1 CIRCUIT VARIABLES

AND ELEMENTS

1.1 Definitions and Units

1.2 Charge and Currents
1.3 Voltage, Energy, and Power
1.4 Circuit Elements

1.1 DEFINITIONS AND UNITS

Electric circuit, or electric network is a collection of electrical elements

interconnected in some way.

a b

FIGURE 1.1 : General two-terminal electrical elements

Example

FIGURE 1.2 : A simple electric circuit

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 FIGURE 1.3 : Electric circuit of a radio receiver

1.1.1 Important terminology

Coulomb (C)
The basic unit used to measure electric charge

Joule (J)
A joule is the work done by a constant 1-N force applied through a 1-m distance.

Ampere (A)
One ampere or amp is the current that flows when 1 Coulomb of charge passes each
second (1 A = 1 C/s)

Volt (V)
If a charge of 1 Coulomb may be moved between two points in space with
expenditure of 1 Joule of work, 1 Volt is said to be a potential difference existing
between these points (1 V = 1 J/C)

Watt (W)
The rate at which work is done or energy expended. The watt is defined as 1 Joule per
second (1 J/s).

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1.1.2 Quantities and SI Units
The International System of Units (SI) will be used throughout this course.

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1.2 CHARGE AND CURRENTS

1.2.1 Charge

Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles of which matter consist,

measured in Coulomb (C).

Consider FIGURE 1.4

FIGURE 1.4 : Electric current due to flow of electronic charge in a conductor

When a conducting wire (consisting of several atoms) is connected to a battery (a

source of electromotive force), the charges are compelled to move; positive charges
move in one direction while negative charges move in the opposite direction.
This motion of charges creates electric current. It is conventional to take the current
flow as the movement of positive charges, that is, opposite to the flow of negative
charges.

1.2.2 Electric Current

Electric current is the time rate of change of charge, measured in amperes (A).

Mathematically:

The relationship between current i, charge q, and time t, is

dq
i ………..(1)
dt

where current is measured in amperes (A), and

1 ampere = 1 coulomb/second
The charge transferred between time to and t
is obtained by integrating both sides of Eq. (1). We obtain,

t
q   idt ………..(2)
t0

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 Currents

FIGURE 1.5 : Two common types of current:

(a) direct current (dc) (b) alternating current (ac).

▪ A direct current (dc) is a current that remains constant with time.

▪ By convention the symbol I is used to represent such a constant current.
▪ An alternating current (ac) is a current that varies sinusoidally with time.
▪ A time-varying current is represented by the symbol i. A common form of
time-varying current is the sinusoidal current or alternating current (ac).

FIGURE 1.6 : Conventional Current Flow :

(a) positive current flow (b) negative current flow

Once we define that the current as the movement of charge  the direction of current
flow is conventionally taken as the direction of positive charge movement.
Based on the convention a current of 5A maybe represented positively or negatively

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1.3 VOLTAGE, ENERGY AND POWER
To move the electron in a conductor in a particular direction requires some work or
energy transfer. This work is performed by an external electromotive force (emf),
typically represented by the battery. This emf is also known as voltage or potential
difference. The voltage vab between two points a and b in an electric circuit is the
energy (or work) needed to move a unit charge from a to b; mathematically,

dw
Vab  …………..(3)
dq

where w is energy in joules (J) and q is charge in coulombs (C). The voltage Vab or
simply v is measured in volts (V), From Eq. (3).
It is evident that,

1 volt = 1 joule/coulomb = 1 newton meter/coulomb

1.3.1 Voltage

Voltage (or potential difference) is the energy required to move a unit charge through
an element, measured in volts (V).

FIGURE 1.7 : Polarity of voltage Vab

FIGURE 1.8 : Two equivalent representations of the same voltage Vab:

(a) point a is 9 V above point b,
(b) point b is -9 V above point a.

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1.3.2 Energy

Energy is the fundamental ability to do work and produce action. Power is a measure
of how fast energy is being used. In other words, power is the rate at which energy is
used.
Power is a certain amount of energy used in a certain length of time, expressed as
follows :
P = energy/time
= W/t
The above equation. follows directly from the definitions of i and V in previous
equations., since
dw dq dw
Vi   
dq dt dt
Energy is measured in joules (J), time t is measured in seconds (s) and power P is
measured in watts (W).

1.3.3 Power

Power is the time rate of expending or absorbing energy, measured in watts (W).
We can write this relationship as

Power absorbed = - Power supplied

dw
P ………….(4)
dt

where p is power in watts (W), w is energy in joules (J), and t is time in seconds (s).

or p  iv …………..(5)

Power can be delivered or absorbed as defined by the polarity of the voltage and the
direction of the current.

FIGURE 1.9 : Reference polarities for power using the passive sign convention;
(a) absorbing power (b) supplying power

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1.4 CIRCUIT ELEMENTS

An element is the basic building block of circuit. An electric circuit is simply an

interconnection of the elements. Circuit analysis is the process of determining
voltages across (or the currents through) the elements of the circuit.
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. There are two kinds of
sources: independent and dependent sources

1.4.1 Passive And Active Element

Passive element is an electrical element that absorbs or stores energy. Examples of

passive element: resistor, inductor and capacitor.

i
_
+
Passive element
+ v
–

FIGURE 1.10 : Current direction of a passive element starts from positive terminal to
negative terminal.

Active element is an electrical element that supplies energy to other elements in a

circuit. Examples of active element: voltage source, current source, transistor.

i
_
+
Active element
+ v
–

FIGURE 1.11 : Current direction for an active element is going out of positive
terminal into the negative terminal.

1.4.2 Electrical Sources

An electrical source is a device that is converting non-electrical energy to electrical

energy and vice versa. The source is either deliver or absorb electrical power in order
to maintain the voltage or current.
There are two types of electrical sources; voltage and current sources.

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An ideal voltage source is a circuit element that maintains a prescribed voltage across
its terminals regardless of the current flowing in the terminals.
Similarly, an ideal current source is a circuit element that maintains a prescribed
current through its terminals regardless of the voltage across the terminals.
There are four types of electrical sources used in circuit analysis.
Independent Sources
▪ Ideal Voltage Sources
▪ Ideal Current Sources
Dependent (Controlled) Sources
▪ Voltage Sources
▪ Current Sources

Independent Voltage Sources

▪ Provides a prescribed voltage across its terminal irrespective of the current

flowing through it.
▪ The amount of current supplied by the source is determined by the circuit
connected to it.
▪ Do not affected by amount of current flowing through it.

FIGURE 1.12 : Symbols for independent voltage sources :

(a) used for constant or time-varying voltage (b) used for constant voltage (dc)

FIGURE 1.13 : Independent voltage sources

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 FIGURE 1.14 : Example of electrical model representation

Independent Current Sources

• Provides a prescribed current to any circuit connected to it. The voltage

generated by the source is determined by the circuit connected to it.
• Independent source do not depend on amount of voltage generated.

FIGURE 1.15 : Symbol for independent current source

Dependent (Controlled) Sources

• Dependent source establishes the value of voltage and current whose value is
dependent on the value of voltage and current elsewhere in the circuit.
• The output (voltage or current) is a function of some other voltage or current
in a circuit.
• Dependent source is represented by a diamond and both dependent voltage
source and current source may be controlled by either voltage or current.

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 + +
vs = vs = ρix vs = is = βix
_ _
μvx αvx

Ideal voltage- Ideal current- Ideal voltage- Ideal current-

controlled voltage controlled voltage controlled current controlled current
source (VCVS) source (CCVS) source (VCCS) source (CCCS)

FIGURE 1.16 : Symbol for dependent sources

Ideal Basic Circuit Element

An ideal basic circuit element has three attributes:

• It has only two terminals; connection to other circuit components
• It is described mathematically in terms of current and/or voltage
• It cannot subdivided into other elements

Term ideal refers to basic element that does not exists in physical components.
Term basic refers to the circuit element cannot be modelled with any other type of
element.
Basic circuit element is illustrated in FIGURE 1.17.
The box represents circuit element, voltage across the terminals is denoted as v and
current in the circuit element is denoted as i.
The assignment of polarity of voltage and direction of current is arbitrarily.
The most widely used sign convention for reference is called passive sign convention.

i
+ 1
v
– 2

FIGURE 1.17 : Basic circuit element

Passive Sign Convention

Whenever reference direction for current direction in an element is in the direction of

reference voltage drop across the element, use a positive sign in any expression that
relates voltage to current. Otherwise, use a negative sign.

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Tutorial 1 : Circuit Variables And Elements

Q1. The current at the terminals of the element in Figure Q1 is

i
+ 1
ν
_ 2

Figure Q1

i = 0, t<0
i = 20e-5000t A, t≥0

Calculate the total charge (in microcoulombs) entering the element at its upper
terminal.

Q2. Determine the current flowing through an element if the charge flow is given
by:-
q(t) = (8t2 + 4t -2) C

Q3. Find the charge q(t) flowing through a device if the current is:-
i(t) = (2t + 5) mA, q(0) = 0

Q4. The current entering the upper terminal of Figure Q1 is

i = 24 cos 4000t A

Assume the charge at the upper terminal is zero at the instant the current is
passing through its maximum value. Find the expression for q(t).

Q5. The voltage and current at the terminals of the circuit element in Figure Q5
are zero for t < 0. For t  0 they are :
ν = 100e-50t sin 150t V
i = 20e-50t sin 150t A

Find the power absorbed by the element at t = 20 ms.

i
+ 1
ν
_ 2

Figure Q5

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Q6. The numerical values for the currents and voltages in the circuit in Figure Q6
are given in Table Q6. Find the total power developed in the circuit.

Table Q6 Figure Q6

Answers:

Q1. q(t) = 4000 µC

Q2. i(t) = (16t + 4) A
Q3. q(t) = (t2 + 5t) mC
Q4. q(t) = 6 sin 4000t mC
Q5. P(20ms) = 5.39W
Q6. PT = 1740W

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