Oda Bultum University

Institute of Technology
Department of hydraulic water resource engineering
Chapter 1
Basic electricity
Prepared By. Mr. Birhanu F.
 Chapter 1: Basic Electricity
Introduction basic electric circuit
Communicating or transferring energy from one point to another
requires an interconnection of electrical devices.
 Interconnection of electrical devices is referred to as called
electric circuit.
 Each component of the electric circuit is known as an element.
 An electric circuit is an interconnection of electrical elements.
 Simple electric circuit is shown in Fig. 1.1. It consists of three basic
elements: a battery, a lamp, and connecting wires.
 Such a simple circuit can exist by itself; it has several applications,
such as a flashlight, a search light, and so forth.
The most basic quantity in an electric circuit is;
1. Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles of which
matter consists.
Matter is made of fundamental building blocks known as atoms and that
each atom consists of electrons, protons and neutrons
 Its measured in coulombs (C).
The
  following points should be noted about electric charge:
1. The coulomb is a large unit for charges. In 1 C of charge, there are
electrons.
2. According to experimental observations, the only charges that occur
in nature are integral multiples of the electronic charge.

3. The law of conservation of charge states that charge can neither be

created nor destroyed, only transferred. Thus the algebraic sum of the
electric charges in a system does not change
2. Electric current
 Electric
  current is one of the most basic concepts that exists within
electrical and electronic science.
 Electric current is at the core of the science of electricity.
 Electric current is the time rate of change of charge, measured in
amperes (A).
1 ampere = 1 coulomb/second
Mathematically, the relationship between current i, charge q and time t is;
or

Based on the flow of charge, the electric current is classified into two
types.
a. alternating current (AC)
b. direct current (DC)
 Alternating Current (AC)

 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).
 An alternating current (ac) is a current that varies sinusoidal with time.
Ac current graph Dc current graph

Direct Current (DC)

 If the current does not change with time, but remains constant, we call it
a direct current (dc).
 A direct current (dc) is a current that remains constant with time.
 A constant current is represented by the symbol I.
 What is Electric Current Measured In (Current Units)?

 The SI unit for current is ampere or amp. This is represented by A.

 In the SI system, 1 ampere is the flow of electric charge between

two points at the rate of one coulomb per second. Thus,
  

Electric Current Formula

The basic formulas for current are:

 The relationship between Current, Voltage and Resistance (Ohm’s Law)

 The relationship between Current, Power and Voltage

 The relationship between Current, Power and Resistance

 These relationships are summarized in the image above.

3. Voltage

 voltage (or potential difference) is the energy required to move a

unit charge through an element.

 Potential difference between two point of electric circuit.

 Its measured in volts (V).

4. Resistance
 Materials in general have a characteristic behavior of resisting the
flow of electric charge.
 This physical property, or ability to resist current, is known as
resistance.
 It is represented by the symbol R.
 The resistance of any material with a uniform cross-sectional area A
depends on A and its length.
 We can represent resistance in mathematical form:

 Ohm’s law states that the voltage v across a resistor is directly

proportional to the current i flowing through the resistor.
 That is
 The resistance R of an element denotes its ability to resist the flow of
electric current;
 It is measured in ohms.
 Which is the mathematical form of Ohm’s law.

So that;
Two terminals of a circuit:
 A short circuit implies that the two terminals are
externally connected with resistance R=0 ,
 The short circuit current is the current that flows when the
terminals are forced to have zero voltage difference.
 An open circuit implies that the two terminals are points are
externally disconnected, which is equivalent to a resistance R=∞ .
 This means that zero current can flow between the two terminals,
regardless of any voltage difference. (Note that very high voltages can
cause arcs of current to flow even over large air or vacuum gaps!)
 The open circuit voltage is the voltage difference measured between
two terminals when no current is drawn or supplied.
 Nodes, Branches and Loops

 Elements of an electric circuit can be interconnected in several ways,

we need to understand some basic concepts of network topology.
 To differentiate between a circuit and a network, we may regard a
network as an interconnection of elements or devices, whereas a
circuit is a network providing one or more closed paths.
 In network topology, we study the properties relating to the placement
of elements in the network and the geometric configuration of the
network.
 Such elements include branches, nodes, and loops.
 A branch represents a single element such as a voltage source or a
resistor
 In other words, a branch represents any two-terminal element. The
circuit in below has five branches, namely, the 10-V voltage source,
the 2-A current source, and the three resistors.
 A node is the point of connection between two or more branches.
 A node is usually indicated by a dot in a circuit. If a short circuit (a
connecting wire) connects two nodes, the two nodes constitute a single
node. The circuit in below has three nodes; a, b and c. Notice that the
three points that form node b are connected by perfectly conducting
wires and therefore constitute a single point. The same is true of the
four points forming node c.
 A loop is any closed path in a circuit.
 A loop is a closed path formed by starting at a node, passing through a
set of nodes, and returning to the starting node without passing
through any node more than once.
 A loop is said to be independent if it contains at least one branch
which is not a part of any other independent loop.
 Independent loops or paths result in independent sets of equations.
 A network with b branches, n nodes, and l independent loops will
satisfy the fundamental theorem of network topology:
Kirchhoff’s Laws
 Ohm’s law by itself is not sufficient to analyze circuits. However, when it
is coupled with Kirchhoff’s two laws, we have a sufficient, powerful set of
tools for analyzing a large variety of electric circuits.
 These laws are formally known as Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) and
Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL).
 Kirchhoff’s first law is based on the law of conservation of charge, which
requires that the algebraic sum of charges within a system cannot change.
 Kirchhoff’s current law (KCL) states that the algebraic sum of currents
entering a node (or a closed boundary) is zero.
 Mathematically, KCL implies that
 Consider the node in Fig.below, Applying KCL gives.

 The sum of the currents entering a node is equal to the sum of the currents
leaving the node.
 Kirchhoff’s second law is based on the principle of conservation of energy:
 Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL) states that the algebraic sum of all voltages
around a closed path (or loop) is zero.
 Expressed mathematically, KVL states that

Sum of voltage drops = Sum of voltage rises

 Series Resistors and Voltage Division

 The need to combine resistors in series or in parallel occurs so

frequently that it warrants special attention. The process of combining
the resistors is facilitated by combining two of them at a time.
 Consider the single-loop circuit of Fig below. The two resistors in
series, since the same current i flows in both of them. Applying Ohm’s
law to each of the resistors, we obtain;
 The equivalent resistance of any number of resistors connected in
series is the sum of the individual resistances.
For N resistors in series then,
 To determine the voltage across each resistor in Fig above;

 Notice that the source voltage v is divided among the resistors in

direct proportion to their resistances.
 The larger the resistance, the larger the voltage drop. This is called the
principle of voltage division.
Parallel Resistors and Current Division
 Consider the circuit in Fig below, where two resistors are connected in
parallel and therefore have the same voltage across them. From Ohm’s
law,
 Applying KCL at node a gives the total current i as;

 where is the equivalent resistance of the resistors in parallel:

or

 The equivalent resistance of two parallel resistors is equal to the

product of their resistances divided by their sum.
 Delta to Wye Conversion
 Delta to Wye Conversion Suppose it is more convenient to work with
a wye network in a place where the circuit contains a delta
configuration.
 We super impose a wye network on the existing delta network and find
the equivalent resistances in the wye network.
 To obtain the equivalent resistances in the wye network, we compare
the two networks and make sure that the resistance between each pair
of nodes in the (or ) network is the same as the resistance between the
same pair of nodes in the Y (or T) network.
 Wye to Delta Conversion

 To obtain the conversion formulas for transforming a wye network to

an equivalent delta network.
 Method of circuit analysis
There
  are different method of circuit analysis
1. Nodal analysis
 Nodal analysis provides a general procedure for analyzing circuits
using node voltages as the circuit variables.
 Choosing node voltages instead of element voltages as circuit
variables is convenient and reduces the number of equations one must
solve simultaneously
Steps to Determine Node Voltages:
1. Select a node as the reference node. Assign voltages to the
remaining n – 1 nodes. The voltages are referenced with respect to the
reference node.
2. Apply KCL to each of the n – 1 non reference nodes. Use Ohm’s law
to express the branch currents in terms of node voltages.
3. Solve the resulting simultaneous equations to obtain the unknown
node voltages.
 Current flows from a higher potential to a lower potential in a resistor.
We can express this principle as;
2. Mesh Analysis
 Mesh
  analysis provides another general procedure for analyzing circuits,
using mesh currents as the circuit variables.
 mesh analysis applies KVL to find unknown currents.
 A mesh is a loop which does not contain any other loops within it.
Steps to Determine Mesh Currents:
1. Assign mesh currents, to the n meshes.
2. Apply KVL to each of the n meshes. Use Ohm’s law to express the
voltages in terms of the mesh currents.
3. Solve the resulting n simultaneous equations to get the mesh currents

Examples;