1 ALTERNATING CURRENT

Mean or average value of AC

It is that steady current, which when passed through a circuit for half
the time period of the a.c., sends the same amount of charge as is done
by the d.c. in the same time through the same circuit.
The instantaneous value of a.c. in a circuit is given by
I = I0 sin t

Suppose that a small charge dq flows through a circuit for small time
dt then
dq = I dt
dq = I0 sin t dt

The amount of change that will pass through in time can be

obtained by integrating the above equation between the limits 0 to .

q = = I0

= I0 =

= =

q = =
If Im is the mean value of a.c. then

q = Im

Im =

 Im = = 0.636 Im

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2 Alternating Current

Thus the mean value of ac during half cycle is 0.636 times (63.6 %) its
peak value.
RMS value of AC.
It is that steady current, which when passed through a resistance for
a given time will produce the same amount of heat as the alternating
current does in the same resistance and in same time.
The instantaneous value of ac passing through resistance R is given
by
I = I0 sin t
The alternating current changes continuously with time if a steady
current I flows through a resistance R for a small time dt and if heat
produced is dH then
dH = I2 Rdt = (I0 sin t)2 R dt

The amount of heat produced in the resistance in time can be

obtained by integrating the above equation.

H = =

H = dt

= = = = = 0

H = =

If Irms is rms value of ac, then

H =

 =

 Irms = = 0.707 I0

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
The rms value of a.c. is 0.0707 (70.7 %) of its peak value.
Phasor diagram
The diagram representing alternating emf and current as its rotating
vectors along with the phase angle between them is called phasor
diagram.

AC through a resistor
Consider a pure ohmic resistor of resistance R is connected to a source
of ac emf.
E =
If I is the current in the circuit at that instant
E = IR .
I =

I =

Now,
= , the peak value of ac in the circuit

 I =

AC through an inductor
Consider that a pure inductor of inductance L is connected to a source
of an alternating emf. Let the instantaneous value of ac emf be given by
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4 Alternating Current

E = ... (i)

If I is the current through the circuit and , the rate of charge of

current in the circuit at that instant.

E = –L

dI = dt

dI = dt, on integrating
= =

I = = =

WL has unit of resistance and is called inductive reactance. It is denoted

as XL.

I = sin

Further = , the peak value of ac in the circuit.

I = ... (ii)

From equation (i) and (ii) it follows that the current lags behind the emf
by phase angle .

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Alternating Current 5

The inductive reactance

XL = =

AC through a capacitor
Consider a capacitor of capacitance C is connected to a source of an a.c.
emf. Let the instantaneous value of alternating e.m.f. be given by
E =
Let I be current in the cut and q be the charge over the capacitor at that
instant, then instantaneous emf due to source = E =

q = CE = C
Differentiating both side w.r.t t, we have

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6 Alternating Current

I = =

I =

It follows that alternating current leads the emf by phase angle

has unit of resistance and is called capacitive reactance and is

denoted as .

I =

XC = =

AC through LR circuit
Consider that a source of an a.c. emf is connected to a series
combination of inductor of inductance L and resistance of resistance R.
Let E & I be the instantaneous values of the emf and current in LR
circuit VL and VR be instantaneous values of the voltage across the
inductor L and resistor R then

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Alternating Current 7

= and = IR
If OA and OB represent magnitude of the phasor and respectively.

OC = =
E = =

= = I =

The effective opposition offered by the series combination of L and R to

a.c. is called impedance of LR circuit.
I =

Z = =
From phasor diagram it follows that is LR circuit emf leads the current
by phase

tan = = = =

AC through CR series circuit

Consider that a source of a.c. emf is connected to a series combination of
capacitance C and a resistor of resistance R as shown.

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8 Alternating Current

Let E and I be the instantaneous value of emf and current is the CR

ciracut and VC and VR be the instantaneous value of voltage across
capacitor C & the resistor R respectively.
=
= IR

OC = =
E = =

I = =

Z = =

tan  = =

AC through LCR series circuit

Consider that a source of an alternating emf is connected to a series
combination of an inductor of inductance L, a resistor of resistance R
and a capacitor of capacitance C.

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Alternating Current 9

Let E & I be the instantaneous values of emf and current in the LCR
circuit and , & be the instantaneous values of the voltage
across inductor L, Capacitor C and resistance R respectively.
= , = & = IR

Let the instantaneous value of alternating current be given by

I =

If E, q & are the values of emf. charge on capacitor and rate of

change of current in the circuit at that instant.

Net emf of the circuit = PD across C + PD across R

E+ = IR +

E = ... (i)

Now,
= .... (ii)

Also, I =  dq = Idt

or q = = .... (iii)

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10 Alternating Current

Substituting eqn (ii) & (iii) in (i)

E =

Multiplying & dividing LHS by

E =



If we put

E =

Impendance of the LCR is Z =

E =
To find

tan = =

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Alternating Current 11

(i) When : tan is positive, emf leads current by

(ii) When : tan is – ve, emf lags current by

(iii) When : tan = 0, emf & current are in phase and the total

impedance is due to resistance R.

The name of  at which capacitive reactance and inductive reactance
become equal is :

or = 1 or =

= or = resonance frequency
A series LCR circuit, which admits maximum currents corresponding to
a particular angular frequency O of the a.c. source is called series

resonant circuit.
L C Oscillations :
1) Consider a changed capacitor of capacitance C is connected to an
inductor L.
2) As soon as the capacitor is connected to inductor, it sends a
current, producing growing magnetic field inside the inductor. In
turn it produces induced emf, which opposes the growth of current
hence capacitor takes finite time to discharge completely. Now all
the energy in the form of electric field in capacitor got transfered as
magnetic field in inductor.

3) As the capacitor gets discharged, current flow in the circuit stops

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12 Alternating Current

due to this magnetic field linked with the inductor starts

decreasing. This opposing induced emf starts charging th capacitor
in opposite direction. Now the energy stored in the inductor in the
form of magnetic field gets transfered to energy stored in capacitor
in the form of electric field.

Since the circuit do not possess any resistances, the capacitor gets
charged to its initial value.
4) On getting fully charged, the capacitor will again discharge sending
current through the inductor in opposite direction and therefore
causing magnetic flux to link with inductor in the opposite
direction.

The process, then repeats itself indifinetly and the electromagnetic

oscillations are produced. The frequency of oscillations produced
are f = .

Power of an ac circuit
The instantaneous power of an ac circuit is defined as the product
of instantaneous emf and current.

E =

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Alternating Current 13

I =
If we assume that the value of emf and current in ac circuit
remains constant for a small time dt, then small amount of work
done is given by

d = E I dt = .
= .
= .

= .

The electrical energy consumed in the circuit in time T can be

obtained

W =

Since =

W =

= = =

 = .
Hence is known as power factor.

Sharpness of resonance and Q-factor :

The graph shows variation of current with the angular frequency of the
a.c. source for different values of resistance R.

It follows that the current frequency curve is quite-flat for a large

value of resistance and becomes more and more sharp as the value
of the resistance is decreased.

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14 Alternating Current

For value of other than , the current in the circuit is less than
current amplitude at resonance. Suppose that we choose a value of ,
for which the current in the circuit is times the current amplitude at

resonance from graph it follows that there are two such values of .
= and =
The difference between these two values of is is called
as
bandwidth of the circuit and the quantity is regarded as the

measure of
the sharpness of resonance.
Let =

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Alternating Current 15

= R

= R

= R

= R

Q = =

Show that LC oscillator is SHM.

Consider a charged parallel plate capacitor of capacitance C connected
in parallel with an inductor of self industance L At any instant of time.
P.D. across the capacitor, VC =

P.D. across the inductor, VL =

Since L and C are connected in parallel

=

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16 Alternating Current

=0

This equation is in comparison with SHM

Comparing both equation we get

or

  =

Show that the free oscillation of a LC circuit the sum of energy stored is
capacitor and inductor is constant.
Let be the initial charge on the capacitor.
At any instant of time t, the charge on the capacitor is and

the current through the circuit,

= =

At this instant, the electrical energy stored in the capacitor

=

At this time, magnetic energy stored in the inductor

=

The total energy U =

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Alternating Current 17

U =

Transformer
Its a divice used to convert low ac voltage at high current to high voltage
at low current and vice–versa.

Principle
If two coils are inductively coupled and when current or magnetic flux is
changed through one of the two coils, then induced emf is produced is
the other coils.

Construction
It consists of two coils P & S wound on a soft union core. AC input is
applied across the primary coil and transformed coutput is obtained
across the secondary coil.

Transformers are of two type

Step up transformer :
The no. of terms in secondary coil is greater than the no. of terms
in primary coil . The primary coil is made of a thick insulated
copper wire, while the secondary coil is made of a this insulated wire It
converts a low voltage at high current to high voltage at low current.

Step down transformer :

The no. of turms in primary coil is greater than the no. of turms in
secondary coil . The secodnary coil is made up of thier insulated
copper wire the primary coil is made up of there insulated wire. It
converts high voltage at low current to low voltage at high current.

Theory :
When an ac emf is applied across the primary coil, the input voltage
keeps on charging with time. Due to this, the magnetic flun through the
primary coil also keeps charging with time. The charging magentic flun
gets linked up with secondary coil through the laminated core, which in
turm produces as and acnots the secondary coil. The soft iron core

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18 Alternating Current

couples magnetic flux produced by primary coild with the secondary coil.
Magnetic flux linked with two coil are simply proportional to their no. of
turms. If and are values of magnetic flux linked with primary and
secondary coils at any instant.

Differentiating both side w.r.t. t

According to faraday’s law of electromagnetism

e =

If and are the instantaneous values of induced emf produced in

primary and secondary coils respectively, then
= and eS =

 =

the ratio is called transformation ratio.

If we assume that there is no loss of energy then

=

 =

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Alternating Current 19

Why there is a need laminate core of a transformer ?

As the magnetic flux is linked with the secondary coil flux changes
through the soft iron core also and it produces induced emf in iron, this
emf produces current in the core in the form of closed loop called eddy
current. Since the resistance of the iron core is very less, magnitude of
eddy current is large which results in a large amount of heat is produced
which may damage the insulation of copper windings so avoid it a
laminated iron core is used in a transformer.

A laminated iron core is prepared by joining similar iron strips together

after coating them with varnish. Now eddy currents produced in each
strips will be very less as the will possess large resistance, hence only a
small amount of heat is produced.

Explain various energy losses in transformers

In an actual transformer, there is always some energy loss. The energy
losses is a transformer are in following ways.
i) Copper loss :
Due to flow of large current, either the primary or secondary coil
gets heated up. It is reduced by taking a their wire (low resistance)
for the coil where a heavy current flows
ii) Magnetic field link loss :
There may be some loss of energy if the entire magnetic fields lines
produced due to flow of current in the primary coil, are not linked
with the secondary coil. This loss of energy is minimised by taking a
closed core between the two coils to ensure that the magnetic fields
lines produced by the primary coil linked completely with the
secondary.
lines produced by the primary coil linked completely with the
secondary.
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20 Alternating Current

iii) Eddy Currents in the core :

Due to flow of varying current is the primary coil, the eddy current
is the primary coil, the magnetic flux linked with the soft iron core
changeds, so eddy current flow in the core and there is some loss of
energy. It is reduced by laminating the iron core
iv) Hysterisis loss in the core :
The alternating current flowing through the coils magnetic, and
demagnetise the iron core again and again during to each cycle of
magnetisation, some energy is loss due to hysteresis, the energy lost
during a cycle of magnetisation being equal to area of the hystresis
loop
v) Humming losses :
Due to the passage of ac, the core of the transformer starts
vibrating and producess humming sound. Thus, some parts of the
electrical energy is wasted in the form of humming sounds.

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