ACE 15 | Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Laboratory Exercise 1: DC Circuits

• Voltage, Current and Resistance
• Ohm’s Law
• Series and Parallel Circuits
• Power Calculations
• Kirchhoff’s Current Law
• Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law
• Nodal and Mesh Analysis

Objective/s
• Better understand the DC circuit concepts, laws, theorems and approaches.
• Learn to use LTspice for circuit simulations.

Component & Equipment

• Computer with Windows or Mac OS
• LTspice Software

Background
Electricity is the movement (flow) of electrons. Electrons are atomic particles with a negative
charge. Moving these charges can be harnessed to do work. A light bulb, a fan, a radio, a
mobile phone, etc., are all harnessing the movement of the electrons in order to perform
some function. They all operate using the same basic energy source: the storage and
movement of electrons.
The three basic principles for this activity can be explained using electrons, or more specifically,
the charge they create:
1. Voltage is the difference in charge (more electrons, less electrons) between two points in
space.
2. Current is the rate at which charge (electrons) is flowing between two points usually
through some material.
3. Resistance is a material's tendency to resist the flow of charge (electrical current).
Materials with very low resistance are called conductors. Materials with a very high
resistance are called insulators.
These are the three basic quantities required to understand and use electricity. A circuit is a
closed loop that allows charge to move from one place to another. Components in the circuit
allow us to control this charge and use it to do work.
Ohm’s law relates the current, , passing through a resistor of resistance, , to the potential difference or
voltage, , between the end terminals: = . Given two resistors, ! ", which obey Ohm’s law: ! = ! ! and " = " ".

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 ACE 15 | Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering

If they are connected end-to-end, series connection, the same current flows through each,
#$%&$# = ! = ", while the potential difference is the sum of that across each individual resistor, #$%&$# = ! + ". Therefore,
#$%&$# = =
#$%&$#
+ =
#$%&$#
( +
! !
)
" " #$%&$# ! "
#$%&$# = ! + "

If they are connected side-by-side, parallel connection, the same potential difference appears across each, '(%())$) .
= ! = " while the current divides between them '(%())$) = ! + "

'(%())$) ! "
=
'(%())$) = +
'(%())$) ! "

1
= 1
+ 1

'(%())$)
! "

Power dissipated in a resistor is equal to = =

"
=
+!
,.

Kirchhoff's Voltage Law states that the algebraic sum of all the voltages around any closed path
(loop or mesh) is zero.

While Kirchhoff's Current Law states that the algebraic sum of all the currents at any node is
zero.

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 ACE 15 | Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Laboratory Experiments

Show your solution on separate sheets to the hand calculation process. For the LTspice
simulation, attach a screenshot of your output.

Part A

Simulate the following Circuits A and B for 1millisecond, respectively, and measure the
output voltage and current through each resistor.
a. Fill in the table below and compare the hand calculation and LTspice simulation.

Circuit A Circuit B
Hand Calculation

V-./ (V) 0! (mA) 0" (mA) 01 (mA)

Circuit A
LTspice Simulation
Hand Calculation
Circuit B
LTspice Simulation

Part B
Simulate the following Circuit C and D for 1millisecond.
a. Hand calculate $2 or 343() and compare !5 − 5, where 4 is measured by LTspice.

&"

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 ACE 15 | Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Circuit C
b. Hand calculate $2 or 343()
!"
and compare , where 4 is measured by LTspice.
&"

Circuit D

Part C
Simulate the following Circuit E for 1millisecond.
a. Hand calculate ! , " , and . Compare the hand calculation and LTspice simulation.

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 ACE 15 | Basic Electrical and Electronics Engineering

b. Hand calculate the total power dissipated in circuit E.

Circuit E
V (V) ! (A) " (A) I (A)
Hand Calculation
Circuit E
LTspice Simulation

Simulate the following Circuit F for 1millisecond.

a. Hand calculate ! , " , and 1. Compare the hand calculation and LTspice simulation

Circuit F
! (A) " (A) 1 (A)
Hand Calculation
Circuit F
LTspice Simulation

Additional Question:
1. Is simulation important? Why? Or Why not?