Lecture-2

On

INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING (ESO203)

• Electric charge.
• Current.
• Voltage.
• Power and energy.
• Resistance and Conductance.

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 ELECTRIC CURRENT
• The battery acts as a source of electromotive force (emf).
• Connecting a conducting wire to a battery causes the electrons to move in one
direction.
• This motion of charges create an electric current.
• Although, the current in a metallic conductor is due to the flow of electrons it is
conventional to take the current as the net flow of positive charge in a direction
opposite to the flow of electrons. (Benjamin Franklin and Joseph Thompson)

ON
OFF
 ELECTRIC CURRENT (Cont…)

• Hence, electric current can be defined as the time rate of change of charge.
• Mathematically, the relationship between charge, 𝑞 and current, 𝑖 can be expressed
as,

• The unit of current is ampere (A), where 1 ampere = 1 coulomb / second.

• The charge transferred between time 𝑡 0 and 𝑡 is evaluated by integrating the above
equation.
 ELECTRIC CURRENT (Cont…)

❑Example:
• The total charge entering a terminal is given by 𝑞=5tsin4𝜋𝑡 mC. Calculate the
current at 𝑡=0.5 s?
❑Solution:

At t=0.5
 ELECTRIC CURRENT (Cont…)

❑Example:
• Determine the total charge entering a terminal between 𝑡=1s and 𝑡=2s if the
current passing the terminal is 𝑖=(3t 2 -t) A?
❑Solution:
 VOLTAGE
• Energy transfer or work is needed to move electrons in a particular direction.
• This work is performed by an external emf generally provided by the battery.
• The emf is also known as voltage or potential difference.
• Voltage is defined as the energy required to move a unit charge through an
element.
• It is expressed mathematically as,

• Here, 𝑣 𝑎𝑏 is the voltage between two points 𝑎 and 𝑏, 𝑤 is the energy in joules (J),
and 𝑞 is the charge in coulombs (C).
 VOLTAGE (Cont..)

• Voltage is measured in volts (V).

• Here, 1 volt = 1 joule / coulomb = 1 newton-meter / coulomb.
• The +ve and –ve signs are used to represent the voltage polarity or the reference
direction.
• It follows logically that 𝑣 𝑎𝑏 = -𝑣 𝑏𝑎 .
• Current and voltage are considered as the two basic variables in the electric
circuit.
 POWER AND ENERGY

• Although current and voltage are the two basic variables in an electric circuit,
they are not sufficient by themselves.
• For practical purposes, we need to know how much power an electric device can
handle.
• When we pay our bills to the electric utility companies, we are paying for the
electric energy consumed over a certain period of time.
• Thus, power and energy calculations are also important in circuit analysis.
 POWER AND ENERGY (Cont…)

• To relate power and energy to voltage and current, we recall from physics the
following:
• Power is the time rate of expending or absorbing energy and can be expressed as

• Power, 𝑝, is measured in watts (W), 𝑤 is the energy in joules (J), and 𝑡 is the time
in seconds (s).
• Using the previous equations:-

• Thus, the power absorbed or supplied by an element is the product of the voltage
across the element and the current through it.
• The power p in the above equation is a time-varying quantity and is called the
instantaneous power.
 POWER AND ENERGY (Cont…)
• If the power has a +ve sign, power is being delivered to or absorbed by the
element.
• If, on the other hand, the power has a -ve sign, power is being supplied by the
element.
• Current direction and voltage polarity play a major role in determining the sign of
power.
 POWER AND ENERGY (Cont…)

• It is therefore important that we pay attention to the relationship between current

and voltage.
• The voltage polarity and current direction must conform with those shown in in
the previous figure in order for the power to have a positive sign.
• This is known as the passive sign convention.
• 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 AND ENERGY (Cont…)
• Law of conservation of energy must be obeyed in any electric circuit.
• For this reason, the algebraic sum of power in a circuit, at any instant of time,
must be zero:

• This again confirms the fact that the total power supplied to the circuit must
balance the total power absorbed.
• Using energy power equation, the energy absorbed or supplied by an element from
time 𝑡 0 to time 𝑡 is

• Energy is, thus, defined as the capacity to do work and is measured in joules (J).
 POWER AND ENERGY (Cont…)
❑Example:
• An energy source forces a constant current of 2 A for 10 s to flow through a light
bulb. If 2.3 kJ is given off in the form of light and heat energy, calculate the
voltage drop across the bulb.
❑Solution:
The total charge is

The voltage drop is

 POWER AND ENERGY (Cont…)
❑Example:

• Find the power delivered to an element at 𝑡 = 3ms if the current entering its
positive terminal is 𝑖 = 5cos60𝜋𝑡 A and the voltage is 𝑣 = 3𝑖?

❑Solution: The voltage is

Hence, power

At t = 3ms

Power
 POWER AND ENERGY (Cont…)
❑Example:

• For the previous problem find the power at 𝑡 = 3ms if the voltage is 𝑣 = 3di/dt?

❑Solution: The voltage is

Hence, power

At t = 3ms

Power
 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS

• There are two types of elements found in electric circuits: passive elements and
active elements.
• An active element is capable of generating energy while a passive element is not.
• Examples of passive elements are resistors, capacitors, and inductors.
• Typical active elements include generators, batteries, and operational amplifiers.
• The most important active elements are voltage or current sources that generally
deliver power to the circuit connected to them.
 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS (Cont…)
• There are two kinds of sources: independent and dependent sources.
• An ideal independent source provides a specified voltage or current that is
completely independent of other circuit elements.
• An ideal independent voltage source delivers to the circuit whatever current is
necessary to maintain its terminal voltage.
• Physical sources such as batteries may be regarded as approximations to ideal
voltage sources.
• In an ideal dependent (or controlled) source, source quantity is controlled by
another voltage or current.

V I V I

Independent sources Dependent sources

 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS (Cont…)
❑Resistance:
• A physical property or ability of an element to resist the current, is known as
resistance and is represented by the symbol 𝑅, and is measured in ohms.
• The resistance of any material with a uniform cross-sectional area 𝐴 depends on 𝐴
and its length, 𝑙.
• It is expressed mathematically as,
where, ρ is known as the resistivity of the material in ohm -meters .
• The common circuit symbol used for a resistor is as shown in the figure below:
 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS (Cont…)
❑Resistance (Cont..):
• Georg Simon Ohm (1787–1854), a German physicist, developed the relationship
between current and voltage for a resistor.
• This relationship is known as Ohm’s law.
• Ohm’s law states that the voltage 𝑣 across a resistor is directly proportional to the
current 𝑖 flowing through the resistor.
i 1
R

• Ohm defined the constant of proportionality for a resistor to be the resistance, 𝑅.

• From the above equation,

 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS (Cont…)
❑Resistance (Cont..):
• The value of 𝑅 can range from zero to infinity.
• An element with 𝑅 = 0 is called a short circuit.
• For a short circuit,

• The short circuit voltage across an element is zero.

• Similarly, an element with 𝑅 = ∞ is known as open circuit.
• For an open circuit,

• Thus, for an open circuit the current through the element is zero.
 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS (Cont…)
❑Conductance:
• Another useful element in circuit analysis is the reciprocal of resistance 𝑅, known
as conductance 𝐺.
• It is defined as a measure of how well an element can conduct electric current.
• The unit of conductance is siemens (S) or mho (Ʊ).
• It can be expressed mathematically as,

• Thus, the unit of conductance can be expressed as,

• The same resistance can be expressed in terms of ohms or siemens. For example,
10 Ω is same as 0.1 Ʊ.
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