CHAPTER 1

BASIC CONCEPTS
 1-1 The SI System Units
• The nature of engineering requires quantitative
measurements and calculations.

• It is not sufficient to simply understand that y

changes when x changes, but we must take the
next step and predict, how much is the changes
and in what directions the changes occur

• This necessitates a system of measure.

• Most units of measure were created by early
pioneers in a given field and were usually defined
arbitrarily or as a matter of measuring
convenience.

• For example, the German physicist Fahrenheit

selected the coldest temperature he could
achieve with salt-ice mixture to define his ‘zero’,
• Like Fahrenheit, other scientist and engineers
defined other quantities independently and to their
liking.

 Therefore after a time the same quantity had several

definitions and units, for example, the following
names were used as units of energy;
 joule,
 foot-pound,
erg,
newton-metre,
british-thermal unit and
kilowatt-hour.
• This caused confusions and therefore in 1960,
The World General Conference held in Paris -
France on Weights and Measures, adopted the SI
system (Les Systéme International d’Unités), or
the International System of Units.

• This System has the following advantages;

One and only one unit for each physical quantity.
The system has international acceptance.
The System, like older Metric System, has decimal
relations between multiple and sub multiple units.
The system is coherent, no conversion factors are
required.
 The magnitudes of seven physical quantities were arbitrary
selected and declared to have unit value. The seven units shown
by Table 1-1 are the so called base units.
S/N Quantity SI Units Abbreviatio Symbol
n

1 Length metre m l
2 Mass kilogram kg m

3 Time second s t
4 Current ampere A I
5 Temperature kelvin K T
6 Luminous Intensity candela cd
7 Amount of Substance mole mol
• The following are the definition of the basic
units:

• A metre is the length equal to 1650763.73

wavelengths of the orange line in the
spectrum of an internationally specified
krypton discharge lamp.

• Read others from the book

• All other units are derived from the base units
by multiplication or division
All other units are derived from the base units by
multiplication or division

Physical Quantity Derived Unit Symbol

Area square metre m2

Volume cubic metre m3

Speed metre per second m/s

Acceleration metre per second square m/s2

Density kilogram per cubic metre kg/m3

 1-2 Derived Units
N Quantity Quantity Unit Unit
o Symbol Symbol
1 Admittance Y siemens S

2 Angular velocity Ώ radian per rad/s

second
3 Capacitance C farad F
microfarad μF
picofarad pF
4 Charge or quantity of Q coulomb C
electricity

5 Conductance G siemens S

6 Conductivity ρ siemens per metre S/m

7 Current*
(i)Steady or r.m.s. value I ampere A
(ii) Instantaneous value i ampere A
(iii) Maximum value Im ampere A

8 Current density J ampere per square A/m2

Table 1-3 : Abbreviations for multiples and submultiples

No Prefix Symbol Meaning

1 exa E 1018
2 peta P 1015
3 tera T 1012
4 giga G 109
5 mega M 106
6 kilo k 103
7 hecto h 102
8 deka da 101
9 deci d 10-1
10 centi c 10-2
11 milli m 10-3
 1-3 Definitions of derived SI units
frequently used in this book
• 1-3-1-1 Force
• The SI unit of force is newton.
• A newton is a force which, when applied to an
object having a mass of 1 kilogram, gives it an
acceleration of 1 metre per second squared.
• F = ma (1-1)
• The weight of a body is the gravitational force
exerted by the earth on that body, that is,
• weight = mg.
• 1-3-1-3 Work or Energy
• The SI unit of work is a joule.
• One Joule is the work done when a force of
one newton is exerted through a distance of
one metre in the direction of force.
• Work done = F d [joules]
• 1-3-1-3-1 Kinetic energy
• Kinetic energy is the energy an object acquires
due to its motion.

• For example, if an object having a mass of m

kilograms, is moving with a velocity v, metres
per second, then:

• Kinetic energy [KE] = (½) mv2 [joules]

• 1-3-1-4 Power
• The SI unit of power is watt or joules/second.
Since power is the rate of doing work, one watt is
consumed if a work of one joule is done in one
second.

• 1-3-2-1 Quantity of Electricity

• The SI unit of quantity of electricity is coulomb. A
coulomb is the quantity of electricity passing a
given point in an electric circuit when a current of
one ampere is maintained for one second

• Q [coulomb] = I [amperes] x t [seconds]

• 1-3-2-2 Potential Difference
• The SI unit of potential difference (p.d) is the volt.
• One volt is the p.d. between two points of an
electric conductor, which will cause power
dissipation of one watt between these points when a
current of one ampere is made to flow through the
electric conductor.
•
• 1-3-2-3 Electromotive force
• The SI unit of electromotive force (e.m.f.) is the volt.
• An e.m.f. is that which tend to produce electric
current in a circuit.
• 1-3-2-4 Resistance
• The SI unit of electrical resistance is ohm.
• one ohm is the resistance between points of a conductor
carrying a constant current of one ampere, produces a
p.d. of one volt between these two points.

• V = IR volts [Ohm’s law]

• Power dissipated in R is:

• P = VI watts

• Or P=I2 R watts
Energy dissipated in the resistor R in t
seconds

W = I2 Rt joules

W = V It joules
• 1-3-2-5 Capacitance
• The SI unit of capacitance is farad.
• One farad is the capacitance of a capacitor
between plates of which there appears a
potential difference of one volt when it is
charged by one coulomb of electricity

• 1-3-2-6 Inductance
• The SI unit for inductance is henry.
• One henry is the inductance of a closed circuit in
which an e.m.f. of one volt is produced when the
current in the circuit is made to vary uniformly at
a rate of one ampere per second.
• 1-3-2-7 Magnetic Flux
• The SI unit of magnetic flux is weber. One
weber is the magnetic flux which, when
linking a circuit of one turn, produces in it an
e.m.f. of one volt when it is reduced to zero at
a uniform rate of one second.

• 1-3-2-8 Frequency
• The SI unit of frequency is hertz.
• Hertz is the number of cycles per second.
RESISTANCE AND OHM'S LAW

1-1 The Nature of Resistance

When a voltage source e.g. a battery is connected across a

conducting material, the current carriers (free electrons) will
start flowing in the conducting material.
 IL

Es
RL
The electrons will be attracted towards the positive terminal of
the voltage supply, therefore they accelerate and in so doing
they gain kinetic energy and momentum.

There is a great probability that these electrons may collide

with the stationary atoms forming the crystalline structure of
the material.

On collision, the electrons lose some of their kinetic energy, that is

some of their kinetic energy is transferred to the stationary
atoms.
E
The transferred kinetic energy is converted into heat, as in
electric iron element, or light as in incandescent lamps

After each collision, the electrons again accelerate, and gain

kinetic energy, and the process is repeated.

The collision process is the reason behind the property of the

material which exhibit the flow of current.

This property is called the electrical resistance of the material

and is denoted by the symbol R.
1-1-1 Factors affecting resistance

Every material has a specific number of free electrons that may

take part in the process of electricity flow.

Also, each material could have a different crystalline structure,

some more dense than others.

Thus each material will oppose the flow of electric current

differently

This particular characteristics of the material is referred to as

the specific resistivity of the material and has a symbol ρ .
The physical dimensions of the material also affects its resistance

The longer the length of the material, l, the more would be the
probability of collisions, hence the larger the resistance becomes.

The larger the cross-sectional area A of the material, the easier it

is for electrons to flow through it, hence the lower the electric
resistance becomes.

Thus the resistance R of the material is directly proportional to

its length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area.

The constant of proportionality is the specific resistivity of this

material.
A
Therefore resistance can be express in mathematical form as:

Table 1-1 gives the specific resistivity ρ for different

materials at 20 oC.
Table 1-1: Resistivity of various materials at 200C

No Material Resistivity
(Ω.m)
1 Conductors
1-1 silver 1.6 x 10-8
1-2 Copper 1.7 x 10-8
1-3 Aluminium 2.8 x 10-8
1-4 Tungsten 5.5 x 10-8
1-5 Nickel 7.8 x 10-8
1-6 Iron 12.0 x 10-8
1-7 Constantan 49.0 x 10-8
1-8 Nichrom 11 110.0 x 10-8
2 Semiconductors
2-1 Carbon 4 x 10-5
2-2 Germanium 4.5 x 10-1
2-3 Silicon 2.5 x 103
3 Insulators
3-1 Paper 1.0 x 1010
3-2 Mica 5.0 x 1011
3-3 Glass 1.0 x 1012
From Table 1-1, it can be seen that silver is the best electric
conductor, however it is very expensive

copper which is almost as good as silver and a lot cheaper is the

one which is mostly used in almost all electrical wires.

Aluminium is also cheap and light in weight and therefore it is

used as an electric conductor for the over head transmission
lines.

Insulators provide very high resistance and thus allow an

insignificant amount of current to flow.

Such materials are used to form the insulating coating for

conductors so that they can be grouped together without current
flow between them.
Germanium and silicon are neither good insulator nor good
conductors. They are called semiconductors.

They are used primarily in the production of diodes, transistors,

and all types of integrated circuits.

Example 1-1

What is the resistance of copper wire having a diameter of 0.50

mm and length of 100 m at normal room temperature of 20 oC.
Solution

R = 8.66 Ω
In circuit diagrams, a resistive element is represented
symbolically as shown in Figure 1-2 (a).

(a)

(b)

(c)
The zigzag line emphasises opposition to current flow.

A short circuit is the case corresponding to R equals to zero

ohms and symbolically is shown as in Figure 1-2 (b).

An open circuit is the case corresponding to R equals to infinite

resistance and symbolically, this situation correspond to no path
between circuit elements as shown in figure 1-2 (c).
1-1-2 Conductance

Conductance is the ability of a material to allow electric

current to flow.

It is therefore just the inverse of resistance

The symbol for conductance is G.

The SI unit for conductance is the siemens [S].

Another widely accepted unit of conductance is the mho,

which is "ohm" spelled backward and has the symbol σ.
where σ = specific conductivity =1/ ( 3-4 )
E
1-1-3 Effect of temperature on resistance

As the temperature of a metallic conductor is increased, its

atoms will acquire a large amount of kinetic energy, exhibited
in the form of vibrations around their average positions.

This increase in the vibrations activity of the parent atoms

makes the collision process of the electrons move probable.

Thus in general, the resistance of a metallic conductor (copper,

aluminium, etc.) increases with a rise in temperature.

For a moderate range of temperature say 100 o C, the change

of resistance is usually proportional to temperature in
metallic conductors.
The ratio of the change of resistance per degree change of
temperature to the resistance at some definite temperature
adopted as standard, is termed the temperature coefficient of
resistance and is represented by the Greek letter α.

ΔR
α 
R (Tθ  T0 )

A typical graphical representation of the variation of the

resistance of a metallic wire with the corresponding variation in
temperature is shown in Figure 3-3.
 R

R
2
Approximate linear
R1
behaviour

-273 T o 0 T1 T o
2 T C

Figure 3-3: Variation of resistance of a metallic

conductor with temperature
The resistance of any material is zero at the absolute zero

0 K = -273 oC.

If the approximately linear portion of the behaviour curve is

extended (the dotted line), it will intersect with temperature axis
at a point called inferred zero temperature, denoted by To.

- -
 -

where
If a material having a resistance Ro at 0 o C (taken as a
standard temperature), has a resistance R1 at T1 and R2 at T2
and if α0 is the temperature coefficient of resistance at 0o C,
then;

therefore
In some countries, the standard temp. is taken as 20 o C.

Hence, for a material having a resistance R20 at 20 o C and

temperature coefficient of resistance 20 at 20 o C, has a
resistance R t at Tt.
Table 1-2: Temperature coefficient of resistance α at 20oC

Material α per degree Celsius

Silver 3.8 x 10-3-3

Copper 3.93 x 10-3-3

Aluminium 3.91 x 10-3-3

Tungsten 5.0 x 10-3-3

Carbon -5.0 x 10-4-4

Constantan 8.0 x 10-6-6

Example 1-2
A silver conductor has a resistance of 10Ω at 20 o C. What is the
resistance at 70 o C.

Solution 1-2

R 70 = 11.9 Ω
1-2 Ohm's Law

The transfer of current carriers through a resistive element

necessitates the expenditure of energy, in the form of work
done by an external electrical energy source such as a battery,
to overcome the opposition that the resistive element exhibits
due to the collision mechanism
IL

Es
RL
This implies that the higher the value of the resistance (R), the
more work that has to be done.

As work per unit charge is the voltage (V), then:

VR
 Also, for a specific value of a given resistive element, the
higher the voltage, the more the kinetic energy of the charges
being transferred through this element.

Since the amount of charge transferred per unit time is the

electric current (I), then:

VI

Combining the two above expressions gives:

V=kIR

where k is taken as unity,

 hence
V=IR

The relationship was discovered by the Germany Physicist

Georg Ohm and it is referred to as Ohm's law.

Ohm's law is a basis law in electric circuit.

 1-3-1 Series Connection Resistors

R1 R2 R3 Rn

V1 V2 V3 Vn

I I Req

E E
(a) (b)
By Ohm's Law, the voltage across R1, R2, ..., Rn are:

V1 = I R1

V2 = I R2

V3 = I R3
.
.
.
.

Vn = I Rn
by Kirchhoff's Voltage Law (see 5-3-2), it can be shown that:

E = V1 + V2 + V3 + …….. + Vn

E = IR1 + IR2 + IR3 + …….. + IRn

E = I(R1 + R2 + R3 + …….. + Rn)

hence E can be expressed as:

E = IReq

Req = R1 + R2 + R3 + …….. + Rn
Therefore, the equivalent resistance of n resistors connected
in series is the sum of the individual resistances.
1-3-2Parallel connected resistors

I
n

I
n

I I2 I3 I
1 n

R1 R R Rn
2 3 Req
E E

(a) (b)

Figure 3-5: Showing n resistors connected in parallel, and

the corresponding equivalent resistor
By Kirchhoff's current law, at node n in Figure 3-5, the
current I is:

where each current is substituted by the corresponding voltage

divide by corresponding resistance, which can simplify to:
Therefore when n resistors are connected in parallel, the
reciprocal of the equivalent resistance is the sum of the
reciprocals of the individual resistances.

The reciprocal of any resistor Ri is called the conductance Gi.

The special case of only two resistance in parallel, shown in
Figure 1-6 is important because of its frequent occurrence

I I
T T

I I
1 2

Req
R1 R E
E 2

(a) (b)

Figure 3-6: Two parallel resistors and the equivalent

circuit
By applying KVL around the loops containing the voltage source
E and R1 and R2 respectively as shown in Figure 3-6 (a) gives;

E = I1 R1 (3-24)

E = I2 R2 (3-25)
Dividing Equation (3-24) by Equation (3-25) gives:

I1R 1
1
I2 R 2

I1 R 2 G1
 
I2 R 1 G2
Also, by KVL around the loop circuit of Figure 3-6 (b) gives:

E = IT Req (3-26)

Substituting the value of Req from Equation (3-23) into

Equation (3-26) gives:

R1 R 2
E  IT (3  28)
R1  R 2
substituting the value of E from Equations (3-24) and (3-25)
respectively into Equation (3-28) gives:

R1 R 2
I1R 1  IT
R1  R 2

R1 R 2
I2R 2  IT
R1  R 2

which simplifies to:

 R2
I1  IT (3  29)
R1  R 2

R1
I2  IT (3  30)
R1  R 2
 Example 1-4
Determine the value of the source current of the following
circuit by first finding its equivalent resistances.

R
R

I R R
e

R
R
110 V

R = 30 Ω

(e)
 1 1
R eq { }  { }  R
1 1 1 1 1
  
R R R R R

R R
R eq    R
3 2

11R 11 x 30 Ω
R eq    55 Ω
6 6

E 110 V
Ie  
R eq 55 Ω

= 2A