Basic Laws of Electric Cicuits

Ohm's Law
Kirchhoff’s Current Law

Lesson 2
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law:
The voltage across a resistor is directly proportional to the current moving through
the resistor.

i(t) v(t) _
+
v(t) = Ri(t) (2.1)
R

i(t) _ v(t)
+
v(t) = _ Ri(t) (2.2)
R
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law:
Directly proportional means a straight line relationship.

v(t)
R v(t) = Ri(t)

i(t)

The resistor is a model and will not produce a straight line for all conditions of
operation.
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: Ohm’s Law: Example.

Consider the following circuit.

+
115V RMS V R
(ac) (100 Watt light bulb)
_

Determine the resistance of the 100 Watt bulb.

V2
P VI I 2R
R
V2 1152
R 132.25 ohms
P 100
A suggested assignment is to measure the resistance of a 100 watt light bulb with an ohmmeter.
Debate the two answers.
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL)
As a consequence of the Law of the conservation of charge, we have:

The sum of the current entering a node (junction point) equal to the
sum of the currents leaving.

Ia Ic

Ib Ia + Ib = Ic + Id
Id

I a, I b, I c , and I d can each be either a positive

or negative number.
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL)
The algebraic sum of the currents entering a node equal to zero.

where in is the nth current. N is the number of branches.

A common assignment:

■ if the current is entering the node, assign a negative “-“sign and

■ if the current is leaving the node, assign a positive “+” sign.
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL)
For the following figure

The node equation can be written as

 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law (KCL)
For the following figure

The node equation can be written as

 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL)
The algebraic sum of all voltage around the closed loop must be always zero.

where vn is the nth voltage. N is the number of elements in the loop

A common assignment:

■ If the positive (+) side of the voltage is encountered first, assign a positive “+”sign to the voltage
across the element.

■ If the negative (-) side of the voltage is encountered first, assign a negative “-”sign to the voltage
across the element.
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL)
■ If the positive (+) side of the voltage is encountered first, assign a positive “+”sign to the voltage across the element.

■ If the negative (-) side of the voltage is encountered first, assign a negative “-”sign to the voltage across the element.

For the following figure