Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro

Department of Telecommunication Engineering

Applied Physics (1st Semester, 1st Year)
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Name: ______________________________________________ Roll Number:
_____________
Score: _____________ Signature: ________________________Date:____________________

OBJECTIVE: Introduction to Applied Physics: Multisim Simulation tool,

Breadboard and Digital Multimeter

Introduction

To understand the applied physics or electrical technology, fundamentals of electrical terms are
important like charge, voltage, current, power, direct current, alternative current, insulators and
conductors properties.

Electricity, Charge and Current.

To understand current, it is necessary to first understand the basic structure of the atom. An atom
is composed of three basic types of particles. The nucleus, or center of the atom, contains some
number of protons and neutrons. The protons are positively charged particles, and the number of
protons in an atom determines the type of atom. For example, all hydrogen atoms have exactly
one proton, and all atoms with 13 protons are aluminum.

Outside of the nucleus, negatively charged particles called electrons orbit the nucleus.
Electrons are much smaller and lighter than protons. The attraction between the positively
charged protons in the nucleus and the negatively charged electrons normally keeps the electrons
in orbit around the nucleus. The number of electrons is the same as the number of protons, and
the positive and negative charges cancel out; the atom has no net charge.

Charge:
Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles of which matter consists and
measured in Coulombs, after the name of Charles Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806) a French
Scientist.
Inside an atom, there is negative charge on electrons, positive charge on protons, and no charge
on the neutrons. The of an electron is equal to that of an proton and e = 1.602x10-19 C.

Current:
Electric current is the flow of charged particles in a specific direction. In liquids and
gases, these charged particles can be electrons or ions. In solids, such as the wire used in
electrical circuits, electrons are the charged particles that cause electric current. Since the charge
of a single electron is very small indeed (qe = 1.6 × 10-19 C), any practical current involves flow
of many electrons.
 Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro
Department of Telecommunication Engineering
Applied Physics (1st Semester, 1st Year)
______________________________________________________________________________

Current is typically denoted as I (for intensity). Current is the amount of charge flowing per unit
time. This can be denoted by the equation:

𝑑𝑄
𝐼= (Ampere)
𝑑𝑡
The following point is really important. Although the electrons in a metal wire flow from the
negative terminal to the positive terminal, the current flows from the positive terminal to the
negative terminal. The electrons carry a negative charge, and the current is defined by
convention as the flow of positive charge. This is sort of like subtracting 1 and -1. 1 - (-1) is the
same as 1 + (+1). The negative charge of the electrons flowing in one direction gives the same
current as the positive charge flowing in the opposite direction. The convention of the current
flow from positive to negative terminal was established before electrons were discovered and
later people did not bother to change it.

Direct Current & Alternating Current:

Two types of electric current are used in everyday life. Direct current, or DC, always flows in
the same direction. This is the type of current created by batteries. The other type of current is
alternating current, or AC. This is the current used to power household appliances and lights.
This type of current periodically changes direction, once every 1/120 seconds in the United
States (or once every 1/100 seconds in Europe).

Voltage:
Voltage, also called the electromotive force or potential difference, is the force that causes
current to flow. It can be helpful to visualize voltage as a difference in potential energy caused
by differences in charges. Consider a simple battery; it has positive and negative terminals.
Chemicals inside the battery cause positive charges to congregate near the positive terminal and
negative charges to collect near the negative terminal. If we connected a wire from one terminal
to the other, electrons would flow from the negative terminal to the positive terminal, creating a
current in the wire.
Eventually the charges on each side of the battery will become more neutral, and the battery will
die out.
 Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro
Department of Telecommunication Engineering
Applied Physics (1st Semester, 1st Year)
______________________________________________________________________________
𝑑𝑊
𝑉= (𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠)
𝑑𝑄

Voltage is defined as energy per unit charge. The basic unit of voltage is the Volt,
abbreviated as V. One volt is equal to one joule per Coulomb. The more volts a battery has, the
more joules of energy it supplies per coulomb. Similar to electric current, there are two important
types of voltage: DC and AC.

Power:
The flow of charges requires energy, and the energy per unit time, or power P, is proportional to
both current and voltage
𝑃 = 𝑉. 𝐼 (𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑠)
Power is measured in watts. One watt is one joule per second, which is equal to one ampere
times one volt.

Conductor, Insulator and Semiconductor:

Some materials allow electrons to flow more freely than others. A material in which charges can
move to neighboring atoms with relative ease is called conductor.
 One measure of this relative ease of charge movement is the electric resistance of the
material
 Example conductor material: metals and carbon
 In metals the only charged particles that can move are electrons

A material that opposes the charge movement (ideally infinite opposition, i.e., no charge
movement) is called insulator.
 Example insulators: Dry air and glass

A material whose conductive properties are somewhat in between those of conductor and
insulator
 Example semi-conductor material: Silicon with some added impurities

Resistor and Ohms Law:

Resistors are fundamental components in electric circuit design. As their name implies, they
resist the flow of current in a circuit.
The resistance of any material with a uniform cross-sectional area A and length L is inversely
proportional to A and directly proportional to L.
 Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro
Department of Telecommunication Engineering
Applied Physics (1st Semester, 1st Year)
______________________________________________________________________________
𝐿
𝑅∝
𝐴
The constant of the proportionality is the resistivity of the material i.e. ρ
𝐿
𝑅=𝜌
𝐴

In honor of George Simon Ohm (1787-1854), a German physicist, the unit of resistance is named
Ohm (Ω).
A conductor designed to have a specific resistance is called a resistor.

The voltage v across a resistor is directly proportional to the current i flowing through the
resistor. The proportionality constant is the resistance of the resistor, i.e., 𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑅𝑖(𝑡)

Multisim & Breadboard:

Simulation is a mathematical way of representing the actual behavior of a circuit. With

simulation, you can determine a circuit’s performance without physically constructing the circuit
or using actual test instruments. Multisim is a complete system design tool that offers a very
large component database, schematic entry, full analog/digital SPICE simulation, etc. It also
offers a single easy-to-use graphical interface for all design needs.

A breadboard is used to build and test circuits quickly before finalizing any circuit design. The
breadboard has many holes into which circuit components like ICs and resistors can be inserted.

Introduction to Multisim

Go to Start→Program→Multisim and click on Multisim. This will open the main window as
shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 1 important toolbars and menu are labeled. In addition to the toolbars
shown in Fig. 1, there may be other toolbars appearing on your screen so concentrate on the
labeled items in Fig. 1 at this time.

You can always open and close a toolbar from the Main Menu. For example, if you want to open
 Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro
Department of Telecommunication Engineering
Applied Physics (1st Semester, 1st Year)
______________________________________________________________________________
or close (select/unselect) the Design Toolbar, select View→Toolbars→Design. If any toolbar
does not appear on your screen then use the above procedure to make it appear.

Fig. 1 Main Window of Multisim Simulation Software

Breadboard
A breadboard is used to build and test circuits quickly before finalizing any circuit design. The
breadboard has many holes into which circuit components like ICs and resistors can be inserted.

The bread board has strips of metal which run underneath the board and connect the holes on the
top of the board. The metal strips are laid out as shown below. Note that the top and bottom rows
of holes are connected horizontally while the remaining holes are connected vertically.
 Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro
Department of Telecommunication Engineering
Applied Physics (1st Semester, 1st Year)
______________________________________________________________________________

To use the bread board, the legs of components are placed in the holes. Each set of holes
connected by a metal strip underneath forms a node. A node is a point in a circuit where two
components are connected. Connections between different components are formed by putting
their legs in a common node.

The long top and bottom row of holes are usually used for power supply connections. The rest of
the circuit is built by placing components and connecting them together with jumper wires. ICs
are placed in the middle of the board so that half of the legs are on one side of the middle line
and half on the other.

Bread boarding tips:

It is important to breadboard a circuit neatly and systematically, so that one can debug it and get
it running easily and quickly. It also helps when someone else needs to understand and inspect
the circuit. Here are some tips:
1. Always use the side-lines for power supply connections. Power the chips from the side-
lines and not directly from the power supply.
2. Use black wires for ground connections (0V), and red for other power connections.
3. Keep the jumper wires on the board flat, so that the board does not look cluttered.
4. Route jumper wires around the chips and not over the chips. This makes changing the
chips when needed easier.
5. You could trim the legs of components like resistors, transistors and LEDs, so that they
fit in snugly and do not get pulled out by accident.

Digital Multimeter:
A Digital Multimeter, which means that it displays measurements in a digital form rather than a
needle moving across a dial. It’s called a multimeter because it can make a variety of
measurement and replace a collection of different single function meters. The measurements that
will be most important are voltage, current and resistance. Voltage and current are measured
either in a.c or d.c signals.
 Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro
Department of Telecommunication Engineering
Applied Physics (1st Semester, 1st Year)
______________________________________________________________________________

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Q.01: What is difference between conventional current and electric current?

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Q.02: What are different properties of insulators and conductors?

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Q.03: What is Resistance and discuss ohm’s law?

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Q.04: Discuss the applications of ohm’s law?

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Q.04: Discuss the applications of Direct current and Alternating current?

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Exercise:
Do as Directed: Use Multisim

1. place Resistor of (your roll number) KΩ

2. place voltage source of (your roll number) VOLTS

FINAL CHECK LIST

1. Return all equipment and material to their proper storage area

2. Submit your answers to questions, and results before the next laboratory