529292 Electrical Engineering

FUNDAMENTALS OF ELECTRIC CIRCUITS

School of Electrical Engineering

Institute of Engineering
Suranaree University of Technology
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2.1 DEFINITIONS

branch, node, loop, and mesh

Ideal sources: voltage sources and current sources.

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 independent sources.
Ideal Voltage Sources

An ideal voltage source provides a prescribed voltage across its

terminals irrespective of the current flowing through it.
The amount of current supplied by the source is determined by the
circuit connected to it.

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 independent sources.
Ideal Current Sources

An ideal current source provides a prescribed current to any

circuit connected to it.
The voltage generated by the source is determined by the
circuit connected to it.

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Dependent (Controlled) Sources

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Branch

A branch is any portion of a circuit with two terminals connected to it. A

branch may consist of one or more circuit elements (Figure 2.5).
In practice, any circuit element with two terminals connected to it is a
branch.

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Node
A node is the junction of two or more branches (one often refers to the junction of only two
branches as a trivial node). In effect, any connection that can be accomplished by soldering
various terminals together is a node. It is very important to identify nodes properly in the
analysis of electrical networks.
It is sometimes convenient to use the concept of a supernode. A supernode is obtained by
defining a region that encloses more than one node, as shown in the rightmost circuit of
Figure 2.6. Supernodes can be treated in exactly the same way as nodes.

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Node

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Loop

A loop is any closed connection of branches.

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Mesh

A mesh is a loop that does not contain other loops.

Meshes are an important aid to certain analysis methods.

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2.2 CHARGE, CURRENT, AND KIRCHHOFF’S CURRENT LAW

In order for current to flow, there must exist a closed circuit.

In other words, no current (and therefore no charge) is

“lost” around the closed circuit.
This principle was observed by the German scientist G.
R. Kirchhoff and is now known as Kirchhoff’s
current law (KCL).
Kirchhoff’s current law states that because charge
cannot be created but must be conserved, the sum of the
currents at a node must equal zero.

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2.3 VOLTAGE AND KIRCHHOFF’S VOLTAGE LAW

Experimental observations led Kirchhoff to the formulation of

the second of his laws, Kirchhoff’s voltage law, or KVL.

The principle underlying KVL is that no energy is lost or created

in an electric circuit; in circuit terms, the sum of all voltages
associated with sources must equal the sum of the load voltages,
so that the net voltage around a closed circuit is zero.

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where the v are the individual voltages around the closed circuit.
n

To understand this concept, we must introduce the concept of

reference voltage.
It is convenient to assign a value of zero to reference voltages,
since this simplifies the voltage assignments around the circuit.

vb  reference voltage

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Ground

The concept of reference voltage finds a practical use in the ground voltage of a circuit. Ground
represents a specific reference voltage that is usually a clearly identified point in a circuit.

For example, the ground reference voltage can be identified with the case or enclosure of an
instrument, or with the earth itself. In residential electric circuits, the ground reference is a large
conductor that is physically connected to the earth.

It is convenient to assign a potential of 0 V to the ground voltage reference.

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2.4 ELECTRIC POWER AND SIGN CONVENTION

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It is important to realize that, just like voltage, power is a signed quantity, and
it is necessary to make a distinction between positive and negative power.

The polarity of the voltage across circuit A and the direction of the current
through it indicate that the circuit is doing work in moving charge from a
lower potential to a higher potential.
On the other hand, circuit B is dissipating energy, because the direction of the
current indicates that charge is being displaced from a higher potential to a
lower potential.

To avoid confusion with regard to the sign of power, the electrical

engineering community uniformly adopts the passive sign convention, which
simply states that the power dissipated by a load is a positive quantity
(or, conversely, that the power generated by a source is a positive quantity).

Another way of phrasing the same concept is to state that if current flows
from a higher to a lower voltage (plus to minus), the power is dissipated and
will be a positive quantity.
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2.6 RESISTANCE AND OHM’S LAW
When electric current flows through a metal wire or through other circuit elements, it
encounters a certain amount of resistance, the magnitude of which depends on the
electrical properties of the material.
Resistance to the flow of current may be undesired—for example, in the case of lead wires
and connection cable—or it may be exploited in an electric circuit in a useful way.
Nevertheless, practically all circuit elements exhibit some resistance; as a consequence,
current flowing through an element will cause energy to be dissipated in the form of heat.
An ideal resistor is a device that exhibits linear resistance properties according to Ohm’s
law, which states that

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The resistance of a material depends on a property called resistivity,
denoted by the symbol ρ; the inverse of resistivity is called conductivity
and is denoted by the symbol σ.
For a cylindrical resistance element (shown in Figure 2.29), the resistance
is proportional to the length of the sample l and inversely proportional to
its cross-sectional area A and conductivity σ.

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Series Resistors and the Voltage Divider Rule

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Parallel Resistors and the Current Divider Rule

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2.7 PRACTICAL VOLTAGE AND CURRENT SOURCES

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2.8 MEASURING DEVICES

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