ECE 1311

Chapter 1 – Basic Concepts

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Introduction
 An electric circuit is an interconnection of electrical
elements.

 Basic concepts:
 Electric charge
 Current
 Voltage
 Power
 Circuit elements
 Energy

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Electric charge – q(t)
 Basic quantity in an electric circuit.

 Defined as an electrical property of the atomic particles

of which matter consists.
 Measured in coulombs (C).
 Note:
 All matter is made of atoms.
 Each atom consists of electron, proton and neutron.

 The charge on one electron is negative.

 Magnitude of an electron=- 1.602  10-19 C.

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Current – i(t)
 It is the time rate of change of charge.
 Measured in ampere (A).

 Relationships between current and charge:

dq t
i q   idt  q (t 0)
dt t0

 Current may be:

 Constant (direct current)
 Varying (alternating current)

 .

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Voltage – v(t)
 It is the energy required to move a unit charge through an
element (i.e. from point a to point b).
 Measured in volts (V).
 Mathematically expressed as:
dw q
v w   vdq  w(q 0)
dq q0

 Voltage polarity:

+vab

 .

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Power – p(t)
 It is the time rate of expending or absorbing energy.
 Measured in watts (W).
 Mathematically expressed as:
dw
p
dt
 or:
p  vi

 Passive sign convention:

 Positive power:
 If current enters through the positive terminal.
 Element absorbs power.
 Negative power:
 If current enters through the negative terminal.
 Element supplies power.

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Power – p(t)

(a) (b) (c) (d)

 An ideal circuit:
p sup plied
  p absorbed  0

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Energy
 It is the capacity to the work.
 Measured in joules (J).

 Mathematically expressed as:

t t
w   pdt   vidt  w(t 0)
t0 t0

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Circuit Elements
 An element is the basic building block of a circuit.
 Electric circuit is interconnection of the elements.
 Two types of elements:
 Active elements:
 Capable of generating energy (i.e. batteries, and generators).
 Passive elements:
 Absorbs energy (i.e. resistors, capacitors and inductors).

 Voltage and current sources are the most important active elements.
 They can be dependent or independent.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

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Examples
 Determine the current flowing through en element if the
charge flow is:
q(t )  (8t 2  4t  2)C

 Find the charge q(t) flowing through a device if:

i (t )  (2t  5)mA note q (0)  0
 The charge entering an element is shown in Figure 1.
Determine current at:
 t=1 ms
 t=6 ms
 t=10 ms

Figure 1
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Examples
 Plot the corresponding
current for the graph in
Figure 2.

 The current through an

element is shown in
Figure 2
Figure 3. Calculate total
charge that pass
through an element at:
 t = 1s
 t = 3s
 t = 5s
Figure 3
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Examples
 Find the power absorbed by each of the element in Figure
4.

Figure 4

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