Object 1

An electric circuit is formed when a conductive path is created to allow free electrons to continuously move. This continuous movement of free electrons through the conductors of a circuit is called a current, and it is often referred to in terms of "flow," just like the flow of a liquid through a hollow pipe. The force motivating electrons to "flow" in a circuit is called voltage. Voltage is a specific measure of potential energy that is always relative between two points. hen we speak of a certain amount of voltage being present in a circuit, we are referring to the measurement of how much potential energy e!ists to move electrons from one particular point in that circuit to another particular point. ithout reference to twoparticular points, the term "voltage" has no meaning. "ree electrons tend to move through conductors with some degree of friction, or opposition to motion. This opposition to motion is more properly called resistance. The amount of current in a circuit depends on the amount of voltage available to motivate the electrons, and also the amount of resistance in the circuit to oppose electron flow. #ust like voltage, resistance is a quantity relative between two points. "or this reason, the quantities of voltage and resistance are often stated as being "between" or "across" two points in a circuit. To be able to make meaningful statements about these quantities in circuits, we need to be able to describe their quantities in the same way that we might quantify mass, temperature, volume, length, or any other kind of physical quantity. "or mass we might use the units of "kilogram" or "gram." "or temperature we might use degrees "ahrenheit or degrees $elsius. %ere are the standard units of measurement for electrical current, voltage, and resistance&

The "symbol" given for each quantity is the standard alphabetical letter used to represent that quantity in an algebraic equation. 'tandardi(ed letters like these are common in the disciplines of physics and engineering, and are internationally recogni(ed. The "unit abbreviation" for each quantity represents the alphabetical symbol used as a shorthand notation for its particular unit of measurement. And, yes, that strange)looking "horseshoe" symbol is the capital *reek letter +, just a character in a foreign alphabet ,apologies to any *reek readers here-. .ach unit of measurement is named after a famous e!perimenter in electricity& The amp after the "renchman Andre /. Ampere, the volt after the 0talian Alessandro Volta, and the ohm after the *erman *eorg 'imon 1hm. The mathematical symbol for each quantity is meaningful as well. The "2" for resistance and the "V" for voltage are both self) e!planatory, whereas "0" for current seems a bit weird. The "0" is thought to have been meant to represent "0ntensity" ,of electron flow-, and the other symbol for voltage, ".," stands for ".lectromotive force." "rom what research 03ve been able to do, there seems to be some dispute over the meaning of "0." The symbols "." and "V" are interchangeable for the most part, although some te!ts reserve "." to represent voltage across a source ,such as a battery or generator- and "V" to represent voltage across anything else. All of these symbols are e!pressed using capital letters, e!cept in cases where a quantity ,especially voltage or current- is described in terms of a brief period of time ,called an "instantaneous" value-. "or e!ample, the voltage of a battery, which is stable over a long period of time, will be symboli(ed with a capital letter ".," while the voltage peak of a lightning strike at the very instant it hits a power line would most likely be symboli(ed with a lower)case letter "e" ,or lower)case "v"- to designate that value as being at a single moment in time. This same lower)case convention holds true for current as well, the lower)case letter "i" representing current at some instant in time. /ost direct)current ,4$- measurements, however, being stable over time, will be symboli(ed with capital letters. 1ne foundational unit of electrical measurement, often taught in the beginnings of electronics courses but used infrequently afterwards, is the unit of the coulomb, which is a measure of electric charge proportional to the number of electrons in an imbalanced state. 1ne coulomb of charge is equal to 5,678,888,888,888,888,888 electrons. The symbol for electric charge quantity is the capital letter "9," with the unit of coulombs abbreviated by the capital letter "$." 0t so happens that the unit for

electron flow, the amp, is equal to : coulomb of electrons passing by a given point in a circuit in : second of time. $ast in these terms, current is the rate of electric charge motion through a conductor. As stated before, voltage is the measure of potential energy per unit charge available to motivate electrons from one point to another. ;efore we can precisely define what a "volt" is, we must understand how to measure this quantity we call "potential energy." The general metric unit for energy of any kind is the joule, equal to the amount of work performed by a force of : newton e!erted through a motion of : meter ,in the same direction-. 0n ;ritish units, this is slightly less than <=> pound of force e!erted over a distance of : foot. ?ut in common terms, it takes about : joule of energy to lift a <=> pound weight : foot off the ground, or to drag something a distance of : foot using a parallel pulling force of <=> pound. 4efined in these scientific terms, : volt is equal to : joule of electric potential energy per ,divided by- : coulomb of charge. Thus, a @ volt battery releases @ joules of energy for every coulomb of electrons moved through a circuit. These units and symbols for electrical quantities will become very important to know as we begin to e!plore the relationships between them in circuits. The first, and perhaps most important, relationship between current, voltage, and resistance is called 1hm3s Aaw, discovered by *eorg 'imon 1hm and published in his :B6C paper, The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically. 1hm3s principal discovery was that the amount of electric current through a metal conductor in a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage impressed across it, for any given temperature. 1hm e!pressed his discovery in the form of a simple equation, describing how voltage, current, and resistance interrelate&

0n this algebraic e!pression, voltage ,.- is equal to current ,0- multiplied by resistance ,2-. Dsing algebra techniques, we can manipulate this equation into two variations, solving for 0 and for 2, respectively&

Aet3s see how these equations might work to help us analy(e simple circuits&

0n the above circuit, there is only one source of voltage ,the battery, on the left- and only one source of resistance to current ,the lamp, on the right-. This makes it very easy to apply 1hm3s Aaw. 0f we know the values of any two of the three quantities ,voltage, current, and resistance- in this circuit, we can use 1hm3sAaw to determine the third. 0n this first e!ample, we will calculate the amount of current ,0- in a circuit, given values of voltage ,.- and resistance ,2-&

hat is the amount of current ,0- in this circuitE

0n this second e!ample, we will calculate the amount of resistance ,2- in a circuit, given values of voltage ,.- and current ,0-&

hat is the amount of resistance ,2- offered by the lampE

0n the last e!ample, we will calculate the amount of voltage supplied by a battery, given values of current ,0- and resistance ,2-&

hat is the amount of voltage provided by the batteryE

1hm3s Aaw is a very simple and useful tool for analy(ing electric circuits. 0t is used so often in the study of electricity and electronics that it needs to be committed to memory by the serious student. "or those who are not yet comfortable with algebra, there3s a trick to remembering how to solve for any one quantity, given the other two. "irst, arrange the letters ., 0, and 2 in a triangle like this&

0f you know . and 0, and wish to determine 2, just eliminate 2 from the picture and see what3s left&

0f you know . and 2, and wish to determine 0, eliminate 0 and see what3s left&

Aastly, if you know 0 and 2, and wish to determine ., eliminate . and see what3s left&

.ventually, you3ll have to be familiar with algebra to seriously study electricity and electronics, but this tip can make your first calculations a little easier to remember. 0f you are comfortable with algebra, all you need to do is commit .F02 to memory and derive the other two formulae from that when you need themG

REVIEW: Voltage measured in volts, symboli(ed by the letters "." or "V". $urrent measured in amps, symboli(ed by the letter "0". 2esistance measured in ohms, symboli(ed by the letter "2". 1hm3s Aaw& . F 02 H 0 F .=2 H 2 F .=0

Simple parallel circuits

Aet3s start with a parallel circuit consisting of three resistors and a single battery&

The first principle to understand about parallel circuits is that the voltage is equal across all components in the circuit. This is because there are only two sets of electrically common points in a parallel circuit, and voltage measured between sets of common points must always be the same at any given time. Therefore, in the above circuit, the voltage across 2: is equal to the voltage across 26 which is equal to the voltage across 2< which is equal to the voltage across the battery. This equality of voltages can be represented in another table for our starting values&

#ust as in the case of series circuits, the same caveat for 1hm3s Aaw applies& values for voltage, current, and resistance must be in the same conte!t in order for the calculations to work correctly. %owever, in the above e!ample circuit, we can immediately apply 1hm3s Aaw to each resistor to find its current because we know the voltage across each resistor ,@ voltsand the resistance of each resistor&

At this point we still don3t know what the total current or total resistance for this parallel circuit is, so we can3t apply 1hm3s Aaw to the rightmost ,"Total"- column. %owever, if we think carefully about what is happening it should become apparent that the total current must equal the sum of all individual resistor ,"branch"- currents&

As the total current e!its the negative ,)- battery terminal at point B and travels through the circuit, some of the flow splits off at point C to go up through 2:, some more splits off at point 5 to go up through 26, and the remainder goes up through 2<. Aike a river branching into several smaller streams, the combined flow rates of all streams must equal the flow rate of the whole river. The same thing is encountered where the currents through 2:, 26, and 2< join to flow back to the positive terminal of the battery ,I- toward point :& the flow of electrons from point 6 to point : must equal the sum of the ,branchcurrents through 2:, 26, and 2<. This is the second principle of parallel circuits& the total circuit current is equal to the sum of the individual branch currents. Dsing this principle, we can fill in the 0T spot on our table with the sum of 02:, 026, and 02<&

"inally, applying 1hm3s Aaw to the rightmost ,"Total"- column, we can calculate the total circuit resistance&

?lease note something very important here. The total circuit resistance is only 567 +& less than any one of the individual resistors. 0n the series circuit, where the total resistance was the sum of the individual resistances, the total was bound to be greater than any one of the resistors individually. %ere in the parallelcircuit, however, the opposite is true& we say that the individual resistances diminish rather than add to make the total. This principle completes our triad of "rules" for parallel circuits, just as series circuits were found to have three rules for voltage, current, and resistance. /athematically, the relationship between total resistance and individual resistances in a parallel circuit looks like this&

The same basic form of equation works for any number of resistors connected together in parallel, just add as many :=2 terms on the denominator of the fraction as needed to accommodate all parallel resistors in thecircuit. #ust as with the series circuit, we can use computer analysis to double)check our calculations. "irst, of course, we have to describe our e!ample circuit to the computer in terms it can understand. 03ll start by re)drawing the circuit&

SERIES DC CIRCUITS When two unequal charges are connected by a conductor, a complete pathway for current e !sts" #n electr!c c!rcu!t !s a complete conduct!ng pathway" It cons!sts not only of the conductor, but also !ncludes the path through the $oltage source" Ins!de the $oltage source current flows from the pos!t!$e term!nal, through the source, emerg!ng at the negat!$e term!nal" SERIES CIRCUIT C%#R#CTERISTICS # SERIES CIRCUIT !s def!ned as a c!rcu!t that conta!ns only &'E (#T% for current flow" To compare the bas!c c!rcu!t that has been d!scussed and a more comple ser!es c!rcu!t, f!gure )*+) shows two c!rcu!ts" The bas!c c!rcu!t has only one lamp and the ser!es c!rcu!t has three lamps connected !n ser!es" ,!gure )*+)" * Compar!son of bas!c and ser!es c!rcu!ts"

Res!stance !n a Ser!es C!rcu!t Referr!ng to f!gure )*+), the current !n a ser!es c!rcu!t must flow through each lamp to complete the electr!cal path !n the c!rcu!t" Each add!t!onal lamp offers added res!stance" In a ser!es c!rcu!t, T%E T&T#- CIRCUIT RESIST#'CE .RT/ IS E0U#- T& T%E SU1 &, T%E I'DI2IDU#- RESIST#'CES" #s an equat!on3 RT 4 R+ 5 R6 5 R)5 " " " Rn

E ample3 In f!gure )*+7 a ser!es c!rcu!t cons!st!ng of three res!stors3 one of +8 ohms, one of +9 ohms, and one of )8 ohms, !s shown" # $oltage source pro$!des ++8 $olts" What !s the total res!stance:

,!gure )*+7" * Sol$!ng for total res!stance !n a ser!es c!rcu!t"

In some c!rcu!t appl!cat!ons, the total res!stance !s ;nown and the $alue of one of the c!rcu!t res!stors has to be determ!ned" The equat!on RT 4 R+ 5 R6 5 R) can be transposed to sol$e for the $alue of the un;nown res!stance" E ample3 In f!gure )*+9 the total res!stance of a c!rcu!t conta!n!ng three res!stors !s 78 ohms" Two of the c!rcu!t res!stors are +8 ohms each" Calculate the $alue of the th!rd res!stor .R) /" ,!gure )*+9" * Calculat!ng the $alue of one res!stance !n a ser!es c!rcu!t"