“The best way to predict your future is to create it.

” – Abraham Lincoln Lesson 1:

Electrical Circuits 1 INTRODUCTION TO
BASIC CONCEPTS

Specific Objectives:

College of Engineering, Lawrence Paul Santos CIRCUITS: Page

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“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln Lesson 1:
Electrical Circuits 1 INTRODUCTION TO
BASIC CONCEPTS

Represent the current and voltage of an electric circuit power supplied by that element or the power received bythe
element, paying particular attention to the reference direction element
of the current and to the reference direction or polarity of the Use scientific notation to represent electrical quantities with
voltage. a wide range of magnitudes.
Calculate the power and energy supplied or received by a Identify and understand the different circuit elements in an
circuit element electric circuit
Use the passive convention to determine whether the
product of the current and voltage of a circuit element is the
A circuit consists of electrical elements connected together. Engineers use electric circuits to solve problems that are important to modern
society. In particular:
1. Electric circuits are used in the generation, transmission, and consumption of electric power and energy.
2. Electric circuits are used in the encoding, decoding, storage, retrieval, transmission, and processing of information.
ELECTRIC CIRCUIT
The outstanding characteristics of electricity when compared with other power sources are its
mobility and flexibility. Electrical energy can be moved to any point along a couple of wires and,
depending on the user’s requirements, converted to light, heat, or motion

Electric circuit or electric network–is an interconnection of electrical elements linked

together in a closed path so that an electric current may flow continuously

System of units
In representing a circuit and its elements, we must define a consistent system of units for
the quantities occurring in the circuit. At the 1960 meeting of the General Conference of Weights
and Measures, the representatives modernized the metric system and created the Systeme
International d’Unites,commonly called SI units. There are six principal units from which the
units of all other physical quantities can be derived. Table 1.1 shows the six units, their symbols,
and the physical quantities they represent. The SI units are used throughout this text.
One great advantage of the SI unit is that it uses prefixes based on the power of 10 to
relate larger and smaller units to the basic unit. Table1.2 shows the SI prefixes and their
symbols

Charge and current

Charge – An electrical property of the atomic particles of which matter consists, measured in Coulombs (C)
Atom- fundamental building blocks of matter and may consists of electrons, protons and neutrons.
It has equal number of protons and electrons thus it is neutrally charged
Electron – negatively charge atom which is equal to the magnitude of 1.602 x 10-19 C
Proton – Positive charge atom
Neutron – has a net positive charge
Following points should be noted about charged:
1. The coulomb is a large unit for charges. In 1 C of charge, there are 1/(1.602 × 10-19) = 6.24 × 1018 electrons. Thus realistic
or laboratory values of charges are on the order of pC, nC, or μC.
2. According to experimental observations, the only charges that occur in nature are integral multiples of the electronic charge
e = −1.602 × 10−19 C.
3. The law of conservation of charge states that charge can neither be created nor destroyed, only transferred. Thus the
algebraic sum of the electric charges in a system does not change

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“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln Lesson 1:
Electrical Circuits 1 INTRODUCTION TO
BASIC CONCEPTS

Current – The time rate of change of charge, measured in amperes (A)

Where: i =current in Ampere

dq/dt = rate of change of charge
* 1 Ampere = 1 coulumb/second

The flow of current is conventionally

represented as a flow of positive charges. This convention was initiated by
Benjamin Franklin, the first great American electrical scientist. Of course, we now know that charge flow in metal conductors
results from electrons with a negative charge. Nevertheless, we will conceive of current as the flow of positive charge,
according to accepted convention

Two Common types of current

Direct current – Current that remains constant with time i1 = -i2
Alternating current – current that varies sinusoidally with time

Example 1. How much charge is represented by 4600 4. Find the charge that has a terminal of an element from t=0
electrons? s to t= 3s when current entering the element is shown:
Solution:
Each electron has −1.602 × 10-19 C. Hence 4,600 electrons
will have
−1.602 × 10−19 C/electron × 4,600 electrons = −7.369 × 10−16
C

2. The total charge entering a terminal is given by q = 5t sin

4πt mC. Calculate the current at t = 0.5 s
Ans. 31.42 mA

3. Determine the total charge entering a terminal between

t=1 s and t = 2 s if the current passing the terminal is i= (3t2 –
t) A. Ans.5 C
Ans. 5.5 C

Exercises:
1. Calculate the amount of charge represented by two million protons
2. If q= (10-10e-2t), Find the current at t=0.5 s
3. The current flowing through an element is

Calculate the charge entering the element from t=0s to t=2s

4. Find the charge that has entered an element by time t when i= 8t2-4t A, t ≥ 0. Assume q(t) = 0 for t < 0
5. The total charge that has entered a circuit element is q(t) = 4sin 3t C when t ≥ 0 and q(t) = 0 for t < 0. Determine the
current in this circuit element for t>0

Voltage – Also known as electromotive force( emf) or potential difference

- The energy required to move a unit charge through an element, measured in volts V

1 volt = 1 joule/coulomb= 1newton meter coulomb

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“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln Lesson 1:
Electrical Circuits 1 INTRODUCTION TO
BASIC CONCEPTS

* The value of a voltage may be positive or negative. The direction of a voltage is given by its polarities (+, -). The
vab can be interpreted in two ways: (1) point a is at a potential of vab volts higher than point b, or (2) the potential at point a with
respect to point b is vab. It follows logically that vab = -vba

DC voltage – constant voltage; ex. battery

AC voltage – sinusoidally time varying voltage. Ex generator

Power and Energy

Power –the time rate of expending or absorbing energy measured in watts (W)

Where: P = power in watt (W)

w = energy in joules
t = time in seconds

Passive sign convention is satisfied when the current enters through the positive terminal of an
element and p = +vi. If the current enters through the negative terminal, p = −vi.

+ power = power is absorbed by the element

- power = power is supplied by the element

Power absorbed = - power supplied or ΣP = 0

Energy – Capacity to do work, measured in joules

1 Wh = 3600 J
Example1. An energy source forces a constant current of 2 A 3. How much energy does a 100 W electric bulb consume in
for 10 s to flow through a lightbulb. If 2.3 kJ is given off in the two hours?
form of light and heat energy, calculate the voltage drop Ans. 720kJ or 200 Wh
across the bulb 4. What is the power received by the element and the energy
Ans. 115 V received during a 10 ms interval if the v=8v and I = 25mA?
2. Find the power delivered to an element at t = 3 ms if the Ans. P= 200 mW, w = 2 mJ
current entering its positive terminal is i = 5 cos 60πt A and 5. For a certain circuit v(t) = 12e-8t V and i(t) = 5e-8t A for t ≥ 0.
the voltage is: (a) v = 3i, (b) v = 3 di/dt Both v(t) and i(t) are zero for t<0. Find the power supplied by
Ans. this element and the energy supplied by the element over the
A) 53.48 W first 100 ms of operation
B) -6.396 kW Ans. p(t) = 60e-16t W
W(0.1) = 2.99 J
Exercises
1. To move charge q from point a to point b requires−30 J. Find the voltage drop vab if: (a) q = 2 C, (b) q = −6 C
2. Find the power delivered to the element in Example 1.5 at t = 5 ms if the current remains the same but the voltage is: (a) v
= 2i V, (b) v = (10 + 5 )V
3. A stove element draws 15 A when connected to a 120 V line. How long does it take to consume 30 kJ?
4. The average current in a typical lightning thunderbolt is 2 x 104 A, and its typical duration is 0.1 s. The voltage between the
clouds and the ground is 5 x 108V. Determine the total charge transmitted to the earth and the energy released
5. Figure below shows four circuit elements identified by letters A,B,C and D
a. Which of the devices supply 12 W?
b. Which of the devices absorb 12W?

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“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln Lesson 1:
Electrical Circuits 1 INTRODUCTION TO
BASIC CONCEPTS

c. What is the value of the power received by device B?

d. What is the value of the power delivered by device D?

Circuit Elements

Two types of elements in electric circuit

1. Passive elements – elements not capable of generating energy
Ex. Resistors, capacitors, inductors
2. Active element – elements capable of generating energy
- Main source of energy in electrical circuit
Ex. Generators, batteries amplifiers

2 kinds of active element

1. Independent sources
2. Dependent sources

Ideal Independent source - an active element that provides a specified voltage or current that is completely independent of other
circuit variables

Ideal independent
voltage source Ideal independent
current source

Ideal dependent source – An active element in which the source quantity is controlled by another voltage or current

4 types of dependent source

1. Voltage controlled voltage source (VCVS)
2. Voltage Controlled Current source (VCCS)
3. Current controlled Voltage source (CCVS)
4. Current controlled Current source (CCCS)

Example of Current controlled Voltage source

Example
1. Calculate the power supplied or absorbed by each element in the figure

College of Engineering, Lawrence Paul Santos CIRCUITS:

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“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln Lesson 1:
Electrical Circuits 1 INTRODUCTION TO
BASIC CONCEPTS

College of Engineering, Lawrence Paul Santos CIRCUITS:

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