Lecture 15 AC Circuits

AC Theory
Resistance, Reactance
&
Impedance
(resistor and capacitor)
Patrick Mangire
 Part 1
Opposition to current flow
(resistance and capacitive reactance)
 Resistance
AC Resistor Circuits
• Consider the circuit below consisting of an AC voltage source and a
resistor connected in series:

• Let us plot and analyze the graph of current, voltage and power
through the resistor as a function of time.
 Resistance
AC Resistor Circuits
• The graph of current and voltage would look like this:

• The resistor simply and directly resists the flow of electrons at all
periods of time.
• The waveform for the voltage drop across the resistor is exactly in
phase with the waveform for the current through it.
 Resistance
AC Resistor Circuits
• When the instantaneous value for current
is zero, the instantaneous voltage across
the resistor is also zero.
• At the moment in time where the current
through the resistor is at its positive peak,
the voltage across the resistor is also at its
positive peak, and so on.
• At any given point in time along the
waves, Ohm's Law holds true for the
instantaneous values of voltage and
current.
 Resistance
AC Resistor Circuits
• We can also calculate the power dissipated by this resistor, and
plot those values on the same graph:
 Resistance
AC Resistor Circuits
• Note that the power is never a negative value.
• When the current is positive (above the line), the voltage is also
positive, resulting in a power (p = ie) of a positive value.
• Conversely, when the current is negative (below the line), the
voltage is also negative, which results in a positive value for power
(a negative number multiplied by a negative number equals a
positive number).
• This consistent "polarity" of power tells us that the resistor is
always dissipating power, taking it from the source and releasing it
in the form of heat energy.
• Whether the current is positive or negative, a resistor still
dissipates energy.
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits
• Capacitors do not behave the same as resistors.
• Resistors allow a flow of electrons through them directly
proportional to the voltage drop.
• Capacitors oppose changes in voltage by drawing or supplying
current as they charge or discharge to the new voltage level.
• The flow of electrons "through" a capacitor is directly
proportional to the rate of change of voltage across the
capacitor.
• This opposition to voltage change is another form of reactance,
but one that is precisely opposite to the kind exhibited by
inductors.
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits: current(𝑖𝑖) and rate of change of Voltage 𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑒⁄𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
• Expressed mathematically, the relationship between the current
"through" the capacitor and rate of voltage change across the
capacitor is as such:
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑣𝑣
𝑖𝑖 = 𝐶𝐶 or 𝑖𝑖 = 𝐶𝐶
𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑
• Where:
i. 𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑒⁄𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 is the rate of change of instantaneous voltage(𝑒𝑒)
in volts per second (𝑉𝑉/𝑠𝑠)
ii. 𝐶𝐶 is the capacitance measured in Farads(𝐹𝐹)
iii. 𝑖𝑖 is the current measured in amps(𝐴𝐴)
 Capacitive Reactance
AC capacitor Circuits
• Let’s analyze a simple capacitor circuit comprising of an AC
voltage source and a capacitor connected in series:

• Let us plot and analyze the graph of current, voltage and power
on the capacitor as a function of time.
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits
• The graph of current and voltage would look like this:

• Remember, the current through a capacitor is a reaction against

the change in voltage across it.
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits
• The instantaneous current is zero
whenever the instantaneous voltage
is at a peak (zero change, or level
slope, on the voltage sine wave)
• The instantaneous current is at a
peak wherever the instantaneous
voltage is at maximum change (the
points of steepest slope on the
voltage wave, where it crosses the
zero line).
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits

• This results in a voltage wave that

is −90° out of phase with the
current wave.
• Looking at the graph, the current
wave seems to have a "head start"
on the voltage wave; the current
"leads" the voltage, and the voltage
"lags" behind the current.
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits
• As you might have guessed, the same unusual power wave that
we saw with the simple inductor circuit is present in the simple
capacitor circuit, too:
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits
• As with the simple inductor circuit, the 90 degree phase shift
between voltage and current results in a power wave that
alternates equally between positive and negative.
• This means that a capacitor does not dissipate power as it reacts
against changes in voltage; it merely absorbs and releases power,
alternately.
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits
• A capacitor's opposition to change in voltage translates to an
opposition to alternating voltage in general, which is by definition
always changing in instantaneous magnitude and direction.
• For any given magnitude of AC voltage at a given frequency, a
capacitor of given size will "conduct" a certain magnitude of AC
current.
• Just as the current through a resistor is a function of the voltage
across the resistor and the resistance offered by the resistor, the
AC current through a capacitor is a function of the AC voltage
across it, and the reactance offered by the capacitor.
• As with inductors, the reactance of a capacitor is expressed in
ohms and symbolized by the letter 𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 .
 Capacitive Reactance
AC capacitor Circuits – Frequency(𝑓𝑓) and Reactance(𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 )
• Since capacitors "conduct" current in proportion to the rate of
voltage change, they will pass more current for faster-changing
voltages (as they charge and discharge to the same voltage peaks
in less time), and less current for slower-changing voltages.
• What this means is that reactance in ohms for any capacitor is
inversely proportional to the frequency of the alternating
voltage: 1 1
𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 = 𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 = since 𝜔𝜔 = 2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋
• Where: 2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋 𝜔𝜔𝐶𝐶
i. 𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 is the reactance of the capacitor measured in ohms(Ω)
ii. 𝑓𝑓 is the frequency of the AC voltage measured in hertz(𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻)
iii. 𝜔𝜔 is the angular velocity of the AC voltage in radians/second
iv. 𝐶𝐶 is the capacitance measured in Farads(𝐹𝐹)
 Capacitive Reactance
AC capacitor Circuits – Frequency(𝑓𝑓) and Reactance(𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 )
• If we expose a 100 𝜇𝜇𝜇𝜇 capacitor to frequencies of 60, 120 and
2500 𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻, it will manifest the following reactances:
1
𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 =
2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋
Frequency(𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻) Reactance(Ω)
60 26.5258
120 13.2629
2500 0.6366
 Capacitive Reactance
AC Capacitor Circuits

• Please note that the relationship of capacitive reactance to

frequency is exactly opposite from that of inductive reactance.
• Capacitive reactance(𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 ) (in ohms) decreases with increasing AC
frequency.
• Conversely, inductive reactance(𝑋𝑋𝐿𝐿 ) (in ohms) increases with
increasing AC frequency.
• Inductors oppose faster changing currents by producing greater
voltage drops.
• Capacitors oppose faster changing voltage drops by allowing
greater currents.
 Capacitive Reactance
AC capacitor Circuits
• Alternating current in a simple capacitive circuit is equal to the
voltage (in volts) divided by the capacitive reactance (in ohms),
just as either alternating or direct current in a simple resistive
circuit is equal to the voltage (in volts) divided by the resistance
(in ohms).
• The following circuit illustrates this mathematical relationship by
example:
𝐸𝐸
𝐼𝐼 =
𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶
1 1
𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 = = 𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 = = 26.5258 Ω
2𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋 2𝜋𝜋 60 100
10 𝑉𝑉
𝐼𝐼 = = 0.3770 𝐴𝐴
26.5258 Ω
 Capacitive Reactance
AC capacitor Circuits
• However, we need to keep in mind that voltage and current are
not in phase here. As was shown earlier, the current has a phase
shift of +90° with respect to the voltage.
• If we represent these phase angles of voltage and current
mathematically, we can calculate the phase angle of the
capacitor’s reactive opposition(𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 ) to current:

𝐸𝐸 10 𝑉𝑉 ∠ 0°
𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶 = = = 26.5258Ω ∠ − 90° 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 0 − 𝑗𝑗26.5258 Ω
𝐼𝐼 0.3770 𝐴𝐴 ∠ 90°
 Capacitive Reactance
AC capacitor Circuits
• Mathematically, we say that the phase angle of a For a capacitor
capacitor's opposition to current is −90°, meaning
that a capacitor's opposition to current is a
negative imaginary quantity.
• This phase angle of reactive opposition to current
becomes critically important in circuit analysis,
especially for complex AC circuits where reactance
and resistance interact.
• It will prove beneficial to represent any
component’s opposition to current in terms of
complex numbers, and not just scalar quantities of
resistance and reactance.
 Part 2
Series and Parallel Resistor-Capacitor
Circuits
Series Resistor-Capacitor
Circuits
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
Introduction

• In the last section, we learned what would happen in

simple resistor-only and capacitor-only AC circuits.
• Now we will combine the two components together in
series form and investigate the effects.
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• Take this circuit as an example to work with:
 Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• The resistor will offer 5Ω of resistance
to AC current regardless of frequency
• The capacitor will offer 26.5258 Ω of
reactance to AC current at 60 𝐻𝐻𝐻𝐻.
• The resistors resistance is a real number (5Ω ∠ 0° 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 5 + 𝑗𝑗𝑗 Ω)
• The capacitors reactance is an imaginary number
(26.5258 Ω ∠ − 90° 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 0 − 𝑗𝑗26.5258 Ω)
• The combined effect of the two components will be an opposition
to current equal to the complex sum of the two numbers.
• The term for this complex opposition to current is impedance(𝑍𝑍)
and it is also expressed in the unit of ohms, just like resistance
and reactance
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• In our example, the total circuit impedance is:

𝑍𝑍𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 𝑅𝑅 + 𝑋𝑋𝐶𝐶
𝑍𝑍𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 5 Ω ∠ 0° + 26.5258 Ω ∠ − 90°
𝑍𝑍𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 5 + 𝑗𝑗𝑗 Ω + 0 − 𝑗𝑗26.5258 Ω
𝑍𝑍𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 = 5 − 𝑗𝑗26.5258 Ω 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 26.993 Ω ∠ − 79.325°
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• Impedance(𝑍𝑍) is related to voltage(𝑉𝑉 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝐸𝐸) and current(𝐼𝐼)
just as you might expect, in a manner similar to resistance
in Ohm's Law:
𝑉𝑉 𝑉𝑉
𝑉𝑉 = 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼 𝐼𝐼 = 𝑍𝑍 = (𝑂𝑂𝑂𝑚𝑚′ 𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴)
𝑍𝑍 𝐼𝐼
• Where all these quantities are expressed in complex form
rather than scalar.
• This is a far more comprehensive form of Ohm's Law than
what was taught in DC electronics (𝑉𝑉 = 𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼).
• Any resistance and any reactance, separately or in
combination (series/parallel), can be and should be
represented as a single impedance in an AC circuit.
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• To calculate current in our example
circuit, we first need to give a phase
angle reference for the voltage source,
which is generally assumed to be zero.
• The phase angles of resistive and
inductive impedance are always 0° and
− 90°, respectively, regardless of the
given phase angles for voltage or current.
𝑉𝑉 10 𝑉𝑉 ∠ 0°
𝐼𝐼 = = = 370.5 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚 ∠ 79.325°
𝑍𝑍 26.993 Ω ∠ − 79.325°
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• As with the purely capacitive circuit, the current wave is
leading the voltage wave (of the source), although this time
the difference is 79.325° instead of a full 90° as was the case
in the purely capacitive circuit.

When resistors and capacitors are mixed together in circuits, the total impedance will
have a phase angle somewhere between 0° and −90°.
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• We can summarize our results in a table like this one(make
sure you’re able to get all these values in the table);

• Notice that all the quantities are expressed in complex form

(both rectangular and polar forms).
Series Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• For the resistor and the capacitor, the phase relationships
between voltage and current haven’t changed.
• Voltage across the resistor is in phase (0° shift) with the
current through it
• Voltage across the capacitor has a phase angle of −10.675°,
exactly 90° less than the phase angle of the circuit current.
• This tells us that the capacitor's voltage and current are still
90° out of phase with each other.
Parallel Resistor-Capacitor
Circuits
Parallel Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• Let's take the same components for our series example
circuit and connect them in parallel:
Parallel Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• Because the power source has the same frequency as the series
example circuit, and the resistor and capacitor both have the
same values of resistance and capacitance, respectively, they
must also have the same values of impedance.
• So, we can begin our analysis table with the same “given”
values:
Parallel Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• This time, we’ll apply the rules of parallel circuits instead of the
rules for series circuits (Just as for DC).
• We know that voltage is shared uniformly by all components in a
parallel circuit, so we can transfer the figure of total voltage (10
volts at an angle of 0°) to all components columns:
Parallel Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• Now we can apply Ohm's Law (𝐼𝐼 = 𝐸𝐸/𝑍𝑍) vertically to two columns
of the table, calculating current through the resistor and current
through the capacitor:
Parallel Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• Just as with DC circuits, branch currents in a parallel AC circuit
add to form the total current (Kirchhoff's Current Law still holds
true for AC as it did for DC):
Parallel Resistor-Capacitor Circuits
• Finally, total impedance can be calculated by using Ohm's Law
(𝑍𝑍 = 𝐸𝐸/𝐼𝐼) vertically in the "Total" column.
• Incidentally, parallel impedance can also be calculated by using a
reciprocal formula identical to that used in calculating parallel
resistances.
 next: resistance, reactance and
impedance (resistor , inductor and
capacitor)