Lecture 1

EEE2101: Circuit Principles
Lecture 1
Class Etiquette
We all get to participate. None of us knows it all.

Please switch off your phones or keep them in silence – if
you must take a call, do it outside the lecture room.
Keep time – if you are late, enter the room quietly without
distracting others.
Have respect for your classmates – do not unnecessarily
interrupt someone who is speaking.
You can eat/drink in this class – but quietly & no smelly
foods or alcohol.
Strictly no sleeping/napping in my classroom – if you are
tired or not feeling well, leave the room!
Do not make noise – if you must talk to someone, do so but
quietly.
Basic Electric Circuit Concepts
System of Units:
We use the SI (System International) units.

The system uses meters (m), kilograms (kg), seconds (s), ampere (A),
degree kelvin (OK) and candela (cd) as fundamental units.
We use the following prefixes:

pica (p): 10-12 tera (T): 1012
nano (n): 10-9 giga (G) : 109
micro (): 10-6 mega (M): 106
milli (m): 10-3 kilo (k): 103

What is electricity?
• One might define electricity as the separation of positive

and negative electric charge.
• When the charges are separated and stationary we call this

static electricity.
• The charging of a capacitor is an example.
• The separation of charge between clouds and the earth

before a lighting discharge is a static electricity.
• When the charges are in motion (changing with time

relative to one another) we have variable electricity.
Basic Quantities: Current
The unit of current is the ampere (A). We note that
1 ampere = 1 coulomb/second
We normally refer to current as being either direct (dc) or

alternating (ac).
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
i(t) i(t) 0
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
t -0.8 t
-1 ac current
dc current 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
ac current
Basic Quantities: Current
In solving for current in a circuit, we assume a direction, solve

for the current, then reconcile our answer. This is illustrated
below.
I1 = 4 A I2 = - 3 A
Circuit 1 Circuit 2
(a) (b)
In the diagram above, current I1 is actually 4 A as assumed. The

actual positive direction of current I2 (equal to -3 A) is in the opposite
direction of the arrow for I2.
Basic Quantities: Voltage
• An electrical generator (or battery) forces
electrons to move from atom to atom.
• This push or force is like the pressure created by
a pump in a water system.
• In an electrical circuit this pressure
(electromotive force) is called voltage.
• The volt (V) – a unit by which electrical pressure
is measured.
Voltage is also called an electromotive force (emf). It is also called potential

(coming from the expression, “potential energy.” However, voltage is not
energy.)
Suppose one coulomb of charge is located at point b and one joule of energy
is required to move the charge to point a.
Then we say that Vab = 1 volt = 1 joule/coulomb.
The sign associated with a voltage is also called its polarity.

As in the case for current, we must assume a positive direction (polarity)

for the voltage.
Consider the three diagrams below.

+ .
a
v=4v vab = 4 v v=4v
(a)
-
(b)
.
b
(c)
Each of the above gives the same information.

We need to keep in mind that we assume a polarity for the
voltage.
When we solve the circuit for the voltage, we may find that the
actual polarity is not the polarity we assumed.
+
The negative sign for 6 v
indicates that if the red lead of a
v = -6 v
voltmeter is placed on + terminal
and the black lead on the – terminal
- the meter will read downscale or –6v.
A digital meter would read –6 v.

Basic Quantities: Power
Power is defined as the time rate of change of doing work.

We express this as,
dw
p
dt
We can re-write the equation as follows:
dw dq
p  vi
dq dt
The work done per
unit charge is called
Power has units of watts. the electric potential
In any closed electric circuit, power is both supplied

and absorbed.
The amount that is supplied must be equal to the
amount that is
absorbed.
Stated another way, we can say that the law of

conversation of
energy must hold. Therefore, in any electric circuit
the algebraic
sum of the power must be zero.
 p 0
Basic Quantities: Power and Energy
When we pay our electric bills we pay for (watt)(hours) but

because this is such as large number we usually think kWH.
A profile of the power you use during a day may be as shown below.
t
The energy we pay for is the area under the power-time curve.
t t
w   pdt  t vidt
to o
We adopt a passive sign convention in order to define the sign of

supplied power and the sign of absorbed power. Consider the following.
I
+ +
Electric current flows
source vs load from higher electric
vL
potential to lower
_ _ electric potential
Power supplied: If the assumed direction of the current leaves

the assumed positive polarity of the voltage, power is supplied.
Power absorbed: If the assumed direction of the current enters

the assumed positive polarity of the voltage, power is absorbed.
Basic Quantities: Charge
• Charge is the most fundamental quantity of electric circuits.

In most electric circuits, the basic charge is that of an
electron, which is -1.602x10-19 coulombs (C).
• The entity, charge, is expressed as Q or q. If the charge is

constant we use Q. If the charge is in motion we use q(t) or q.
• According to fundamental laws, charge cannot be either

created or destroyed, only transferred from one point to
another.
• We define charge in motion as current.

dq
• i.e, i (t ) 
dt
Circuit Elements:
• We classify circuit elements as passive and active.
• Passive elements cannot generate energy. Common

examples of passive elements are resistors, capacitors
and inductors.
• We will see later that capacitors and inductors can store
energy but cannot generate energy.
• Active elements can generate energy. Common

examples of active elements are power supplies,
batteries, operational amplifiers.
There are 2 types of current
• The form is determined by the directions the current flows through a
conductor
1. Direct Current (DC)
• Flows in only one direction from negative toward positive pole of
source
2. Alternating Current (AC)
• Flows back and forth because the poles of the source alternate
between positive and negative
• Current type comes only from how the current flows in a wire. If it flows only in one direction,
the current is Direct Current (DC), if the current alternates from flowing in one direction one
moment and then reversing to the other direction the next moment, the current is Alternating
Current (AC). Current magnitude (amplitude) is not a determinant of current type. DC does not
have to be constant, as is normally the case of current flowing from a battery, DC only flows in
one direction even if the amplitude varies.
• Both types of current are used in electronic devices. DC is generally used as sources of power
for circuits. AC is generally used as signal sources to transfer energy or intelligence
(information like voice, media like radio waves).
• There are dedicated circuits within an electronic device that converts AC to DC and DC to AC,
and from one AC current to another AC current.
Read about Capacitors and Inductors

Lecture 1

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Lecture 1

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EEE2101: Circuit Principles

We all get to participate. None of us knows it all.

We use the SI (System International) units.

We use the following prefixes:

micro (): 10-6 mega (M): 106

milli (m): 10-3 kilo (k): 103

• One might define electricity as the separation of positive

• When the charges are separated and stationary we call this

• The separation of charge between clouds and the earth

• When the charges are in motion (changing with time

The unit of current is the ampere (A). We note that

We normally refer to current as being either direct (dc) or

In solving for current in a circuit, we assume a direction, solve

In the diagram above, current I1 is actually 4 A as assumed. The

Voltage is also called an electromotive force (emf). It is also called potential

The sign associated with a voltage is also called its polarity.

As in the case for current, we must assume a positive direction (polarity)

Consider the three diagrams below.

v=4v vab = 4 v v=4v

Each of the above gives the same information.

A digital meter would read –6 v.

Power is defined as the time rate of change of doing work.

In any closed electric circuit, power is both supplied

Stated another way, we can say that the law of

When we pay our electric bills we pay for (watt)(hours) but

We adopt a passive sign convention in order to define the sign of

Power supplied: If the assumed direction of the current leaves

Power absorbed: If the assumed direction of the current enters

• Charge is the most fundamental quantity of electric circuits.

• The entity, charge, is expressed as Q or q. If the charge is

• According to fundamental laws, charge cannot be either

• We define charge in motion as current.

• We classify circuit elements as passive and active.

• Passive elements cannot generate energy. Common

• Active elements can generate energy. Common

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