Physics 1

Voronkov Vladimir Vasilyevich

 Lecture 10

• Direct current circuits.

• Battery, internal resistance.
• Resistors in parallel and in series.
• Kirchhoff rules.
 Battery
• The emf of a battery is the maximum possible
voltage that the battery can provide between its
terminals.
• Because a real battery is made of matter, there is
resistance to the current within the battery.
• This resistance is called internal resistance r.
 Direct and Alternating current
There exist two types of current:
Direct current (dc) is the continuous flow of
charge in only one direction. The whole
lecture is devoted only to direct current
circuits.
Alternating current (ac) is a flow of charge
continually changing in both magnitude
and in direction.
 •  - emf
• V – potential difference
on the battery ( V= Vb-
Va)
• r – internal resistance of
emf
• R – external load
Vb-Va: V=  - IR
Circuit current: I= /(R+r)
Power output of the
battery is *I: *I = I2R + I2r
 Power output of a Battery
*I = I2R + I2r

• *I - power output of the battery.

• I2R – power transferred to the external load
• I2r – power loss by the internal resistance

• So the power output of the battery to external

resistance is accompanied by the power loss due to
internal resistance.
 Resistor
• Resistor is a circuit element which is used to
control the current level in the various parts of
the circuit. It’s main property – it has constant
resistivity for a wide range of potential
differences.
 Resistors in Series
• Iac=I1=I2
• Vac=V1 + V2
• Rac=R1 + R2

• Currents I1 and I2 are the same in both

resistors because the amount of charge
that passes through must also pass
through in the same time inter interval.
 Resistors in Parallel
• I=I1+I2
• Vac=V1=V2

• When resistors are connected in parallel, the

potential differences across the resistors are
the same.
 Any number of resistors
• In series:
I=I1=I2=I3=…
V=V1 + V2 + V3 + …
Rac=R1 + R2 + R3 + …
• In parallel:
I=I1 + I2 + I3+ …
V=V1 = V2 = V3 = …
 Kirchhoff’s Rules for Direct
Current Circuits
1. Junction rule. The sum of the currents
entering any junction in a circuit must
equal the sum of the currents leaving
that junction.

2. Loop rule. The sum of the potential

differences across all elements around
any closed circuit loop must be zero.
Junction Rule
• I1 = I 2 + I3
• The Kirchhoff’s
junction rule is an
analogue for fluid
current.
• The junction rule is a
consequence of the
Charge conservation
law.
 Loop Rule Basis
• Kirchhoff’s second rule follows from the law of
conservation of energy. Let us imagine moving a charge
around a closed loop of a circuit. When the charge returns
to the starting point, the charge –circuit system must have
the same total energy as it had before the charge was
moved. The sum of the increases in energy as the charge
passes through some circuit elements must equal the sum
of the decreases in energy as it passes through other
elements.
• The potential energy decreases whenever the charge
moves through a potential drop -IR across a resistor or
whenever it moves in the reverse direction through a
source of emf. The potential energy increases whenever
the charge passes through a battery from the negative
terminal to the positive terminal.
 Loop rule
• If a resistor is traversed in the direction of
the current, the potential difference across
the resistor –IR. (Fig. a)
• If a resistor is traversed in the direction
opposite the current, the potential differ-
difference the resistor is +IR. (Fig. b)
• If a source of emf (assumed to have zero
internal resistance) is traversed in the
direction of the emf (from - to +), the
potential difference is + . The emf of the
battery increases the electric potential as
we move through it in this direction. (Fig. c)
• If a source of emf (assumed to have zero
internal resistance) is traversed in the
direction opposite the emf (from + to - ), the
potential difference - . In this case the emf
of the batter battery reduces the electric
In Figures a-d each potential as we move through it. (Fig. c)
element is traversed
from left to right.
 Kirchhoff’s rules validity
• Kirchhoff’s rules are valid only for steady-
state conditions - that is, the currents in
various branches are constant.
• Any capacitor acts as an open branch in a
circuit; that is, the current in the branch
containing the capacitor is zero under
steady-state conditions.
 Example: a multiloop circuit
Given:
All currents are steady state,
I3=50mA,
=6V,
R1=100 ,
R2= 80 ,
C=2F.
Find:
I 1 , I 2 , R3 , V C .
VC is the capacitor’s voltage

All currents are steady state means that there is no changes in currents. In steady-state
condition the capacitor acts as an open switch despite the fact that it has voltage.
 I3=50mA,
=6V,
R1=100 ,
R2= 80 ,
C=2F.
I1, I2, R3, VC= ?

So first we choose directions in the two circuits as it shown in the picture.

I2=0, as the capacitor is not charging. =>
=> For junction b: I3=I1.
For loop 1: - I3R3 - I1R1 =>
R3= /I1 - R1
For loop 2:  - I3R3 -VC = 0 =>
VC=  - I3R3 =  - I3R3= I1R1
 Types of Conductivity
• Conductors are materials through which charge
moves easily. (metals, electrolytes, superconductors,
plasmas and some nonmetallic conductors such as
graphite and conductive polymers)
• Semiconductors are materials intermediate to
conductors and insulators. (silicon, germanium,
gallium arsenide, silicon carbide, orgainic
cemiconductors)
• Insulators are materials through which charge does
not move easily. (glass, paper, Teflon, rubber, rubber-
like polimers and most plastics)
 Drift speed of electrons

• There is a zigzag motion of an electron in

a conductor. The changes in direction are
the result of collisions between the
electron and atoms in the conductor. The
net motion – drift speed of the electron is
opposite the direction of the electric field.
• So when we consider electric current as a flow of
electrons:

in reality there happens zigzag motion of free

electrons in the metal:
 Current in metals
• Every atom in the metallic crystal gives up one
or more of its outer electrons. These electrons
are then free to move through the crystal,
colliding at intervals with stationary positive
ions, then the resistivity is:
 = m/(ne2)
n - the number density of free electrons,
m and e – mass and charge of electron,
 – average time between collisions.
 Resistivity
• A conductor with current:

• Current density:

• I – electric current
• A – the cross-sectional area of the conductor
• vd – drift speed
E = J
- resistivity
 Conductivity
• A current density J and an electric field E
are established in a conductor whenever a
potential difference is maintained across the
conductor:

 is conductivity:
 = 1/ 
 Ohm’s law again
• For many materials (including most metals),
the ratio of the current density to the electric
field is a constant  that is independent of the
electric field producing the current:
J = E
 Units in Si
• Capacitance C F=C/V
• Current I A=C/s
• Resistance R Ohm=V/A
• Electro motive force (emf)  V