ENGI128

INTRODUCTIONTOENGINEERINGSYSTEMS

Lecture6:
Voltage,Current,andCircuits
UnderstandYourTechnicalWorld
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WelcometoElectricalEngineering!
Wewillstartourstudyofelectricalengineeringwithitstwomost
basicconcepts:voltageandcurrent.
Wellintroducethemostpopularelementinelectricity,theresistor
Wellthenmovetothesimplestpossiblecircuit,thevoltage
divider.
Finally,wellgooversomemeasurementtechniquesthatyouwill
neednextweek.

Voltage&
Current
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Well,whatarethey?
Voltage=Electricalpotentialenergy(theabilitytodowork)
Current=Flowofelectricity(workbeingdone)

Voltagefunfacts:
Voltageisthedifference inelectricalpotentialenergy
Therefore,voltagemustbemeasuredbetweentwopoints
Everysystemhassomereferencevoltagethatwedefineas0.Thisis
alsocalledground.
Allothervoltagesaremeasuredrelativetoground

Currentfunfacts:
Currentonlyflowsfromhighvoltagetolowvoltage
Currentrequiresavoltage,butnottheotherwayaround
Currentcannotleaveacircuit,itmustbeconserved

[currentandvoltagedemo]

Howdoyougettheelectronsoffoftheground?
Currentcantflowwithoutawaytogetbackhome
Youhavetoaddenergytotheelectronstoincreasetheirvoltage

Thiscreatesacircuit
Alltheelectricitywewilllookatandtalkaboutisinacircuit
Acircuitisaclosedsystemofelectrons:

Thismeansthatweneverloseanyelectrons
Thismeansthatyoucantpushelectronsdownaopenendedwire
Thereneedstobeapathtogetbacktohome
Ifyouwantthecircuittorunmorethanonce,youneedtoget
voltagebackintotheelectrons

PowerSupplies
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Wheredowegetvoltageandcurrentfrom?
Batteries
Whatelse?

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Whyallthebatteries?
Butwhydoeseverythingusemorethanonebattery?
a.Tohavemoreenergy
b.Tohavemorevoltage
c.Tohavemorecurrent

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AddingVoltage:Multiplebatteries
Puttingbatteriesinseries:

Puttingbatteriesinparallel:

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Resistors
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Resistors

Resistorsimpedetheflowofcurrent
Sowhyintheworldwouldyoueverusethem?
Becauseascurrentflowsthroughthem,itcreatesavoltagedrop
acrosstheresistor
Thischangeinvoltagecanbeuseful.

Andthisbringsustoouronlyequationinthismodule,Ohmslaw:
voltage=current resistance
V=IR
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readingresistors:colorcodes

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Schematics
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SchematicSymbols

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ASchematicDiagram:TheVoltageDivider
Singlemostusefulcircuitontheplanet:

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TheVoltage
Divider
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[showroneschematicshighlightresistors&voltage
dividers]

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VoltageDividerMath
OhmsLaw
Conservationof
current
Kirchhoffs
voltagelaw

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[showroneschematicsandhighlightvoltagedividers]

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TakingElectrical
Measurements
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TheMultimeter

OK,alltogethernow:
Measuringvoltage
Measuringresistance

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[multimeter examples]

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