Basic Laws of Electric Cicuits

Ohms 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) = R i(t) (2.1)
R

i(t) _ v (t)
+
v (t) = _ R i(t) (2.2)
R

1
 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.
2
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: About Resistors:
The unit of resistance is ohms( ).
A mathematical expression for resistance is
l
R (2.3)
A

l : The length of the conductor (meters )

A : The cross  sectional area (meters 2 )

 : The resistivity    m 

3
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: About Resistors:
We remember that resistance has units of ohms. The reciprocal of
resistance is conductance. At one time, conductance commonly had units
of mhos (resistance spelled backwards).

In recent years the units of conductance has been established as seimans (S).

Thus, we express the relationship between conductance and resistance as

1
G (S) (2.4)
R
We will see later than when resistors are in parallel, it is convenient
to use Equation (2.4) to calculate the equivalent resistance.

4
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: Ohm’s Law: Example 2.1.
Consider the following circuit.

+
115V RM S V R
(a c ) (1 0 0 W a tt lig ht bulb)
_

Determine the resistance of the 100 Watt bulb.

V2
P  VI   I 2R (2.5)
R
V 2 1152
R   132.25 ohms
P 100
A suggested assignment is to measure the resistance of a 100 watt light
5 bulb with an ohmmeter. Debate the two answers.
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: Property of Resistance:
Resistivities of some basic materials

Material Resistivity (ohm meters) Common Use

silver 1.6x10-8 conductor

copper 1.7x10-8 conductor
aluminum 2.8x10-8 conductor
gold 2.5x10-8 conductor
carbon 4.1x10-5 semiconductor
germanium 47x10-2 semiconductor
silicon 6.4x102 semiconductor
paper 1x1010 insulator
mica 5x1011 insulator
glass 1x1012 insulator
teflon 3x1012 insulator

6
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: Property of Resistance
Why are some materials better conductors than others? Consider copper.

v a le n c e
e le c tro n _
_ _
_ _
_
_ _
_
_
_
_ _
v a le n c e
s h e ll
+ + ++ ++ + _
_ + ++ + +
_ + + ++ _
++ +
_
_
_ _
_ _ _
_ _
_
_ _

7 Copper Atom
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: Current
Under the influence of an electromotive force, the one valence
electron of each copper atom is pulled from the outer orbit and
moves through the copper space toward a positive potential.

e le c tron flow c op p e r
w ire

re sistor
Electron Flow
EM F
electrons move
toward the positive
terminal of the EMF
8 e le c tron flow
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: Current
Conventional current flow assumes positive charges move toward the
negative side of the circuit EMF.
p ositive c harg e
flow c op p e r
w ire

re sistor

Conventional
EM F
Flow
negative
side
9
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Ohm’s Law: Current
We assume conventional current flow (positive charge movement)
although we know this is not the case.

Assuming conventional current flow does not change the answer(s)

to an electric circuit solution.

I re d le a d v o lt m e te r
E R V (u p s c a le re a d in g )

b la c k le a d
E = V = + IR
10
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law
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 , a n d I d c a n e a c h b e e ith e r a p o s itiv e
o r n e g a tiv e n u m b e r.
11
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law

• The algebraic sum of the currents entering a node equal to zero.

Ia Ic

Ib I a +I b Ic + Id = 0
Id

I a , I b , I c , an d I d can each b e eith er a p os itiv e

or n eg ativ e n u m b er.

12
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law

• The algebraic sum of the currents leaving a node equal to zero.

Ia Ic

Ib Ia - Ib + Ic + Id = 0
Id

I a , I b , I c , an d I d can each b e eith er a p os itiv e

or n eg ativ e n u m b er.

13
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law: Example 2.2.
Find the current I x.

4A
2A

-1 A 6A

IX
9A
Highlight the box
then use bring to
Ans: IX = 22 A front to see answer.
14
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law: Example 2.3
Find the currents IW, I X, IY, IZ.

2A
9A IW = -2 A
 
IX IY IX = -5 A
12 A  6A
IZ IY = -3 A

IW IZ = -8 A

15
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law
Kirchhoff’s current law can be generalized to include a surface.
We assume the elements within the surface are interconnected.

A closed 3D surface

We can now apply Kirchhoff’s current law in the 3 forms we discussed

with a node. The appearance might be as follows:

Currents entering and

leaving a closed surface
that contains interconnected
16 circuit elements
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law
As a consequence of the Law of the conservation of charge, we have:

jN k M
C irc uit
 i j   ik
j 1 k 1

r Q
C irc uit

r 1
ir 0

m Q
C irc uit

m 1
im 0
17
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law: Example 2.4
Find the currents IA, IB, and IC in the circuit below.

IB IC
s u rfa ce
1
4A 2A IA

-2 A 9A
s u rfa ce
2

18
 Basic Laws of Circuits
Kirchhoff’s Current Law: Solution for Example 2.4

At surface 1: IB = 2A: At node 1, Ic = 0A: At node 2, IA = 9A

n o de 1 n o de 2
IB IC
 
s u rfa ce
1
4A 2A IA

-2 A 9A
s u rfa ce
2

19
Basic Electric Circuit Concepts

circuits

End of Lesson 2
Ohm’s Law
Kirchhoff’s Current Law