Week 2 Units of Electricity

Electrical Units
a.
b. c.

d.
e. f. g.

Current Quantity of Electricity Electric Potential Resistance Electromotive Force Ohms Law Electric Energy
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a) Current

current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross-section, and placed 1 meter apart in a vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force of 2 x 10-7 newton per meter of length. The conductors are attracted towards each other if the currents are in the same direction, whereas they repel each other if the currents are in opposite directions.
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Symbol and Unit

Symbol:

I Unit: ampere (A)

Electric current
Electric current in a wire is defined as the net amount of charge that passes through the wire per unit time at any point. The average current is defined as:

I = Q t

1A = 1C 1s

Electric current is called the ampere. 1 Ampere (A) = 1 coulomb per second (C/s)
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Electric Current Flow

An electric current exists whenever electric charge flows through a region like a light bulb circuit. The magnitude of the current is measures in amperes (I).
(Flow of charge)

Battery
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Example 1
A steady current of 2.5 A flows in a wire for 4.0 min.
How

much charge passed through any point in the circuit? Q = I t = (2.5 C/s)(240 s) = 600 C

How

many electrons would this be? 1 e = 1.60 X 10-19 C, so 600 C equals to 600 C = 3.8 X 1021 electrons 1.6X10-19 C/electron
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Example 2

Which light bulb will light up? Why?

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b) Quantity of Electricity

The unit of electrical quantity is the coulomb, namely the quantity of electricity passing a given point in a circuit when a current of 1 ampere is maintained for 1 second. Q [coulombs] = I [amperes] X t [seconds] Symbol: Q Unit: coulomb (C)

c) Electric Potential

The electric potential at a point a or Va equals the potential energy (PEa) per unit charge at that point.
Va = PEa/q

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Potential Difference

Potential difference between point a and b is Vab = Va Vb

The units of electric potential and potential difference is Joules/Coulomb and given the name volt. 1 V = 1 J/C
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Potential Difference (cont)

The positive plate has a higher potential than the negative plate. Thus a positively charged object moves naturally (like charge repels) from a high potential to low potential. A negatively charged object does the opposite. Potential difference is often referred to as volt or voltage.
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d) Resistance

resistance between two points of a conductor when a potential difference of 1 volt, applied between these points, produces in this conductor a current of 1 ampere, the conductor not being a source of any electromotive force. OR, the resistance of a circuit in which a current of 1 ampere generates heat at the rate of 1 watt. Symbol: R Unit: ohm ()
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Resistor

Resistors are used to control the amount of current flow. In a circuit, resistors are indicated by the symbol

a b c d

How to read resistor value.

a b X 10c with tolerance. In this example = 25 X 103 or 25,000 with 10% tolerance
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Resistor Coding
Digit 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Color Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Tolerance 5% 10% 20% Color Gold Silver No color band

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9

Grey
White
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Resistivity

Resistance of a wire depends on some factors like as length (L), cross-sectional area (A) and resistivity of material (). R= L A

Resistivity of a material also depends on temperature. In general, the resistance of metals increases with temperature. T = 0 [ 1 + ( T T0 ) ]
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Example 3
Speaker wires. Suppose you want to connect your stereo to remote speakers. If each wire must be 20 m long, what diameter of copper wire should you use to keep the resistance less than 0.10 per wire? A = L/R = (1.68 X 108 .m)(20m) = (0.10 ) = 3.4 X 10-6m2 A = d2 /4 (Area calculation formula) d = (4A)/ = 2.1 X 10-3 m = 2.1 mm
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Exercise
1.
2. 3.

4. 5.

What is a simpler way of expressing 0.000 005 A? What is a simpler way of expressing 3 000 000 V? A potential difference of 6 V causes a current of 0.6 A to flow in a conductor. Calculate the resistance of the conductor. Find the potential difference to pass a current of 5 A through a conductor of resistance 8 . A 960 lamp is connected to a 240 V supply. Calculate the current in the lamp.

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e) Electromotive Force
An electromotive force is that which tends to produce an electric current in a circuit, and unit of e.m.f. is the volt. Symbol: E Unit: volt (V)

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f) Ohms Law

To produce an electric current, a difference in potential is required. The current in a metal wire is proportional to the potential difference V applied to its ends: I V The current flow through the wire is inversely proportional to the resistance of the wire for a given voltage. I = V / R or V = I R (Ohms Law) The unit for resistance is called the ohm ()
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Current vs. Voltage

A metal conductor which obeys the Ohms Law.

A nonohmic device, like semiconductor

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Example 4

Flashlight bulb resistance. A small flashlight bulb draws 300 mA from its 1.5V battery.
What

is the resistance of the bulb? R = V / I = 1.5 V / 0.30 A = 5.0

If

the voltage dropped to 1.2V, how much would the current change? I = V / R = 1.2 V / 5.0 = 0.24 A
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Understanding Circuits situation

Closed circuit complete circuit Open circuit disconnected wiring or incomplete circuit Short Circuit when two wires crossed
No current flow current

Closed Circuit

Open Circuit

Short Circuit
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g) Electric Energy
Electric energy can be transformed into other forms of energy like thermal energy, light. Electric energy => Thermal energy => light Example of applications are toasters (thermal), light bulb (thermal and light)

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Rate of electrical energy transformation

The energy transformed when a charge Q moves through a potential difference V and denoted by QV. Power (P) is the rate the energy is transformed

P = Power = energy transformed (E) = QV time (t) t

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Power transformed by an electrical device

Power (P) = Current (I) * Voltage (V) P = IV I is the current passing through the device and V is the potential difference across it. The SI unit of electric power is watt. 1 W = 1Joule per second (J/s)

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Equations of Power
The Power equation can be rewritten as P = IV (a) = I (IR) = I2R (b) = (V/R)V = V2/R (c) Equation (a) applies to any device while equation (b) & (c) only applied to resistors.
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Equations of Electric Energy

Let us recall that P = Power = energy transformed (E) = QV time (t) t Or E = P t and P = V I = (V I ) t = V I t (i) = (I R) I t = I2 R t (ii) = (V / R)2 R t = V2 t / R (iii)

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Example 5

Calculate the resistance of a 40W automobile headlight designed for 12V.

From equation P = V2/R, we obtain R = V2/P So, R = (12V)2/40W = 3.6

Input P = 40W V = 12V

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Kilowatt-hour (kWh)

It is energy and not power that you pay for your electric bill. Usually energy in homes is specified as kilowatt-hour (kWh) which is equivalent to 1 kWh = (1000W)(3600s) = 3.60 X 106 J

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Example 6
An

electric heater draws 15A on a 120V line. How much power does it use and how much does it cost per month (30 days) if it operates 3.0 h per day and the electric company charges 10.5 cents per kWh?
Power (P) = IV = (15A)(120V) = 1800W = 1.8kW Operation per month is = 3hr/day multiply by 30day = 90hr The monthly power consumption per month for the electric heater is (1.8kW) X (90h) = 162kWh So the cost would be 162kWh X RM0.105/kWh = RM 17
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Summary of Important Formulae

Electric Charge Voltage V = IR Power

Q = It (coulombs) V = P/I (volts)

P = IV P = I2R P = V2/R

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Summary of Terms and Concepts

Current is the rate of flow of electric charge in a circuit. The terms is often used to describe the flow of electric charge, e.g. a current is flowing in a circuit; this is ambiguous but is so common that we have to accept it.

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Contd
Electric charge may be either +ve or ve. ve electrons are free to move around a circuit thus transporting energy from source to load. To maintain a current, the source must provide a driving force called the electromotive force (e.m.f.).

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Contd
The potential difference across a load indicates in volts the energy lost per coulomb of charge passing through the load. Since the current is the rate flow, its product with the voltage gives the rate of energy transmission, i.e. the power.

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Contd
Resistance is a measure of the opposition to the flow of charge through a load. Ohms Law states that the ratio of voltage to current is constant, provided other physical factors such as temperature remain unchanged.

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