University of Oxford, Department of Engineering Science

1P2A example solutions: Components and Circuits 1

v2.0, August 2020, Prof Dan Rogers

1 Charge
First, work out how many atoms, and therefore how many free electrons,
there are in 1 cm3 of copper:


 =  = 8.49 × 10 /cm


Where
•  = 6.02 × 10 /mole is the Avogadro constant
•  = 8.96 g/cm is the density of copper
•  = 63.5 g/mole is the atomic weight of copper
Second, find the number of electrons passing a point in the wire per
second:
!
 = = −1.25 × 10 /s /cm
" #
Where
• ! = 20 A is the current
• " = 10' cm is the area of the wire
• # = −1.60 × 10'() is the charge on the electron
Third, combine these results. For copper we get:

*= = −0.147 cm/s


Which is perhaps surprisingly slow! We interpret the negative velocity as
electrons moving in the opposite direction to the direction we defined as
positive current flow.
It should be reinforced that the drift velocity calculated here does not
indicate anything about the speed of propagation of signals in a wire.

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Incidentally, 20A/mm2 is (very roughly) the maximum peak current

density that can be tolerated in the copper windings of liquid-cooled
motors used in modern electric vehicles (any higher and we risk melting
the windings).

2 Resistance and power

a) We are given the dimensions of the resistive layer as , = 1.52 mm,
= 0.762 mm and ℎ = 0.254 mm. We want . = 10 kΩ. Rearrange
the resistivity equation from the notes to give
" ℎ
1=. =. = 1.27 Ωm
, ,
This is not an easy resistivity to obtain in that pure metals have
much lower resistivity (are good conductors with 1 < 10'3 Ωm) and
other common solid elements/compounds have much higher
resistivity (are insulators with 1 > 10(5 Ωm). In practice, carbon
films or very thin carefully tailored metal-alloy films are often used
to make high-resistance-value resistors.

b) The resistance needed to dissipate 60 W from a 230V source is

6
.= = 882 Ω
7
Rearrange the resistivity equation to give
".
,= = 2.62 m
1
Where
89:
• "= = 1.96 × 10') m is the cross-sectional area of the
;

filament (< = 0.05 mm)

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• 1 = 12 × 5.5 × 10'= Ωm is the resistivity of tungsten at the

working temperature (value is from HLT, although Wikipedia
gives it as 5.28 × 10'= Ωm).
This is a lot of length to fit in a standard bulb that is only about 60
mm across – it is achieved by coiling tungsten wire, then coiling
the coiled wire (a “coiled coil”). There are some nice microscope
pictures of tungsten filaments available on the web.
c) The electrical model is

The change in vehicle kinetic energy is

@  
Δ? = A*BCDEF − *GHEIH J = 431 kJ
2
Where
• @ = 1600 kg is the mass of the vehicle.
• *BCDEF = 26.8 m/s and *GHEIH = 13.4 m/s are the vehicle
speeds
We start by assuming .LEHH = 0 (so 6 = 6LEHH ), and that power is
constant and converted to accelerate the frictionless vehicle in a
perfectly efficient manner
Δ?
7MN = = 86.2 kW
O
So the battery current is

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7MN
!= = 215 A
6LEHH
For the second part, a 5% loss equates to 4.31 kW dissipated in
the battery, which is caused when 215 A flows through a series
resistance of
7LEHH
.LEHH = = 93.2 mΩ
!
Of course, if 5% of the power is being lost in the battery, this
means the vehicle will not accelerate as fast as we initially
assumed. To meet the original specification we would need to
draw more current to compensate.

The battery I-V curve looks like

When the current is positive, the battery is sourcing power (7 =

!6 > 0), it is discharging.
When the current is negative, the battery is sinking power (7 =
!6 < 0), it is charging.

For the final part, we want to calculate the maximum power that
the battery can deliver to the vehicle. The power delivered by the
battery is the battery terminal voltage multiplied by the terminal

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current (or, to put it another way, the power the voltage source
delivers, minus the power lost in the battery internal resistor):
7MN = !6 = !QVLEHH − !.LEHH S = !6LEHH − !  .LEHH
This is a quadratic in ! and has a maximum at
6LEHH
!= = 2.15 kA
2.LEHH
This current will deliver the maximum power to the vehicle of

6LEHH
7TU = = 429 kW
4.LEHH
Which would make our vehicle accelerate rather fast!
Unfortunately this means that the battery will dissipate
7LEHH = !  .LEHH = 429 kW
This amount of internal power dissipation is likely to cause the
battery to catch fire fairly promptly.

Note that this current causes a voltage drop across the battery
internal resistance of
!.LEHH = 200 V
and the voltage supplied to the vehicle is therefore 6 = 200 V, i.e.
6LEHH /2. This means that the effective load resistance is
6
.MN = = 93.2 mΩ
!
This is a very important general result: Maximum power is
extracted from a voltage source with series resistance . by
connecting it to a resistance .. This is sometimes referred to as
the maximum power transfer theorem or impedance matching (see
the lecture notes).

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3 Sources and switches

Switch open Switch closed
6( !( 6 ! 6( !( 6 !
a) 0 0 1 kV 100 mA

b) 100 V 0 100 uA 0 100 uA 0

c) 100 mV 0 10A ??? ∞ ???

d) ∞ ??? ??? ??? 10 V 10 mA 10 V 10 mA

The infinities represent that if we short-circuit a voltage source or open-

circuit a current source we get very large current or voltage respectively.
The ‘???’ represent that there is no consistent solution. For c) we must
break one (or both) of the rules that a wire has zero voltage across it, or
that a voltage source produces an immutable voltage. For d) we must
break one (or both) of the rules that an open circuit conducts no current,
or that a current source produces an immutable current.
Just because you can draw a circuit, it does not mean it has to make
physical sense! What would happen if you tried to construct circuit c) in
‘real life’, e.g. using an AA battery and a standard switch?

4 Node and mesh analysis

a) Nodal equation for the top node (i.e. the top horizontal wire):
X( Y X = X
1.5 − 6 1.0 − 6 6
Y =
0.5 0.5 10
∴ 15 − 106 Y 10 − 106 = 0.56
25
∴ 20.56 = 25 ⇒ 6= = 1.22 V
20.5
b) Two current loops:

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X\ = X( and X] = X

Loop A: 1.5 − 1.0 = 0.5X( Y 0.5QX( − X S

Loop B: 1.0 = 10X Y 0.5QX − X( S

Rearrange A: 0.5 = X( − 0.5X ⟹ X( = 0.5 Y 0.5X

Rearrange B: 1.0 = 10.5X − 0.5X(

Substitute A into B:
1.0 = 10.5X − 0.5Q0.5 Y 0.5X S
1.25
∴ 1.25 = 10.25X ⟹ X = = 1.22 A
10.25
X( = 0.5 Y 0.5 × 0.122 = 0.561 A
X = X − X( = −0.439 A
c) Check consistency:
1.5 − 0.5 × 0.561 = 1.22 V
1.0 Y 0.5 × 0.439 = 1.22 V
10 × 0.121 = 1.22 V
Looks good!
d) To use superposition of sources, we replace each voltage source
with a short circuit in turn, solve for the quantity we want, then sum
the results. First, replace the 1.5 V source with a short-circuit and

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observe that we have a simple potential divider with the lower

resistor compose of the 10 Ω and 0.5 Ω resistors in parallel:
10 ∥ 0.5
6( = 1.0 V × = 0.488 V
Q10 ∥ 0.5S Y 0.5
Second, replace the 1.0 V source with a short-circuit:
10 ∥ 0.5
6( = 1.5 V × = 0.732 V
Q10 ∥ 0.5S Y 0.5
Now, 6 = 6( Y 6 = 1.22 V as required.

5 Circuit analysis 1
a) By symmetry, 6\ = 6] and so the current through the centre 22 kΩ
resistor is zero.
Hence 6\ = 6] = 5 V and
10 V
! = 2` a = 1 mA
20 kΩ
b) Take the node connected to the negative of the voltage source as
our 0V reference, then perform nodal analysis.
Node 6\ :
10 − 6\ 6\ 6\ − 6]
= Y
10 k 10 k 10 k
Node 6] :
10 − 6] 6] 6] − 6\
= Y
10 k 22 k 10 k
Rearranging node 6\ equation to get 6\ :
10 + 6]
10 − 6\ = 26\ − 6] ⟹ 6\ =
3
Simplify 6] equation:
220 − 226] = 106] + 226] − 226\ ⟹ 220 + 226\ = 546]
Substitute to eliminate 6\ :

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220 226]
546] = 220 + +
3 3
1626] = 880 + 226]
880 44
6] = = = 6.29 V
140 7
Find 6] :
44
10 +
6\ = 7 = 114 = 38 = 5.43 V
3 21 7
So
6\] = 6\ − 6] = −857 mV
! is composed of the current flowing through the bottom two
resistors:
5.43 6.29
! = !( + ! = + = 829 μA
10 k 22 k

6 Circuit analysis 2
a) Work out the equivalent resistance of all the resistors:
6 3V 3
!= = = = 0.5 A
.cd 3 + e6 ∥ (2 + 4)f 3 + 1
1 1
+
6 6
Observe that the series connection of the 2 Ω and 4 Ω resistors
appear in parallel with (and have the same series value as) the 6 Ω
resistor. Hence, the current must split equally between them:
!
6= ×4=1V
2
b) The 2 Ω resistor is shorted out so has 6 = 0 V across it. The
voltage source directly defines the voltage across the 1 Ω resistor
so ! = 1/1 = 1 A.
c) The equivalent resistance is

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1 .( (. + . )
.g = .( ∥ (. + . ) = =
1 1 .( + . + .
+
.( . + .
!h .( (. + . )
∴ 6 = !h .g =
.( + . + .
6 !h .(
∴!= =
. + . .( + . + .
d) The short across the right hand side 1 Ω resistor takes all the
current, so ! = 1 A and = 1 V .

7 Thévenin and Norton

Four things to find for each circuit: Thévenin voltage 6i and Thévenin
resistance .i , and Norton current !j and Norton resistance .j
a) .( does not effect the source voltage or the the terminal behaviour
so .i = . and 6i = 6. For Norton:
6i 6
!j = = , .j = .i
.i .
b) The open-circuit voltage is Vh = 6i = !.( . Resistance of the ‘dead’
network (! = 0) is .( + . = .i = .j . For Norton, the short-circuit
current is
!.(
!l = !j =
.( + .

8 Circuit analysis 3
Take the negative side of the voltage source as the 0V reference.
a) Apply KCL for the node at the head of the 6 arrow:
10 − 6 6 6 − 6h
− +2− =0
4 4 2
And KCL for the node at the head of the 6h arrow:
6 − 6h 6h
= + !h
2 4
Rearranging the nodal equations to eliminate 6:

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6h 9
6= +
2 2
26 − 4!h
6h =
3
∴ 6h = 4.5 − 2!h
b)

c) Transform 10 V / 4 Ω Thévenin on left hand side to a 2.5 A / 4 Ω

Norton:

Combine parallel components and transform the resulting 4.5 A /

2 Ω Norton into a 9 V / 2 Ω Thévenin:

Convert the 9 V / 4 Ω Thévenin to a 2.25 A / 4 Ω Norton:

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This gives us a 2.25 A / 2 Ω Norton which, of course, demonstrates

the same behaviour as the plot from part b.
d) For !h = 0 we get 6h = 4.5 V and 6 = 6.75 V, therefore for the node
at the head of the 6 arrow we get
3.25 6.75 2.25
− +2− =0
4 4 2
And at the node of terminal " we get
6.75 4.5 4.5
− =
2 2 4
Both of which look good, so it seems KCL is obeyed (phew!)
e) The output resistance is .i = 2 Ω (i.e. the negative of the slope of
the plot from part b.)
f) 6h = 4.5 − 2!h with 6h = 40!h gives
26h
6h = 4.5 − ⟹ 1.056h = 4.5 ⟹ 6h = 4.29
40

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