Electric Circuits

Now that we have the concept of voltage, we can

use this concept to understand electric circuits.
Just like we can use pipes to carry water, we can
use wires to carry electricity.
The flow of water through pipes is caused by
pressure differences (P), and the flow is
measured by volume of water per time (Q = Vol/t) .
recall: Q = Volume/t = ( P R4) / (8  L)
where R is the radius of the pipe, L the length, and  the viscosity of the fluid.
 Electric Circuits
In electricity, the concept of voltage will be like
pressure. Water flows from high pressure to low
pressure (this is consistent with our previous analogy that
Voltage is like height since P = gh for fluids);
electricity flows from high voltage to low
voltage.
But what flows in electricity? What carries the
electrical energy? Charges!
How do we measure this flow? By Current:
current = I ≡ q / t
UNITS: Amp(ere) = Coulomb / second
 Pipes and Wires
Water pipes are hollow. The water flows
inside the hollow pipes. The pipes keep the
water from flowing in any direction other than
along the pipe. Wires also keep the charges
flowing along the wire.
But are the wires hollow?
What is carrying the charges in the
circuit – through the wire?
 Pipes and Wires
What is carrying the charges?
We have determined that electrons,
which have a negative charge, are actually
carrying the charges along the wire.
Are the wires hollow like the water pipes?
Actually, the wires are solid, not hollow.
Since the electrons are so tiny, they can flow
around and between the metal ions that form
the wire.
 Voltage Sources:
batteries and power supplies
Question: Does a water pump supply water? If you
bought a water pump, and then plugged it in
(without any other connections), would water come out
of the pump? Equivalent question: does your heart
supply the blood, or simply pump the blood?
On the other hand, a fire extinguisher does contain
the file suppressant material (e.g., water, CO2).
Question: Does the battery or power supply actually
supply the charges that will flow through the
circuit? That is, is it like the water pump or the
fire extinguisher?
 Voltages and Power Supplies
Does the battery or power supply actually
supply the charges?
No! A battery or power supply supplies
voltage but not charge. This is analogous to
what a water pump does in a water system.
Where do the charges come from that the
battery or power supply pushes?
 Current and Power Supplies
Where do the charges come from that the
battery or power supply pushes?
There are electrons in all materials. In metals,
the valence electrons are free to move. The
power supply pulls electrons from one
terminal, and then pushes them out the other
terminal. In a current, the same number of
electrons flow out as flow in – just like water
in a water hose or blood in blood vessels.
 Voltage Sources:
batteries and power supplies
Just like a water pump only pushes water (gives
energy to the water by raising the pressure of the
water), so the voltage source only pushes the
charges (gives electrical potential energy to the
charges by raising the voltage of the charges).
Just like a pump needs water coming into it in order to
pump water out, so the voltage source needs charges
coming into it (into the negative terminal) in order to
“pump” them out (of the positive terminal) with a load
of energy. Recall that voltage is electrical potential energy
per charge.
 Current and flow of electrons
We now know that electrons of negative charge
actually carry the current. Since they are negative
charges, they will flow UP in voltage, from the
negative terminal to the positive terminal.
However, the traditional direction of the current
is taken to be that of positive charges flowing from the
positive terminal to the negative terminal.
It would have been more convenient if Ben Franklin had
made the electrons positive instead of negative. But this is what
we have to work with.
 Electric Circuits
Because of the “pumping” nature of voltage sources, we
need to have a complete circuit before we have
a current.
If we have an air gap (or rubber gap) in the circuit, no
current will flow - just like if we have a solid block
(like a cap) in a water circuit, no water will flow. This
is how we can have simple switches to turn the
electric power on and off and valves to turn the water
on and off.
If the gap is small, and the voltage is high enough, the current will
cross over the gap - somewhat like water, if the pressure is high
enough, water will break through a plug.
 Circuit Elements
In this first part of the course we will consider
two of the common circuit elements:
resistor
capacitor
The resistor is an element that “resists” the
flow of electricity.
The capacitor is an element that stores
charge for use later (like a water tower).
 Resistance
Current is somewhat like fluid flow. Recall
that it took a pressure difference to make
the fluid flow due to the viscosity of the
fluid and the size (area and length) of the pipe.
So to in electricity, it takes a voltage
difference to make electric current flow due
to the material and size (area and length) of the
circuit elements.
 Resistance
By experiment we find that if we increase the
voltage (V), we increase the current (I):
V is proportional to I. The constant of
proportionality we call the resistance, R:
V = I*R Ohm’s Law
UNITS: R = V/I so Ohm = Volt / Amp.
The symbol for units of resistance is  (capital omega).
This is similar to fluid flow: Q = V/t = ( P R4) / (8  L),
or P = (Volumn /t) * X where X = (8  L) / ( R4) .
 Resistance
Just as with fluid flow, the amount of resistance
does not depend on the voltage (pressure) or
the current (volume flow). The formula V=IR
relates voltage to current. If you double the
voltage, you will double the current, not change
the resistance.
As was the case in fluid flow, the amount of
resistance depends on the materials and
shapes of the wires.
In fluid flow, X depends on the material () and shape (L,R):
X = (8  L) / ( R4)
 Resistance
The resistance depends on material and
geometry (shape). For a wire, we have:
R=L/A
where  is called the resistivity (in Ohm-m)
and measures how hard it is for current to
flow through the material (somewhat like
viscosity, ), L is the length of the wire, and A
is the cross-sectional area of the wire. The
second lab experiment deals with Ohm’s Law
and the above equation.
 Electrical Power
The electrical potential energy of a charge is:
PE = q*V .
Power is the change in energy with respect to
time. With circuits, the velocity and hence
kinetic energy of the electrons is constant, and so
the change in energy is really the change in
potential energy: Power = PE / t .
Putting these two concepts together we have:
Power = (qV) / t = V(q) / t = I*V.
Remember that the V is really a V between the two terminals of the
power source or of the circuit element.
 Electrical Power
Besides this basic equation for power:
P = I*V
remember we also have Ohm’s Law:
V = I*R .
Thus we can write the following equations for
power: P = I2*R = V2/R = I*V .
To see which one gives the most insight, we
need to understand what is being held
constant.
 Example
When using batteries, the battery keeps the
voltage constant. Each D cell battery
supplies 1.5 volts, so four D cell batteries in
series (one after the other) will supply a
constant 6 volts.
When used with four D cell batteries, a light
bulb is designed to use 5 Watts of power.
What is the resistance of the light bulb?
 Example
We know V = 6 volts, and P = 5 Watts; we’re
looking for R. I
We have two equations:
V
P = I*V and V = I*R R P
which together have
4 quantities: P, I, V & R..
We know two of these (P & V), so we should
be able to solve for the other two (I & R).
 Example
Using the power equation we can solve for I:
P = I*V, so 5 Watts = I * (6 volts), or
I = 5 Watts / 6 volts = 0.833 amps.
Now we can use Ohm’s Law to solve for R:
V = I*R, so
R = V/I = 6 volts / 0.833 amps = 7.2  .
 Example extended
If we wanted a higher power light bulb,
should we have a bigger resistance or a
smaller resistance for the light bulb?
We have two relations for power that involve
resistance:
P=I*V; V=I*R; eliminating V gives: P = I2*R and
P=I*V; I=V/R; eliminating I gives: P = V2 / R .
In the first case, Power goes up as R goes up; in the
second case, Power goes down as R goes up.
Which one do we use to answer the above question?
 Example extended
Answer: In this case, the voltage is being held
constant due to the nature of the batteries. This
means that the current will change as we change the
resistance. Thus, the P = V2 / R would be the most
straight-forward equation to use. This means that as
R goes down, P goes up. If we had used the P = I2*R
formula, as R goes up, I would decrease – so it would not be
clear what happened to power.
The answer: for more power, lower the
resistance. This will allow more current to
flow at the same voltage, and hence allow
more power!
 Connecting Resistors Together
Instead of making and storing all sizes of
resistors, we make and store just certain values
of resistors – for manufacturing efficiency and
easier inventory control. When we need a non-
standard size resistor, we can make it by
connecting two or more standard size resistors
together to make an effective resistor of the
value we need.
The symbol for a resistor is written:
 Two basic ways
There are two basic ways of connecting two
resistors: series and parallel.
In series, we connect resistors together like
railroad cars:

+ - + -

high V low R1 R2
 Series
If we include a battery as the voltage source,
the series circuit would look like this:
R1
+
Vbat
- R2

Note that there is only one way around the

circuit, and you have to go through BOTH
resistors in making the circuit - no choice!
 Parallel
In a parallel hook-up, there is a branch point
that allows you to complete the circuit by
going through either one resistor or the
other: you have a choice!

R1
High V Low V

R2
 Parallel Circuit

If we include a battery, the parallel circuit

would look like this:

+ + +
Vbat - R1 R2
- -
 Formula for Series:
To see how resistors combine to give an
effective resistance when in series, we can
look either at
V = I*R, I R1
or at
V1
R = L/A . batV
+
V2 R2
-

Remember that that V’s here are really ΔV’s across the
terminals.
 Formula for Series
Using V = I*R, we see that in series the current
must move through both resistors.
(Think of water flowing down two water falls, one after the other
in series.) Thus Itotal = I1 = I2 .
Also, the voltage drops across the two resistors
add to give the total voltage drop:
(The total height that the water fell is the addition of the two
heights of the falls.)
Vtotal = (V1 + V2). Thus, Reff = Vtotal / Itotal
= (V1 + V2)/Itotal = V1/I1 + V2/I2 = R1 + R2.
Check: (6+3)/3 = 9/3 = 3 and (6+3)/3 = 6/3 + 3/3 = 2+1 = 3
so (6+3)/3 = 6/3 + 3/3
 Formula for Series
Using R = L/A , we see that the current has
to go through both lengths, so the lengths
should add. The lengths are in the
numerator, and so the values should add.
This is just like in R = V/I (from V = IR)
where the V’s are in the numerator and so
add!
 Formula for Parallel Resistors
The result for the effective resistance for a parallel
connection is different, but we can start from the
same two places: V=I*R, or R = L/A .
(Think of water in a river that splits with some water
flowing over one fall and the rest falling over the
other but all the water ending up joining back
together again.)

Itotal
+

Vbat I1 R1 I R2
2
-
 Niagara Falls

Image copied from the internet:

http://www.niagarafallslive.com/facts_about_niagara_falls.htm
 Formula for Parallel Resistors
Start with either V=I*R or R = L/A
For parallel, both resistors are across the same
voltage, so Vtotal = V1 = V2 . The current can
go through either resistor, so: Itotal = (I1 + I2 ) .
Since the I’s are in the denominator, we have:
R = Vtotal / Itotal = Vtotal / (I1+I2); or
1/Reff = (I1+I2) / Vtotal = I1 / V1 + I2 / V2
= 1/R1 + 1/R2.
Note: 6/(2+3) = 6/5 = 1.2 and 6/2 + 6/3 = 3 + 2 = 5; - so 6/(2+3) ≠ 6/2 + 6/3
but (2+3)/6 = 5/6 = .833 and (2+3)/6 = 2/6 + 3/6 = .333 + .500 = .833 - so (2+3)/6 = 2/6 + 3/6
 Formula for Parallel Resistors
If we start from R = L/A , we can see that
parallel resistors are equivalent to one
resistor with more Area. But A is in the
denominator (just like the current I was in the
previous slide), so we need to add the
inverses:
1/Reff = 1/R1 + 1/R2 .
 Review:
Resistors:
V = IR
R = L/A
Power = IV
Series: Reff = R1 + R2 or in general, Reff = ΣRi
Parallel: 1/Reff = 1/R1 + 1/R2 or (1/Reff) = Σ(1/Ri)
Series gives largest Reff , parallel gives smallest Reff .
 Computer Homework
The Computer Homework, on
Resistors: Basic, Vol 3, #5,
gives both an introduction and problems
dealing with resistors.
 Examples
Consider two resistors in series: 3
a 3and a 6resistor:
Reff = R1 + R2 = 3 + 6 = 9
Note that 9 is larger than the largest single resistor
of 6. 6
Consider two resistors in parallel:
a 3and a 6resistor:
1/Reff = 1/R1 + 1/R2 =
1/3 + 1/6 = (.333/ + .167/) 3

or Reff = /.500 = 2. 6

Note that 2 is smaller than the smallest single resistor

of 3.
When adding the resistors in parallel and adding the inverses, be sure to invert
your answer. Keeping track of units will help with this.
 Capacitance
A water tower holds water.
A capacitor holds charge.
The pressure at the base of the water tower depends on
the height (but not the width) of the water, and so the
more water in the tower, the higher the water is, and
the more pressure at the base. Recall from fluids: ΔP =gh.
The voltage across a capacitor depends on the
size of the capacitor and the amount of charge
held by the capacitor: the more charge stored,
the more voltage across the capacitor.
 Capacitance
We define capacitance as the amount of charge
stored per volt: C ≡ Qstored / V.
Capacitance is not quite the same as capacity.
Here I used the ΔV, but it is often written as simply C = Q/V.

UNITS: Farad = Coulomb / Volt

Just as the capacity of a water tower depends on
the size and shape, so the capacitance of a
capacitor depends on its size and shape. Just
as a big water tower can contain more water
per foot of height (or per unit pressure), so a
big capacitor can store more charge per volt.
 Capacitance
While we normally define the capacity of a
water tank by the TOTAL AMOUNT of
water it can hold, we define the capacitance of
an electric capacitor as the AMOUNT OF
CHARGE PER VOLT instead.
There is a TOTAL AMOUNT of charge a
capacitor can hold, and this corresponds to a
MAXIMUM VOLTAGE that can be placed
across the capacitor. Each capacitor DOES
HAVE A MAXIMUM VOLTAGE.
 Capacitance
What happens when a water tower is over-
filled? It can break due to the pressure of the
water pushing on the walls.
What happens when an electric capacitor
is “over-filled” or equivalently a higher voltage
is placed across the capacitor than the listed
maximum voltage? It will “break” by having
the charge “escape”. This escaping charge is like
lightning - a spark that usually destroys the
capacitor.
 Capacitors
As we stated before, the capacitance of a
capacitor depends on its size and shape.
Basically a capacitor consists of two separated (at least
electrically separated) conductors (usually pieces of metal) so
that we can pull charge from one and deposit it on the other.
We first look at a common type of capacitor, the
parallel plate capacitor, where the two conductors are plates
that are aligned parallel to each other; each of area, A;
separated by a distance, d;
and containing a
Top plate
non-conducting A
material between Material between plates
d
the plates.
Bottom plate
 Parallel Plate Capacitor
For a parallel plate capacitor, we can pull charge
from one plate (leaving a Q on that plate) and deposit it
on the other plate (leaving a +Q on that plate). Because of
the charge separation, we have a voltage
difference between the plates, V. The harder
we pull (the more voltage across the two plates), the more
charge we pull: C ≡ Q /V.
Note that C is NOT CHANGED by either Q or V;
C relates Q and V!
The same applied to resistance:
Top plate +Q
the resistance did not depend
on the current and voltage –
A
V
the resistance related the two. d
Material between plates

Bottom plate
-Q
 Parallel Plate Capacitor
The symbol for a capacitor is whether the capacitor is a parallel type or
other type. Note: in the previous slide, we took positive charge from
one plate leaving that plate with a negative charge, and deposited
the charge on the other plate leaving that plate with a positive
charge. This follows the normal description of a current moving
into the negative terminal of the battery and leaving the positive
terminal. I e-
+ +Q + +Q
- -Q - -Q

Actually, it is the electrons that are pulled away from one

plate into the positive terminal of the battery leaving that plate
with a positive charge, and those electrons are pushed out the
negative terminal of the battery and deposited on the other plate
leaving it with a negative charge.
 V or V ?
When we deal with height, h, we usually refer to the
change in height, h, between the base and the top.
Sometimes we do refer to the height as measured
from some reference point. It is usually clear from
the context whether h refers to an actual h or a h.
With voltage, the same thing applies. We often
just use V to really mean a V between the
terminals of the device. You should be able to
determine from the context whether we really
mean V at a particular location or V between
terminals when we say V.
 Parallel Plate Capacitor
For a parallel plate capacitor, the capacitance is related to
charge and voltage (C ≡ Q/V), actually C ≡ Q/ΔV, but its
actual capacitance depends on the size and shape:
Cparallel plate = K A / (4  k d)
where K (called dielectric constant) depends on the
material between the plates, A is the area of each plate,
d is the distance between the plates, and k is
Coulomb’s constant (9 x 109 Nt-m2 / Coul2).
Top plate +Q
A
d Material between plates V

Bottom plate
-Q
 Example:
Parallel Plate Capacitor
Consider a parallel plate capacitor made from
two plates each 5 cm x 5 cm separated by 2
mm with vacuum in between. a) What is
the capacitance of this capacitor?
Further, if a power supply puts 20 volts across
this capacitor, b) what is the amount of
charged stored by this capacitor?
 Example:
Parallel Plate Capacitor
a) The capacitance depends on K, A, k and d:
Cparallel plate = K A / (4  k d) where
K = 1 for vacuum,
A = 5 cm x 5 cm = 25 cm2 = 25 x 10-4 m2,
d = 2 mm = 2 x 10-3 m, and
k = 9 x 109 Nt-m2/Coul2 , so C =
[(1)*(25 x 10-4 m2)] / [4 * 3.14 * 9 x 109 Nt-m2/Coul2 * 2 x 10-3 m]
= 1.10 x 10-11 F = 11 pF .
 Example (cont.)
We can see from the previous example that
a Farad is a huge capacitance!
b) If we have a V = 20 volts, then to calculate
the charge, Q, we can use: C ≡ Q/V to get:
Q = C*V = 11 x 10-12 F * 20 volts =
2.2 x 10-10 Coul = 0.22 nCoul = 220 pCoul.
Remember that we often drop the in front of the V
since we often are concerned by the change in voltage
rather than the absolute value of the voltage - just as
we do when we talk about height!
 Other types of capacitors
Note: We can have other shapes for capacitors.
These other shapes will have formulas for them
that differ from the above formula for parallel
plates. These formulas will also show that the
capacitance depends on the materials and shape of
the capacitor. Example: for a coaxial cable, the
capacitance depends on the length of the cable, both the
radius of the inner wire and the radius of the outer
cylinder, and the material between the inner wire and the
outer cylinder: Ccoax = KL / [2k ln(rcyl/rwire)].
 Capacitance
Note that if we doubled the voltage, we would
not do anything to the capacitance. Instead,
we would double the charge stored on the
capacitor.
However, if we try to overfill the capacitor by
placing too much voltage across it, the positive
and negative plates will attract each other so
strongly that they will spark across the gap and
destroy the capacitor. Thus capacitors have a
maximum voltage!
 Energy Storage
If a capacitor stores charge and carries
voltage, it also stores the energy it took to
separate the charge. The formula for this is:
Estored = ½QV = ½CV2 ,
where in the second equation we have used
the relation: C = Q/V .
 Energy Storage
Note that previously we had:
PE = qV ,
and now for a capacitor we have:
E = ½QV .
Why the ½ factor for a capacitor?
 Energy Storage
The reason is that in charging a capacitor, the
first bit of charge is transferred while there is
very little voltage on the capacitor (recall that
the charge separation creates the voltage!). Only
the last bit of charge is moved across the full
voltage. Thus, on average, the full charge
moves across only half the voltage!
The battery does supply the full Q*V energy, but the other ½
goes into heat in the resistor during the charging.
 Connecting Capacitors Together
Instead of making and storing all sizes of
capacitors, we make and store just certain
values of capacitors for manufacturing
efficiency and for easier inventory control.
When we need a non-standard size capacitor,
we can make it by connecting two or more
standard size capacitors together to make an
effective capacitor of the value we need.
(This is similar to what we saw with resistors.)
 Two basic ways
Just as with resistors, there are two basic ways of
connecting two capacitors: series and parallel. In
series, we connect capacitors together like railroad
cars; using parallel plate capacitors it would look
like this:

+ - + -

high V low V
C1 C2
 Series
If we include a battery as the voltage source, the series
circuit would look like this:
C1
+
+ -
Vbat
+
C2
-
Note that there is only one way around the circuit, and
you have to jump BOTH capacitors in making the
circuit - no choice!
 Parallel
In a parallel hook-up, there is a branch point that
allows you to complete the circuit by jumping over
either one capacitor or the other: you have a
choice!

High V C1 + Low
- V

C2 + -
 Parallel Circuit

If we include a battery, the parallel circuit

would look like this:

+ + +
Vbat C1 C2
 Formula for Series:
To see how capacitors combine to give an
effective capacitance when in series, we
can look either at C ≡ Q/V, or at
Cparallel plate = KA / [4kd] .
 Formula for Series
Using C ≡ Q/V, we see that in series the charge moved
from capacitor 2’s negative plate must be moved
through the battery to capacitor 1’s positive plate.
C1
+ +Q
Vbat C2 +

- -Q
+
(  +Qtotal)
 Formula for Series
But the positive charge on the left plate of C 1 will attract
a negative charge on the right plate, and the negative
charge on the bottom plate of C2 will attract a positive
charge on the top plate - just what is needed to give
the negative charge on the right plate of C 1. Thus
Qtotal = Q1 = Q2 .
C1 (+Q1  )
+ +Q1 -Q1 +Q2 = Q1
Vbat V 1 V2 C2
- -Q2
(  +Q2 = +Qtotal)
 Formula for Series
Also, the voltage drop across the two capacitors add
to give the total voltage drop: Vtotal = (V1 + V2).
Thus, Ceff ≡ Qtotal / Vtotal = Qtotal / (V1 + V2), or (with
Qtotal = Q1 = Q2)

[1/Ceff] = (V1 + V2) / Qtotal = V1/Q1 + V2/Q2 =

1/C1 + 1/C2 = 1/Ceffective .
Note: this is the opposite of resistors when
connected in series! Recall that R =V/I where V
is in the numerator; but with capacitors C = Q/V
where V is in the denominator!
 Formula for Series
Using Cparallel plate = KA / [4kd] , we see that
we have to go over both distances, so the
distances should add. But the distances are
in the denominator, and so the inverses
should add. This is just like in C = Q/V
where the V’s add and are in the
denominator!
 Formula for Parallel Capacitors
The result for the effective capacitance for a
parallel connection is different, but we can
start from the same two places:
C ≡ Q/V, or Cparallel plate = KA / [4kd] .
 Parallel Circuit
For parallel, both plates are across the same voltage, so
Vtotal = V1 = V2 . The charge can accumulate on
either plate, so: Qtotal = (Q1 + Q2).
Since the Q’s are in the numerator of C = Q/V, we have:
Ceff = C1 + C2.
+ +Q1 +Q2
Vbat C1 -Q1 C2 -Q2
+Q1 
 +Qtotal = (Q1+Q2)  +Q2
 Formula for Parallel Capacitors
If we use the parallel plate capacitor formula,
Cparallel plate = KA / [4kd] , we see that the
areas add, and the areas are in the
numerator, just as the Q’s were in the
numerator in the C = Q/V definition.
 Review of Formulas
For capacitors in SERIES we have:
1/Ceff = 1/C1 + 1/C2 .
For capacitors in PARALLEL we have:
Ceff = C1 + C2 .
Note that adding in series gives Ceff being
smaller than the smallest, while adding in
parallel gives Ceff being larger than the
largest!
 Review:
Capacitors: C ≡ Q/V
PE = ½CV2; C// = KA/[4kd]
Series: 1/Ceff = 1/C1 + 1/C2
Parallel: Ceff = C1 + C2
series gives smallest Ceff , parallel gives largest Ceff .
Resistors: V = IR
Power = IV; R = L/A
Series: Reff = R1 + R2
Parallel: 1/Reff = 1/R1 + 1/R2
series gives largest Reff , parallel gives smallest Reff .
 Computer Homework
The Computer Homework on
Capacitors: Basic, Vol 3, #7,
gives both an introduction and problems
dealing with capacitors.