CH-2

Basic Laws

Week-2
Lectures # 3 & 4

1
 Ohm s’ Law
• Background
• Ohm’s Observation
• Relation between Voltage and Current
• Relation between Current and Resistance
• Ohm’s Law
• Practical Circuits vs. Schematics

2
Ohm’s Observation

3
 Ohm’s Law
The most important fundamental law in electronics is
Ohm’s law, which relates voltage, current, and resistance.

Georg Simon Ohm (1787-1854) studied the relationship

between voltage, current, and resistance and formulated
the equation that bears his name. In terms of current,
Ohm’s law states
V
I=
R

What is the current in a circuit having a 12 V source

if the resistance is 10 W?

4
 Linear Relationship of Current and Voltage

Graph of Current versus Voltage

Notice that the plot of 10

current versus voltage for a

fixed resistor is a line with 8.0

a positive slope. What is

Current (mA)
the resistance indicated by 6.0

the graph?
4.0
2.7 kW
2.0
What is its
conductance?
0
0.37 mS 0 10 20 30
Voltage (V)
5
 Current vs Resistance (Fixed Voltage)
Graph of Current versus Resistance
If resistance is varied 10

for a constant voltage,

the current verses 8.0

resistance curve plots a

Current (mA)
6.0
hyperbola.
4.0

2.0

0
0 1.0 2.0 3.0
Resistance (kW )

6
 Application of Ohm’s Law
The resistor is green-blue
brown-gold. What should the
ammeter read? 560 Ohm

26.8 mA
meter -
DC Am
+

Power Supply

V A

+15 V
Gnd 5 V 2A - + - +

7
 Flow of Current in a Circuit

+
+

8
 Review Questions
1. Holding the voltage constant, and plotting the current
against the resistance as resistance is varied will form a
a. straight line with a positive slope
b. straight line with a negative slope
c. parabola
d. hyperbola

9
 Review Questions
2. When the current is plotted against the voltage for a
fixed resistor, the plot is a
a. straight line with a positive slope
b. straight line with a negative slope
c. parabola
d. hyperbola

10
 Review Questions
3. For constant voltage in a circuit, doubling the resistance
means
a. doubling the current
b. halving the current
c. there is no change in the current
d. depends on the amount of voltage

11
 Review Questions
4. A four-color resistor has the color-code red-violet-
orange-gold. If it is placed across a 12 V source, the
expected current is
a. 0.12 mA
b. 0.44 mA
c. 1.25 mA
d. 4.44 mA

12
 Review Questions
5. If the current in a 330 W resistor is 15 mA, the applied
voltage is approximately
a. 5.0 V
b. 22 V
c. 46 V
d. 60 V

13
 Review Questions
6. The current in a certain 4-band resistor is 22 mA when
the voltage is 18 V. The color bands on the resistor are
a. blue-gray-red-gold
b. red-red-brown gold
c. gray-red-brown-gold
d. white-brown-red-gold

14
 Review Questions
7. The circuit with the largest current is
a. (a)
b. (b)
c. (c)
d. (d)

+12 V R +15 V R +18 V R +24 V R

10 kW 15 kW 22 kW 27 kW

(a) (b) (c) (d)

15
 Review Questions
8. The circuit with the smallest current is
a. (a)
b. (b)
c. (c)
d. (d)

+12 V R +15 V R +18 V R +24 V R

10 kW 15 kW 22 kW 27 kW

(a) (b) (c) (d)

16
 Fundamental Assumptions

• Although you may not have stated it, or thought

about it, when you have drawn circuit
schematics, you have connected components or
devices with wires, and shown this with lines.
• Wires can be modeled pretty well as resistors.
However, their resistance is usually negligibly
small.
• We will think of wires as connections with zero
resistance. Note that this is equivalent to having
a zero-valued voltage source.

17
 Voltage and Current Polarities

• Previously, we have emphasized the importance of reference

polarities of currents and voltages
• Notice that the schematic symbols for the voltage sources and
current sources indicate these polarities
• The voltage sources have a “+” and a “–” to show the voltage
reference polarity. The current sources have an arrow to show
the current reference polarity
• Voltage drop across the resistor will be from higher ”+” to lower “-”
in the direction of current flow i
+

R v

18
 Nodes, Branches and Loops
Nodes, Branches, and Loops:
A branch represents a single element such as a voltage source or a resistor

    

A circuit with 5 branches

A node is the point of connection between two or more branches
•


Path
Loop
•

•

A circuit with 3 nodes

A loop is any closed path in a circuit
19
 Nodes, Branches and Loops
Nodes
RC
• To test our
understanding of RD
nodes, let’s look at vA
+

the example circuit -

schematic given here RE

• How many nodes are

RF
there in this circuit? iB

20
 Nodes, Branches and Loops
Nodes
RC
• In this schematic, there
are three nodes. These
nodes are shown in RD
+
dark blue here vA

-
• Some students count
more than three nodes RE

in a circuit like this.

When they do, it is
usually because they RF
have considered two iB

points connected by a
wire to be two nodes.

21
 Nodes, Branches and Loops
(Theorem)
A network with b branches, n nodes, and l independent loops will satisfy the
fundamental theorem of network topology

b = l + n −1
A loop is said to be
independent if it contains a
branch which is not in any
other loop. Independent
loops or paths result in
independent sets of
equations.

Original circuit

22
Series/Parallel Resistance
 Series Resistance (Example)
Series circuits
The total resistance of resistors in series is
the sum of the individual resistors.

For example, the resistors in a series circuit are 680 W, 1.5 kW, and 2.2
kW. What is the total resistance?
4.38kW
R1
680 W
VS R2
12 V 1.5 kW
R3
2.2 kW

24
 Voltage Sources in Series
Voltage sources in series add algebraically. For example,
the total voltage of the sources shown is
a
Vab =+9 + 9 + 9 +
9V
Vab = +27 V
+
Vba = -9 - 9 -9 9V

Vba = -27 V +
9V
What is the total voltage if one battery is reversed?
b
9V

25
 Voltage Division Rule
The voltage drop across any given resistor in a series
circuit is equal to the ratio of that resistor to the total
resistance, multiplied by source voltage.
𝑉𝑠 𝑅2
𝑉2 =
𝑅𝑡

Assume R1 is twice the size of R2.

What is the voltage across R1?
VS
R1
𝑅𝑡 = 𝑅1 + 𝑅2 12 V
𝑅1 = 2𝑅2
𝑅𝑡 = 2𝑅2 + 𝑅2 R2
𝑅𝑡 = 3𝑅2
𝑉2 = 4𝑉 𝑈𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑎 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒

26
 Voltage Division Rule
What is the voltage across R2? R1
15 kW
VS + R2
The total resistance is 25 kW. 20 V 10 kW
Applying the voltage divider formula:

R   10 kW 
V2 = VS  2  = 20 V  = 8V
 RT   25 kW  Notice that 40% of the
source voltage is across R2,
which represents 40% of
the total resistance.

27
 Power in Series Circuit
R1
Use the voltage divider rule to
find V1 and V2. Then find the 470 W
power in R1 and R2 and PT. VS + R2
20 V 330 W

Applying the voltage divider rule:

 470 W 
V1 = 20 V   = 11.75 V
 800 W 
The power dissipated by each resistor
 330 W 
V2 = 20 V   = 8.25 V
is:
 800 W 
(11.75 V )
2

P= = 0.29 W P = 0.5 W
470 W 2
}
1
T

P2 =
(8.25 V ) = 0.21 W
330 W
28
 Next Week..

▪ KCL
▪ KVL
▪ Nodal and Mesh Analysis