varies sinusoidally with tim

Power and Energy

Power and energy is related
mathematically :

dw
dt

p = power,
w= energy

:: the time rate of expanding or absorbing

energy ::
power is measured in watts
(W)

dw dw dq

vi
dt dq dt
p vi

Power and Energy

p vi

Power of an element is the product of voltage across it and

the current through it
Use the Passive Sign Convention when calculating
power:
i
i
+

p= vi
Absorbing power

p= -vi
Supplying power

Current
Is the time rate of change of charge
measured in ampere(A)
Electric current i = dq/dt. The unit of
ampere can be derived as 1 A = 1C/s.
A direct current (dc) is a current that
remains constant with time.
An alternating current (ac) is a current that
varies sinusoidally with time. (reverse
direction)

Current

Applications

Direct Current vs. Alternating Current

Batteries, fuel cells and solar cells all produce something
called direct current (DC). The positive and negative
terminals of a battery are always, respectively, positive
and negative. Current always flows in the same direction
between those two terminals.
The power that comes from a power plant, on the other
hand, is called alternating current (AC). The direction of
the current reverses, or alternates, 60 times per second
(in the U.S.) or 50 times per second (in Europe, for
example). The power that is available at a wall socket in
the United States is 120-volt, 60-cycle AC power.

The big advantage that alternating current provides for

the power grid is the fact that it is relatively easy to
change the voltage of the power, using a device called a
transformer. By using very high voltages for transmitting
power long distances, power companies can save a lot of
money. Here's how that works.

Let's say that you have a power plant that can produce 1
million watts of power.
One way to transmit that power would be to send 1 million
amps at 1 volt.
Another way to transmit it would be to send 1 amp at 1
million volts.
Sending 1 amp requires only a thin wire, and not much of
the power is lost to heat during transmission.
Sending 1 million amps would require a huge wire.

So power companies convert alternating current

to very high voltages for transmission (e.g. 1
million volts), then drop it back down to lower
voltages for distribution (e.g. 1,000 volts), and
finally down to 120 volts inside the house for
safety.
It is a lot harder to kill someone with 120 volts
than with 1 million volts (and most electrical
deaths are prevented altogether today using
GFCI outlets).

Voltage
Voltage (or potential difference) is the energy required
to move a unit charge through an element, measured in
volts (V).
Mathematically,

vab dw / dq

(volt)

w is energy in joules (J) and q is charge in coulomb (C).

Electric voltage, vab, is always across the circuit element

or between two points in a circuit.
vab > 0 means the potential of a is higher than potential of b.
vab < 0 means the potential of a is lower than potential of b.

Voltage

Power
Power is the time rate of expending or absorbing energy,
measured in watts (W).
Mathematical expression:

dw dw dq
p

vi
dt
dq dt

Passive sign convention

P = +vi
absorbing power

p = vi
supplying power

+power absorbed= - power supplied

Examples:
(a) p= 4x3=12W
(b) p= 4x3=12W
Both are absorbing power as + current enters + terminal

(a) p= -4 x 3= - 12W
(b) p= -4 x 3 = -12W
Both are supplying power of 12w
Absorbing power of +12W is equivalent to a supplying
power of -12W.

Power and Energy

For any electric
circuit ,

p 0
Sums of power absorbed and supplied in a
circuit always equal to ZERO

Practice
Find the power absorbed by each element in the circuit below.

P (7 A) (7 A)(8V ) 56W
P (8V ) (2 A)(8V ) 16W
P (12V ) (5 A)(12V ) 60W
P (20V ) (8 A)(20V ) 160W
Pd (20V ) (20V )(0.25 *12 A) 60W , v x 12V

Exercise: Calculate the power absorbed or supplied by each circuit

element.

Power and Energy

The amount of electric energy consumed depends on

power ratings of the electric devices we use:
e.g. a 100W bulb consumed 100 x 60 x 60 = 360, 000
J of energy in 1 hour OR 0.1 kWh of energy.

Circuit elements
Two types passive and active elements
Active is capable of generating energy
while a passive element is not.
Passive elements: resistors, capacitors
and inductors.
Active elements: generators, batteries and
amplifiers

Voltage and current sources

Ideal independent sources: voltage is
completely independent of the current or
the current is completely independent of
the voltage.

Independent voltage source

Independent current source

Batteries and generators may be regarded as approximations to ideal

voltage sources.

Voltage and current sources

Ideal dependent (or controlled) sources: the

source quantity is controlled by another voltage
or current. It is mainly used in modeling
electronic devices such as transistor.

a)
b)
c)
d)

Current controlled current source

Voltage controlled current source
Voltage controlled voltage source
Current controlled voltage source

Dependent sources

Networks and circuits

The interconnection of two or more simple
elements forms an electrical network
If the network contains at least one closed
path, it is also an electric circuit. Note that
every circuit is a network but not all
networks are circuits.
101

(a) A network that is not a circuit

(b) a network that is a circuit

Resistance
Resistance (R) is the ability to resist current
Resistivity () is the measure of a material's
natural resistance to current flow. For a a wire
with length , cross-section area A then
Resistance unit is Ohm or
Resistivity unit is Ohm.meter or m

Resistivities of common materials

Wire gauge

AWG: American wire gauge which is a standard system

of specifying wire size

Ohms Law
Ohms law states that the voltage across a
resistor is directly proportional to the current I
flowing through the resistor.
Mathematical expression for Ohms Law is as
follows:

v iR

Two extreme possible values of R:

0
(zero) and (infinite) are related with two
basic circuit concepts: short circuit and open
circuit.

Resistors

Ohms law
Current and voltage relationship for 2
linear resistor

Ohms law
Conductance is the ability of an element to conduct
electric current; it is the reciprocal of resistance R and is
measured in mhos or siemens.

1 i
G
R v
The unit of conductance is mho , or siemens S
Power = VI = I2R = V2/R

Example
An electric iron draws 2 A at 120V. Find its
resistance.
Solution:
From Ohms law R = V/I= 120/2 = 60

Example
A wire is run across a 2000 ft span to a high
power lamp that draws 100 A. if 4 AWG wire
is used, how much power is dissipated( lost
or wasted) within the wire?

From table 2.4 that 4 AWG wire is 0.2485

per 1000 ft. the total wire is 2000 + 2000=
4000 ft.
Wire resistance = 4000ft x0.2485 / 1000ft
= 0.994
Power dissipation in the wire= I2R
= (100)2x 0.994= 9940 W = 9.94kW

Plotting Ohms Law

Varistors are voltage-dependent, nonlinear resistors used to suppress high-voltage

transients; that is, their characteristics are such as to limit the voltage that can appear
across the terminals of a sensitive device or system. Note that at a particular firing
voltage, the current rises rapidly but the voltage is limited to a level just above this
firing potential. In other words, the magnitude of the voltage that can appear across this
device cannot exceed that level defined by its characteristics. A photograph of a
number of commercial units appears in Fig. 3.38(b).