Electric Circuits Notes

1 – Introduction to Circuits Electricity

A) CHARGE [[Link] can I charge my phone?]

Fundamental particles like ___________, __________ and

____________ make up in our universe. These particles have
different properties like size, mass and charge.
Figure 1: Charge!!!!
Charge is a fundamental property of matter and it is measured in _______________. Name
after French Physicists Charles-Augustin de Coulomb [1736-1806 Figure 2]

Atlas: But… but…. daddy what is a charge?

Mr. Cheung: No one can tell you what charge really is, the only rules scientists
have discovered so far…..
Figure 2: Charles de
1. There are two types of charges (_____________ and ______________) and… Coulomb - Your old
friend Ff = μ FN was
2. Charges can interact with each other (via Electric Force) my work too. You
a. Opposite charges _________ each other are welcome ^__^

Did you my name is

b. Like charges _________ craved into the Eiffel
Tower? Ask
[Link] to show
you a picture~
Particle Proton Neutron Electron

Symbol
Mass
Charge

B) ELECTRONS AND ELECTRIC CIRCUIT

Have you ever wonder how energy is delivered to your electronic devices (ie. your TV set and cellphones etc.)?
Energy can come from the AC outlet or it be stored in portable storage device like a battery, but nothing is
going to happen if you hold up a battery in the air. For energy to flow into your devices, you must provide a
_____________/connection between the ___________________ (the AC outlet) and the ______ (ie, your
PS4); on top of that you will also need ____________________ (uber eats? → electrons)

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C) Voltage, Current, resistance and Ohm’s Law [let the great pizza analogy begin! Brought to you by Mr. Cheung]

Voltage (Potential Difference) is the change in potential energy per unit charge. It is the amount of energy
carried by 1 Coulomb of electrons

V:
E:
Q:

Current is the rate of flow of charge (electron) through the cross-sectional area of a conductor (_______).

I:
Q:
t:

Resistance is a property of material and it is measured in ______________. Some materials have ________
resistance and they are good _________________ (ex, metals); they allow electrons to flow __________.
Other materials (ex, wood/plastic/air) have ________ resistance value and they are bad ______________;
electrons have a harder time (_____________________) traveling through them.

Ohm’s Law: The ratio between the voltage and the current through a conductor (load,
resistor) is a constant and represents the resistance of the material.

V: Voltage (___)
I: Current (___)
R: Resistance (___)

[Link]’s Pizza model of Circuity

Series (basic) Parallel (more complex)

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D) POWER [Go Go Power Ranger~ sorry I had to… haha]

Recall that power is……..

Electric Power is the rate at which energy is transferred

From the definition of power and Ohm’s Law we can derive some formulae to describe electric
power

Example: An electric fan has a resistance of 12 Ω and Example: An electric heater emits 100 W when
requires 0.75 A of current to function properly. What connected to a 120 V power line. What is the
voltage is required to operate the fan? resistance in the heater?

Example: When a 12 V car battery powers a single 30 W headlight, how many electrons pass through it in one
minute?

E) DIRECTION OF CURRENT [what do you call a misunderstanding that is never fixed? A convention…]

The direction of current can be considered in two ways:

1) Electron Flow: The direction that the electrons actually move. The
electrons go from the _________ to the ____________ terminal.

2) Conventional Current: Flow of positive charge. Positive charges

flow from the ___________ to the ___________ terminal.

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 In 1752, prior to electricity being identified with the electron, Ben Franklin
chose a convention regarding the direction of current flow. Franklin assumed
that ___________ charge carriers flowed from positive to negative terminals.
We now know this is incorrect. In metals, the charge carrier is the __________
whose charge is ____________ by definition. As a result, most people still
prefer using the direction of the conventional current.

Figure 3: I am on the US $100

Bill~~ In this class, unless otherwise stated, we will always use
________________________________________!!!

F) CIRCUIT SYMBOLS (SCHEMATIC)

CELL BATTERY WIRE JUNCTION RESISTOR

BULB SWITCH (OPEN) SWITCH (CLOSED) VOLTMETER AMMETER

We can measure the voltage in a circuit using a ___________________ and the current in a circuit using a
______________________. But we need to connect these two devices in different ways.

Voltmeter:
• must be connected in ________________________. This is because a voltmeter measures the voltage
drop ______________ a device and it has very high _____________.
• Most of the current passes through the ___________ with only a small percentage passing through
the ___________ so we won’t waste energy.
• “we are trying to measure the ___________ carried by the electrons ___________ and ___________
they go through a power source or a load.”

Ammeter:
• An ammeter must be connected in _________________________. This is because an ammeter
measures the current ________________ a circuit and it has very low resistance.
• Ammeter is trying to count the ____________ of electrons (in Coulombs) going through the conductor
wire per second. You have to stand in the ___________ in order to count the people ^___^

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 Circuit Worksheet 5.1: Current/Voltage/Ohm’s Law

1) A current of 3.60 A flows for 15.3 s through a conductor. Calculate the number of electrons that pass through a
point in the conductor in this time.
(3.44 × 10!" )
2) How long would it take 2.0 × 10!" electrons to pass through a point in a conductor if the current was 10.0 A?
(3.2 s)
3) Calculate the current if a charge of 5.60 C passes through a point in a conductor in 15.4 s.
(0.364 A)
4) What is the potential difference across a conductor to produce a current of 8.00 A if there is a resistance in the
conductor of 12.0 Ω?
(96 V)
5) What is the heat produced in a conductor in 25.0 s if there is a current of 11.0 A and a resistance of 7.20 Ω?
(21800 J)
6) 150 J of heat are produced in a conductor in 5.50 s. If the current through the conductor is 10.0 A, what is the
resistance of the conductor?
(0.273 Ω)
7) What is the current through a 400 W electric appliance when it is connected to a 120 V power line?
(3.33 A)
8) a. When an electric appliance is connected to a 120 V power line, there is a current through the appliance of 18.3 A.
What is its resistance?
(6.56 Ω)
b. What is the average amount of energy given to each electron by the power line?
(1.92 × 10#$% J)
9) a. What potential difference is required across an electrical appliance to produce a current of 20.0 A when there is a
resistance of 6.00 Ω?
(120 V)
b. How many electrons pass through the appliance every minute?
(7.5 × 10!$ )
10) A student designed an experiment in order to measure the current through a resistor at different voltages. Given the
following data:

Voltage (V) Current (I)

3.0 0.15
6.0 0.30
9.0 0.45
12.0 0.50
15.0 0.75
a) Draw a graph showing the
relationship between current and
voltage (V vs. I)

b) Using the graph, what is the

resistance of the resistor?
(20.0 +/- 0.5 Ω)

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 Electric Circuits Notes
2 – Basic Circuit

A) SERIES AND PARALLEL CIRCUIT

Series: _______ path for the electrons

IT =
VT =
RT =

Parallel: more than one path for the electrons

IT =
VT =
1
=
𝑅!

“Adding more paths always ___________ total resistance and ___________ current‼”

B) SOLVING BASIC CIRCUIT PROBLEMS

1. Draw a circuit diagram if not provided

2. Next to each resistor, indicate ____, ____ and ____

Next to the battery, indicate 𝑉! , 𝐼! and 𝑅!

3. Apply Series and Parallel Rules appropriately. For each resistor/battery, when two of V, I and R are known, use
________________________ to determine the third

4. For circuit with resistors connected in both series and parallel. You may need to transform the combination circuit into a series
circuit by determining the ____________________________ of the parallel branches

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Example 1: What is the equivalent resistance (Total Example 2: What is the equivalent resistance (Total
Resistance RT) of this circuit? Resistance RT) of this circuit?

Example 3: Determine the current through the 5Ω Resistor

Example 4: Determine the resistance of 𝑅"

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Example 5: Determine the current through each resistor.

Example 1 for Note Day 3: Kirchhoff’s Law: Determine the current through each resistor

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 Circuit Worksheet 5.2 - Series and Parallel Circuits
For each circuit, determine the voltage, current and resistance through each resistor and the
total voltage, current and resistance of the circuit.

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

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 Electric Circuits Notes
3 – Kirchhoff’s Laws

A) Kirchhoff’s Current Law: AKA ________________________

“The sum of current going into a junction is ___________________________

______________________________________________________________”

For any junctions:

Cheung’s Current Law: Enjoy your meal but don’t eat the person who delivers the food‼

B) Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law: AKA ________________________

“For any closed loop, the sum of voltage gain is _________________________

______________________________________________________________”

For any loops in the circuit:

Cheung’s Voltage Law: I give you 10 pizzas, you deliver 10 pizzas‼

C) Solving Circuits with Kirchhoff’s Laws – an alternate method, useful for more complicated circuits

1. Draw a circuit diagram if not provided

2. Next to each resistor, indicate V, I and R
3. Next to the battery, indicate 𝑉! , 𝐼! and 𝑅!
4. Indicate the direction of current of each part of the circuit
5. Apply the Current Law to each _________. Try to find a junction with only one unknown ________.
6. Apply the Voltage Law to each _________. Try to find a loop with only one unknown ___________.
7. You might need to calculate ________________________________ of the parallel branches to
simplify the question.
#!
8. Use Ohm’s Law 𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅 or Power formula 𝑃 = 𝐼𝑉 = 𝐼" 𝑅 = $
to help you at any time ^____^

Example 2: What is the value of V1, V2 and R2 in the circuit

V1 = 9V, V2 = 45V, R2 = 90 Ω

Example 3: a) What is the voltage across the 8.0 Ω resistor

b) How much power is dissipated in the 5.0 Ω resistor

a. 16 V b. 180 W
 Circuit Worksheet 5.3 - Kirchhoff's Laws and More Circuits

1) What are the values of the currents shown?

(2 A, 2 A, 2A)

2) Find the value of R2.

(12 Ω)

3) What is the potential difference supplied by the power source?

(36 V)

4) Find the values of V1, V2 and R2.

(40 V, 40V, 12 Ω)
5) Find the value of I3.

(3.6 A)

6) Find the value of V2.

(4 V)

7) Find the value of V2 and V3.

(34 V, 34 V)

8) What is the total resistance in this circuit?

(35 Ω)
9) What is the total resistance in this circuit?

(3.4 Ω)

10) What is the total resistance of this circuit?

(4 Ω)

11) What is the total resistance of three resistors in parallel if their individual resistances are: 2 Ω, 4 Ω, and 8 Ω?

(1.1 Ω)

12) What are the values of I1, I2 and P1 in the following circuit?

(1.2 A, 1.2 A, 14.4 W)

13) What is the value of the total current in this circuit and the power dissipated by R1?

(7.5 A, 38W)

14) Find the values of the total current and I2 as well as the total power used by the circuit.

(3.5 A, 1.5 A, 42 W)

15) What are the values of I1, I2 and I3?

(2.7 A, 0.91 A, 2.7 A)

16) Find the potential difference of the power supply and the total power dissipated by the circuit below.

(60 V, 480 W)

17) Find the value of I1 and the total power used by the circuit.

(5.6 A, 140 W)

18) Find R3, I2, I3 and I4.

(16.7 Ω, 1.0 A, 3.0 A, 2.0 A)

 Electric Circuits Notes
4 – Electromotive Force
We know that a battery is a source of potential difference (______________) or electric energy. When not
connected to a circuit there is a potential difference between the terminals.

This voltage is also known as…

Despite the name, this is a ___________________ not a ________________.

This dates back to a time when we thought that the two were equivalent.

For example a car battery has an EMF of ___________ and lithium battery has an EMF of ____________.

However, as soon as a battery is connected to a circuit and current flows through it the potential difference across
the terminals is always…

This is due to the fact that every battery has…

Because of this _______________ ________________ the terminal voltage is always _______________ than the
EMF of the battery.

Where:

Note: Ir =

Note: If the battery is not connected to a circuit…

Consider the following diagram showing a circuit with Example:

an external resistance, _______, internal resistance If a 12.0 V battery has an internal resistance of
______ and EMF _______. 0.220 ohms, what is the terminal voltage of the
battery when a current of 3.00 A flows through the
battery?

When a battery goes dead it is because…

When a rechargeable battery is being charged an Example:

external voltage is applied to the battery. In order to A 12.0 V car battery is being charged by an
force electrons backwards into the battery the external alternator that can supply 15 V. If the internal
voltage must be… resistance of the battery is 1.3 ohms, what is the
current through the battery?

In fact the external voltage must be:

 Circuit Worksheet 5.4 - Terminal Voltage

1) A battery in a remote control has an EMF of 1.5 V and an internal resistance of 0.3 Ω. If there is a current of 0.5 A
running through the circuit, what is the terminal voltage of the battery? (1.35 V)

2) What is the EMF of a battery that has an internal resistance of 0.8 Ω and a terminal voltage of 10 V when a current of
2.4 A runs through it? (11.9 V)

3) A battery has an EMF of 9.0 V and an internal resistance of 0.50 Ω. What is the terminal voltage when it is connected
to a circuit with a resistance of 4.0 Ω? (8.0 V)

4) What is the terminal voltage of the battery in the circuit shown?

(7.95 V)

5) What is the terminal voltage of the battery in the circuit shown?

(10.9 V)

6) What is the EMF of the following battery?

(18 V)

7) Determine the internal resistance and the power dissipated by the internal resistance of the battery shown.

(3 Ω, 4.3 W)