Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21

Module 1.0 – Circuit Theory Fundamentals

Learning After finishing this module, you are expected to:
Objectives
1. Understand that electric current is the rate of
movement of charge and is measured in amperes
2. Appreciate that the unit of charge is the coulomb
3. Calculate charge or quantity of electricity Q from Q= It
4. Understand that a potential difference between two
points in a circuit is required for current to flow
5. Understand that resistance opposes current flow and
is measured in ohms
6. State the units of electrical potential, e.m.f., power and
energy and perform simple calculations involving
these units

Topics 1.0. Introduction

1.1. Definitions and Units
1.2. Charge and Current
1.3. Voltage, Resistance, Energy and Power

Introductory Circuit Analysis, 10th Edition, Boylestad

Electrical Circuits Theory and Technology, 3rd Edition, John Bird 2007
Fundamentals of Electric Circuits, Third Edition, Charles A. Alexander & Matthew N.O. Sadiku
Electric Circuit Analysis, 2nd Edition, Johnson, Johnson & Hilburn

Warm Up
Give three things that you expect you will learn in this module.
1. _________________________________________________________
2. _________________________________________________________
3. __________________________________________________________
____________

Answer the following:

1. Electric current originates from which part of an atom?

2. The rate of flow of an electric charge is known as ____________ .
3. The resistance of the wire varies inversely as ___________ .
4. Resistance is a measure of a material’s opposition to __________ .
5. What are the basic components of a simple electric circuit?
6. The unit of electrical charge is __________ .
7. The SI unit of power is ____________ .
8. The amount of work done in joules, when one unit electric charge
moves from one point to another point in an electric circuit is called
____________ .

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 1

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

1.0. Introduction

Electric circuits are a part of the basic fabric of modern technology. A circuit
consists of electrical elements connected together, and we can use symbols to
draw circuits. Engineers use electrical circuits to solve problems that are important
in modern society such as in the generation, transmission and consumption of
electrical power and energy. The elements in an electric circuit include sources of
energy, resistors, capacitors, inductors and so on. Analysis of electric circuits
means determining the unknown quantities such as voltage, current and power
associated with one or more elements in the circuit. Basic electric circuit analysis
and laws are explained in this chapter and knowledge of these are essential in the
solution of engineering problems.

In electrical engineering, we are often interested in communicating or

transferring energy from one point to another. To do this requires an
interconnection of electrical devices. Such interconnection is referred to as an
electric circuit, and each component of the circuit is known as an element.

1.1. Definitions and Units

We commence our study by defining some basic concepts. These concepts

include charge, current, voltage, circuit elements, power and energy. Before
defining these concepts, we must first establish a system of units that we will use
throughout the course/subject.

An electric circuit, or electric network is a connection of electrical

elements inter-connected in some specified way.

A simple electric circuit is shown in Figure 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.

Figure 1. A simple electric circuit

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 2

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

SYSTEMS OF UNITS

In the past, the systems of units most commonly used were the English and
metric, as outlined in Table 1. Note that while the English system is based on a
single standard, the metric is subdivided into two interrelated standards: the MKS
and the CGS. Fundamental quantities of these systems are compared in Table 1
along with their abbreviations. The MKS and CGS systems draw their names from
the units of measurement used with each system; the MKS system uses Meters,
Kilograms, and Seconds, while the CGS system uses Centimeters, Grams, and
Seconds.

Table 1

One great advantage of the SI unit is that it uses prefixes based on the
power of 10 to relate larger and smaller units to the basic unit. Table 2 shows the
SI prefixes and their symbols. For example, the following are expressions of the
same distance in meters (m):

Table 2. The SI prefixes

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 3

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

1.2. Charge and Current

The concept of electric charge is the underlying principle for explaining all
electrical phenomena. Also, the most basic quantity in an electric circuit is the
electric charge. We all experience the effect of electric charge when we try to
remove our wool sweater and have it stick to our body or walk across a carpet and
receive a shock.

Charge is an electrical property of the atomic particles of which

matter consists, 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

1/(1.602 𝑥 10 ) = 6.24𝑥 10 electrons. Thus realistic or laboratory
values of charges are on the order of pC, nC, or 𝜇𝐶.
2. According to experimental observations, the only charges that occur in
nature are integral multiples of the electronic charge 𝑒 =
−1.602 𝑥 10 𝐶.
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.

Electric current is the time rate of change of charge, measured in

amperes (A).

Mathematically, the relationship between current i, charge q, and time t is

𝑖 = 𝑑𝑞/𝑑𝑡

One ampere of current is said to flow through a wire if at any cross-

section one coulomb of charge flows in one second.

Types of Electric Current

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.

Figure 3. Direct Current

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 4

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

By convention the symbol i is used to represent such a constant current.

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 sinusoidally with

time.

Figure 4. alternating current

Such current is used in your household, to run the air conditioner,

refrigerator, washing machine, and other electric appliances.

Example Problem 1:

How much charge is represented by 4,600 electrons?

Solution:

Each electron has −1.602 𝑥 10 𝐶. Hence 4,600 electrons will have,

−1.602 𝑥 10 𝐶
𝑥 4,600 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑠 = −7.739 𝑥 10 𝐶 … … … 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛

Example Problem 2:

The total charge entering a terminal is given by 𝑞 = 5𝑡 sin 4𝜋𝑡 𝑚𝐶.

Calculate the current at t = 0.5 s.

Solution:
𝑑𝑞 𝑑
𝑖= = (5𝑡 sin 4𝜋𝑡) 𝑚𝐶/𝑠 = (5 sin 4𝜋𝑡 + 20 𝜋𝑡 cos 4𝜋𝑡) 𝑚𝐴
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 5

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

𝐴𝑡 𝑡 = 0.5 𝑠,
𝑖 = 2.5 sin 2𝜋 + 10 𝜋 cos 2𝜋) = 0 + 10𝜋 = 31.42 𝑚𝐴 … … 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟

Do it Yourself

Practice Solving the following problems.

Problem 1:

How much current is flowing in a circuit where 1.27 𝑥 10 electrons move

past a given point in 100 ms?

Solution:

Problem 2:

The current in a certain conductor is 40 mA.

(i) Find the total charge in coulombs that passes through the
conductor in 1.5 s.
(ii) Find the total number of electrons that pass through the
conductor in that time.
Solution:

Problem 3:

If in example problem 2, 𝑞 = (10 − 10𝑒 )𝑚𝐶, find the current at t = 0.5 s.

Solution:

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 6

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

Practice Problem 4:

How long must a current of 0.1A flow so as to transfer a charge of 30C?

Solution:

1.3. Voltage, Resistance, Energy and Power

When a body is charged, work is done in charging it. This work done is
stored in the body in the form of potential energy. The charged body has the
capacity to do work by moving other charges either by attraction or repulsion. The
ability of the charged body to do work is called electric potential.

The capacity of a charged body to do work is called its electric potential.

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

unit charge through an element, measured in volts (V).

The greater the capacity of a charged body to do work, the greater is its
electric potential. Obviously, the work done to charge a body to 1 coulomb will be
a measure of its electric potential i.e.

𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑊
𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙, 𝑉 = =
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑄

The work done is measured in joules and charge in coulombs. The unit of
electric potential is the volt (V), where one volt is one joule per coulomb. One
volt is defined as the difference in potential between two points in a conductor
which, when carrying a current of one ampere, dissipates a power of one watt, i.e.

𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠 =
𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑠
𝑜𝑟
𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑠 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠/𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑗𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠
= = =
𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑒 − 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑠

A change in electric potential between two points in an electric circuit is

called a potential difference. The electromotive force (e.m.f.) provided by a
source of energy such as a battery or a generator is measured in volts.

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 7

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1
Potential Rise and Potential Drop

The resistor is also associated with a potential difference. Since it is a

consumer (converter) of energy, there is a drop in potential across the resistor.

Figure 7. Potential rise and drop

We can combine the idea of potential rise or drop with the popular term
“voltage”. It is customary to refer to the potential difference across the cell as a
voltage rise and to the potential difference across the resistor as a voltage drop.

Resistance

Is the opposition to current flow, the symbol is R and the unit is express in
terms of ohms.

The resistance of an electrical conductor depends on four factors, these

being: (a) the length of the conductor, (b) the cross-sectional area of the
conductor, (c) the type of material and (d) the temperature of the material.
𝑙
𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑅 = 𝜌 𝑜ℎ𝑚
𝐴

Table below shows some example of materials with their corresponding

specific resistance value.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9fgfQ078wc
Watch this video explaining the charge, current and voltage.

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 8

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

Power and Energy

Although current and voltage are the two basic variables in an electric
circuit, they are not sufficient by themselves. For practical purposes, we need to
know how much power an electric device can handle. We all know from
experience that a 100-watt bulb gives more light than a 60-watt bulb. We also
know that when we pay our bills to the electric utility companies, we are paying for
the electric energy consumed over a certain period of time. Thus, power and
energy calculations are important in circuit analysis.

From physics, the rate at which work is done in an electric circuit is called
its electric power i.e.
𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑖𝑡
𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 =
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒

Or

Power is the time rate of expending or absorbing energy, measured in

watts (W).
𝑑𝑤
𝑝=
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑤 𝑑𝑤 𝑑𝑞
𝑝= = 𝑥 = 𝑣𝑖
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑞 𝑑𝑡

In fact, the law of conservation of energy must be obeyed in any electric

circuit. For this reason, the algebraic sum of power in a circuit, at any instant of
time, must be zero:
𝑝=0

This again confirms the fact that the total power supplied to the circuit must
balance the total power absorbed.

From
𝑑𝑤 𝑑𝑤 𝑑𝑞
𝑝= = 𝑥 = 𝑣𝑖
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑞 𝑑𝑡
the energy absorbed or supplied by an element from time to time t is

𝑤= 𝑝 𝑑𝑡 = 𝑣𝑖 𝑑𝑡

Energy is the capacity to do work, measured in joules (J).

Although the unit of energy is the joule, when dealing with large amounts of
energy, the unit used is the kilowatt hour (kWh).

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 9

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1
Example Problem 3:

How much energy does a 100-W electric bulb consume in two hours?

Solution:
𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑐.
𝑤 = 𝑝𝑡 = 100(𝑊) 𝑥 2(ℎ) 𝑥 60 𝑥 60 ( )
ℎ𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛.
= 720,000 𝐽𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑠 (𝐽) 𝑜𝑟 720 𝑘𝐽
This is the same as,
𝑤 = 𝑝𝑡 = 100(𝑊)𝑥 2 (ℎ) = 200 𝑊ℎ

Example Problem 4:

To move charge q from point a to point b requires –30J. Find the voltage
drop vab if: (a) q = 2 C, (b) q = –6 C.

Solution:
From,
𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑊
𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙, 𝑉 = =
𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑄
𝑊
𝑣 =
𝑄
For (a):
−30𝑊
𝑣 = = −15 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠
2𝐶
For (b):
−30𝑊
𝑣 = = 5 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠
−6𝐶

Example Problem 5:

An electric heater consumes 1.8MJ when connected to a 250V supply for

30 minutes. Find the power rating of the heater and the current taken from the
supply.

Solution:
𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 1.8𝑥10 𝐽 𝐽
𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = = = 1000 𝑠 = 1000 𝑊
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 30𝑥60𝑠
𝑃 1000
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑃 = 𝑉𝐼, 𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠 𝐼 = = = 4𝐴
𝑉 250

Hence the current taken from the supply is 4A.

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 10

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

Example Problem 6:

Calculate the cross-sectional area, in 𝑚𝑚 , of a piece of copper wire, 40m

in length and having a resistance of 0.25 Ω. Take the resistivity of copper as
0.02𝑥10 Ω𝑚.

Solution:
𝑙
𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑅 = 𝜌 𝑜ℎ𝑚
𝐴
𝜌𝑙
𝐴=
𝑅
(0.02𝑥10 Ω𝑚)(40 𝑚)
=
0.25 Ω
= 3.2 𝑥 10 𝑚
𝐴 = 3.2 𝑚𝑚 … … 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟

Example Problem 7:

The resistance of 1.5 km of wire of cross-sectional area 0.17 𝑚𝑚 is 150

Ω. Determine the resistivity of the wire.

Solution:
𝑙
𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑅 = 𝜌 𝑜ℎ𝑚
𝐴
𝑅𝐴
𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝜌 = 𝑜ℎ𝑚 − 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑙
(150 Ω)(0.17𝑥10 𝑚 )
=
1500 𝑚
= 0.017 𝑥 10 Ω𝑚
𝜌 = 0.017 µΩ𝑚 … … 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQsU5TMvsLU
Watch this video explaining the force, energy and power.

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 11

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering
 Unit Circuit Theory Fundamentals Week 1: August 17-21
1

Do it Yourself

Practice Solving the following problems.

Problem 5:

A stove element draws 15 A when connected to a 240-V line. How long

does it take to consume 60 kJ?

Solution:

Problem 6:

A source e.m.f. of 5V supplies a current of 3A for 10 minutes. How much

energy is provided in this time?

Solution:

Problem 7:

How much energy (in kilowatthours) is required to light a 60 W bulb

continuously for 1 year (365 days)?

Solution:

Problem 8:

Determine the resistance of 1200 m of copper cable having a diameter of

12 mm if the resistivity of copper is 1.7 𝑥 10 Ω𝑚.

Solution:

Republic of the Philippines Engr. Wenceslao D. Gavina 12

Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges Associate Professor IV
Nabua, Camarines Sur College of Engineering