ENT 203- LINEAR CIRCUITS

I
LECTURE 1 – CIRCUIT VARIABLES
Electric Current
Much of the basic principles from physics carry over into our study of the course.
The study of the Electric Current, implies the study of charges in motion.
Initially, any isolated conducting loop will not exhibit any motion of charge
due to the absence of an electric field or bias.
With the introduction of a battery however, a bias is achieved, and for a
very brief period of time, the charge from the loop ramps from 0 to its
maximum rated value. We can define therefore, that the current, I, is
the amount of time, dt, required to move a charge, dq.

The current is measured in C/s or Amperes (A). Sometimes referred to as Amps.

Electric Current
Example
No charge exists at the upper terminal of the element in the Figure for t < 0.
At t = 0, a 5 A current begins to flow into the upper terminal.
a) Derive the expression for the charge accumulating at the upper
terminal of the element for t > 0.
b) If the current is stopped after 10 seconds, how much charge has accumulated at the upper terminal?
c) The expression for the charge entering the upper terminal is

What is the maximum value of the current if α = 0.03679 s-1.

DC Circuit
Voltage and by extension, Power, can be delivered to a circuit in one
of two universally recognized modes:
◦ DC Voltage: Constant bias with respect to time.
◦ AC Voltage: Cyclical voltage with respect to time.

The voltage provided to a DC circuit can sometimes be represented as

and referred to as the emf device, or the emf, short for the electromotive
force.
Power Law, Energy
The rate of energy transfer, P, in an electrical component with a potential, V, across it and a
current, i, passing through it is assessed as:

The same rule applies to the calculation of power delivered by a source, or power dissipated by
a component.

Sources typically, are assumed to be ideal with no attenuations. Some more

realistic calculations address an internal resistance within the source, modeled
in series with the rest of the circuit.
Power Law, Energy
Example 2
Assume that the voltage at the terminals of the element in the
Figure, whose current profile you calculated previously is:
◦ v = 0, t < 0;
◦ v = 10e-5000t kV, t > 0

A) Calculate the power supplied to the element at 1 ms.

B) Calculate the total energy delivered to the circuit.