Viva Questions for Basic Electric Lab

( MAINLY Circuit Theorems ,1st year,1st

Semester)
(Prepared by Prof.Arun Kumar Chatterjee,BSH
& EE Dept,for Departmental use)
Vintage: December 2020.
Q1. What is a constant voltage source?
(In Qs 1 above students must state that a
constant voltage source supplies a constant
voltage irrespective of the current through
it)

Q2. What is a constant current source?

(In Q 2 above,students must state that a
constant current source supplies a constant
current irrespective of the voltage across it.)
Q3. What is an independent voltage source?
Q4. What is a current-dependent voltage
source?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q5. Is it possible to have a votage-dependent
current source OR a current-dependent voltage
source?
Q6. When you want to thevenise a source
network between two specified terminals A and
B,what are the TWO steps you would follow?
Please give a clear answer.

Q7. Do you have any idea about Source

conversion? How would you convert a voltage
source supplying 20V with a resistance of 5Ωin
series to an equivalent current source?
(Please state the magnitude of the constant
current supplied by the current source, and
also state the value of the resistance.Also
mention how it should be connected to the
terminals of the current source)
Q8. Do you think the Thevenin and Norton
equivalents of any source network are identical
in ALL RESPECTS?( If you think there are
differences,you may give a suitable justification).

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
( The proper answer is:: Although power
balances are still maintained,the power
FIGURES change )
Q9. If you wish to short two terminals A & B of a
given network you will need to connect these
two teminals by a wire.Would you choose a wire
which is very thin or would you choose a wire
with a large cross-setion? Give a justification
for your answer.
(Proper answer: An ideal short has zero
resistance.A copper bar ,with a large cross
section,behaves as an ideal short)
Q10. What is done to dependent voltage and
current sources while calculating the value of R th

?
Q11. What is(usually)the coil resistance of an
ammeter? Is it very low or very high? Justify
your answer.
( Ideally the coil resistance of an ammeter is
chosen to be very low,so that when it is
immersed in any branch of a circuit the current
to be measured is not altered appreciably)

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q12. The voltage across a resistor is to be
measured by a voltmeter. What would happen if
you were to connect the voltmeter in series with
the resistor? Justify your answer
Q13. How does one Nortonise a source network
between two specified terminals A and B.You
may give the main steps briefly.
Q14. Can you set up an experiment to verify
Ohm’s Law in the laboratory? What kind of
graph would you plot?( I vs V) or (V vs I)?
Q15. There are two parameters (called) P and
Q.
If you have to plot a graph of Q vs P,which
parameter would you put on the vertical axis?
Q16. Can you give an example from real life of a
constant current source? Please go ahead if you
can.
( A car battery nearing its end of life behaves as
a constant current source)
Q.17. Have you heard the term ‘conductance’?
What is the unit of conductance? Give the value
of the conductance of a resistor whose
resistance is 10Ω.
Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee
Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q18. A resistor has a resistance of 50Ω.What is
its conductance?
Q19. A Wattmeter generally has two coils. What
do the terms CC and PC mean as applied to
these two coils?
Q20. Explain why a fuse is generally included in
an electric circuit,especially containing
expensive equipment, like a refrigerator,for
example.
Q21. Suppose in a real lab situation you have to
connect two terminals which are displaced by
about 12 feet. You look around for wires and find
that the longest wire is 8 feet and the shortest is
6 feet. What would you do?
(You are not allowed to join wires .Assume that
you have access to some electrical
instruments,with free terminals, on your lab
table)
Q22.In the following equation(with usual
symbols) what is the name given to the constant
‘α’ appearing inside the bracketed expression?
RT =R0 [1+α ( T −T 0 ) ]

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q23. Have you heard of an expression called
‘resistivity’? (also called specific
resistance).What is the unit for this physical
quantity.Give its physical significance?
Q24. What is the charge carried by a single
electron?
( Students must answer : −1.6(10) −19
C .The negative
sign must be mentioned)
Q25. What is the charge carried by a single
proton?
( Students must answer : +1.6 (10) −19
C .The positive
sign must be mentioned)
Q26. Can you state the name of the rule that
helps to determine the direction of the magnetic
field set up by a straight current-carrying
conductor?
( There are two correct answers to this
question namely Ampere’s right hand rule or
the Biot –Savart law)
Q27. How many protons are needed to make up
a charge of 1coulomb?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q28. Can you define an ampere? If you can
please go ahead!
( The only acceptable answer is : One ampere is
the current flowing through two parallel
conductors ,separated by one metre,capable of
producing a force of 2x10 newton between
−7

them)
Q29. If you need to use an ammeter in the (real)
laboratory for some experiment,what
precautions would you take?
[ The range (say 0-5A) and type (AC/DC) of the
meter must be checked carefully]
Q30. What is a multimeter? What precautions
would you take before starting to use a
multimeter?
[ selection of mode,according to the parameter
to be measured(AC/DC,I,V, Ω) ,and selection of a
proper range ]
Q31. State Kirchhoff’s current law.What is the
physical significance of this law?
Q32. State Kirchhoff’s voltage law.

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q33. Do you have an idea of a meter that is
classed as’PMMC’?
What does this abbreviation stand for?
Q34. A galvanometer is used to detect weak
currents,of the order of a few milliamperes.Is it
possible to convert this to an ammeter to read
upto ( say ) 10A? How is this achieved?
Q35. A galvanometer is used to detect weak
currents,of the order of a few milliamperes.Is it
possible to convert this instrument to a
voltmeter to read upto ( say ) 200V?
How would you achieve this?
Q36.What is the meaning of the term rms,as
app[ied to an AC voltage or current?
Q37. What does the abbreviation ‘MI’ stand
for,as applied to electrical measuring
instruments?
Q38.
In a thevenised source-network(V R ¿ what
Th , Th

should be value of the load resistance R so that L

the source delivers maximum power to the load.

Is the condition also the condition for maximum

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
efficiency with which power is delivered to the
load?You may justify your answer
Q39.If an alternating sinusoidal supply system
has a peak
value of 170 V,what will its RMS value be?
Q40. How is the term ‘form factor’ (as applied
to AC supply systems) defined? Does it have any
significance? You may explain.
Q41. What is the term usually reserved for the
rotating part of a DC machine?
Q42. What is the function of the casing in any
DC machine?
Q43. Where would you expect to find the casing
in a typical DC machine?
Q44. Can the SAME DC machine be used as a
generator as well as a motor or do you think
minor alternations (inside the machine) are
necessary?
Q45. What are the different types of field
connections that can be provided to a DC motor?
Q46. What is the meaning of the expression
‘cumulative’ compounding as applied to the way
Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee
Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
in which the field coil(s) are connected in a DC
motor?
Q47. What is the meaning of the expression
‘differential’ compounding as applied to the way
in which the field coil(s) are connected in a DC
motor?
Q48. Explain briefly why a DC shunt motor
needs a (usually) 3-point starter to be connected
to the circuit.
Q49. What is the function of the starter when a
DC motor,to which the starter is
connected,reaches steady-state operating
conditions.
Q51. Explain the role of residual magnetism
in the field coil of a DC shunt generator. Can a
DC generator do without this residual
magnetism?
Q52. Define the term ‘form factor’ in an
alternating supply system?
Q53. What is the relationship between the rms
value of a purely sinusoidal wave and its peak
value?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q54. Consider a water-heater circuit,fed from a
220V source.If the resistance of the lead-in cable
from the source to the heating coil is 2Ω,what is
the efficiency of the heating system?Consider
the heater coil to have a resistance of 200 Ω
( HINT: find how much power is delivered by the
source and compute the power delivered to the
heating coil.These figures will give you some
idea about the efficiency). In particular,consider
what will happen to the efficiency as the
condition R ≫ R is realised.?
L Th

( The efficiency will almost be 100%)

Q55.
While computing the equivalent R ( of a given
Th

source network) what is done to the ideal

independent voltage sources?
Q56.
While computing the equivalent R ( of a given
Th

source network) what is done to the ideal

(dependent) voltage sources?
Q57. While computing the equivalent R ( of a Th

given source network) what is done to the ideal

(dependent) current sources?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q58.
While computing the equivalent R ( of a given
Th

source network) what is done to the ideal

(independent) current sources?
Q59.
For the same source network,state the
relationship between the equivalent R and Th RN

( symbols have their usual meanings)

Q60.
How should a solenoid of multiple turns be
wound so that it behaves (almost) like a pure
resistor?
( here students should say:: The winding must
be non-inductive: they should amplify the
meaning of non-inductive winding)
Q61.
Which physical quantity has the electron-volt
( eV)as its unit? How is 1 eV defined?
Is the electron-Volt (eV) a very large or a very
small unit?
Q62.

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
What is the relationship between a joule and an
eV?
Q63.
A filament lamp is rated at (240V,100W).
What is the rated current through it ,when
operated at the rated conditions? What will be
the reduction in its light output if the voltage
dips to 200V?
Q64.
A filament lamp is rated at (240V,100W).
What is the rated current through it ,when
operated at 50% of its rated voltage?
Q65.
A filament lamp is rated at (200V,100W). It is
connected to a supply source that is found to
supply only 160V.What will happen to the light
output? You may give the increase or decrease
as a %age of the rated light output .

Q66.

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
If the rms value of an AC voltage is 120V,what is
the peak voltage?
Q67.
Explain clearly the concept of root-mean-
square(d) value of a time-varying signal.
Q68.
Is it true that the terms ‘rms’ value and ‘peak’
value apply only to sinusoidal signals? Justify
your answer.
Q69.
What is the rms value of a DC supply voltage of
220V.State also its peak value.
Q70.
Can you state the colour code of a 35Ω carbon
resistor,if the resistor is manufactured with a
tolerance level of 10%
Q71.
Have you heard of resistors whose resistance
falls with a rise in temperature? Give an example
of such a resistor.

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
State at least one material whose resistance
decreases with a rise in temperature.
Q72.
Can you give an example of a bimetallic thermal
sensor?
Where would you find such a sensor being used?
Q73.( If this question is c/
A 1kW,10 litre geyser is kept switched on for
15minutes. The initial temperature of the water
is 15 C . What will be the temperature of the water
0

when the geyser is switched off ?( You may

round your answer off to one decimal place)
Q74 Do you have any idea about a Wheatstone
Bridge? What is it used for?
Q75. . Do you have any idea about Source
conversion? How would you convert a current
source supplying 4A to an equivalent voltage
source ?Assume the value of the resistor parallel
to the current source to be 10Ω.
(Please state the magnitude of the constant
voltage and also state the value of the
resistance,to be connected in series)

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q76. State the SI units of electrical energy and
electrical power.
Q77. Explain the concept of using two coils in a
wattmeter. What are the names given to the two
coils?
Q78. Have you heard of an item called ‘variac’?
If you know about it you may go ahead & state
its purpose.Why is it called thus?
Q77. What is a transformer used for? Can you
name any equipment( which you know) that has
a transformer.
Q78. Differentiate between an active circuit
element and a passive elment.
Q79. Is a capacitor an active circuit element or
is it a passive element? You can justify your
answer.
Q80. What is a bilateral element? Give an
example.
Q81. What is a phasor? What is the phase angle
between the current and voltage phasors in a
purely inductive circuit?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
( Students are expcted to state which quantity is
the leading phasor)
Q82. What is a phasor? What is the phase angle
between the current and voltage phasors in a
purely capacitive circuit?
( Students are expcted to state which quantity is
the leading phasor)
Q83. All of you must have seen camera men
using flashbulbs for night photography.These
flashbulbs provide a large quantity of light
needed for proper night photography.Where
does the large amount energy come from?
Q84. What is power factor.
Q85. If a resistor is supplied with a sinusoidal
AC voltage what is the power factor?
Q86. Distinguish beteen ‘active’ and ‘reactive’
power.
Q87. What is the ‘active’ power component in a
pure inductor,when it is connected to a purely
sinusoidal AC supply?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q88. What is the ‘active’ power component in a
purely capacitive element,when it is connected
to a purely sinusoidal AC supply?

Q89. What is the ‘reactive’ power component in

a pure resisitor,when it is connected to a purely
sinusoidal AC supply?

Q90. Are you familiar with a three-phase supply

system?If you are, you may go ahead and give
some idea.
Q91. How is a balanced 3-phase supply system
realised?
Q92. What is the function of a commutator in a
rotating generator?
Q93. A new battery gives a terminal voltage of
12V. If it is kept unused for a period of (say) two
years,what will happen to the output terminal
voltage? You may explain.
Q94. A filament lamp is rated at (240V,100W).
What is the rated current through it ,when
operated at the rated supply voltage? What will
Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee
Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
be the increase in its light output if the voltage
rises to 264V? Assume that the filament is able
to sustain this increased voltage.( in other words
the filament does not SNAP!!)

Q95. How long can a car battery supply a car

lamp with a reduction in light output not
exceeding 50%?
Q96 What is the purpose of the open-circuit
test on a transformer?
Q97. While conducting the open circuit test on a
single phase transformer rated at
110V/220V,50Hz,500 VA,which side is connected
to the mains,and how much voltage is applied to
the selected coil?
Q98. While conducting the open circuit test on a
single phase transformer rated at
110V/220V,50Hz,500 VA,it is found that the
current drawn from the source is very
small,compared to the full load conditions? Why
is this so?
Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee
Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q99. What is ‘windage’ loss in a generator?
Q100. How does the core loss in a transformer
change with the level of loading?
( For all practical purposes the core loss does
not change with the level of loading)
Q101. What does the short-circuit test carried
out on a transformer measure?
Q102. What does the short-circuit test carried
out on a transformer measure? If the short
circuit test on a single phase transformer rated
at 110V/220V,50Hz,500 VA were to be carried
out in a lab,which side would you connect to the
supplty source? How much voltage would you
apply ?
Justify your answer.
Q103. Does the I Rloss of a transformer depend
2

on the ‘amount’ of load? In what way ?

Q104. If the load on a transformer’s output side
is halved ,how does the copper loss(es) change?
You may give your answer as a % age of the full-
load copper loss(es)

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q105. What is eddy current? Are eddy currents
useful,in general? Justify your answer,whatever
it is.
Q106. In a transformer is the transfer of energy
from the primary to the secondary( or vice-
versa) through electric coupling or magnetic
coupling ? ( or BOTH?)
Q107. An alternating voltage input(v) is given by
the equation : v(t) = V sinωt . Is the quantity V
m m

CONSTANT or is it time dependent?

[ If your answer is time-dependent,please state
the equation of dependence)
Q108. What is the function of a commutator in a
DC machine
Q109. Can the commutator be called a
mechanical rectifier?
Q110. What is ‘back emf’ in a motor. How does it
come to play?

Q111. In a DC motor what is the order of

magnitude of the resistance of the armature. Is
it very low or very high?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q112. A filament lamp is rated at
(240V,100W).
What will be the increase in its light output if the
voltage rises to 264V? Assume that the filament
can tolerate this extra voltage without
snapping/(breaking)
Q113. What is a tachometer? What is its
function
Q 114. What is the difference between a DC
series motor and a DC shunt motor?
Q 115. What is a DC motor with a compounde
field winding?
Q 116. Do you know what are the two (main
types) of compound winding for the field?
Q 117. What is a differentially compound field
winding?
Q 118. What is a cumulatively compound field
winding?
Q 119. What is the difference between an auto-
transformer and a conventional transformer?
Q 120. What is the function of a variac?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q 121. Do you think a variac can be of any use in
a DC circuit? Please justify your answer.
Q 122. Please state the superposition theorem.
Q 123. In an AC supply that is purely
sinusoidal,what is the average value over one
full cycle?
Q 124. In an AC supply that is purely
sinusoidal,what is the average value over one
half cycle?
Q 125. Differentiate between a half-wave
rectifier and a full-wave rectifier.
Q 126. Can a DC motor be used as a DC
generator? Justify your answer.
Q 127. Can a DC generator be used as a DC
motor? Justify your answer.
Q 128. Can a step-up transformer be used as a
step-down transformer? Justify your answer.
Q 129. Can a step-down transformer be used as
a step-up transformer? Justify your answer.
Q 130. In an experiment you are asked to plot
speed versus torque of a DC motor. What would
the horizontal axis represent,speed or torque?
Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee
Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Q 131. What is the full form of MCB? What is its
function?

Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee

Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee
Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091
Done by Prof. Arun Kr. Chatterjee
Department of BSH and EE
Institute of Engineering & Management
Sector – 5, Salt Lake
Kolkata - 700091