Lectures on Physics has been derived from Benjamin Crowell's Light and Matter series of free introductory textbooks on physics. See the editorial for more information....

Summary - Electricity

All electrical phenomena are alike in that that arise from the presence or motion of charge. Most practical electrical devices are based on the motion of charge around a complete circuit, so that the charge can be recycled and does not hit any dead ends. The most useful measure of the flow of charge is current, I=Δq/Δt.

An electrical device whose job is to transform energy from one form into another, e.g. a lightbulb, uses power at a rate which depends both on how rapidly charge is flowing through it and on how much work is done on each unit of charge. The latter quantity is known as the voltage difference between the point where the current enters the device and the point where the current leaves it. Since there is a type of potential energy associated with electrical forces, the amount of work they do is equal to the difference in potential energy between the two points, and we therefore define voltage differences directly in terms of potential energy, ΔV=ΔPEelec/q. The rate of power dissipation is P=IΔV.

Many important electrical phenomena can only be explained if we understand the mechanisms of current flow at the atomic level. In metals, currents are carried by electrons, in liquids by ions. Gases are normally poor conductors unless their atoms are subjected to such intense electrical forces that the atoms become ionized. Many substances, including all solids, respond to electrical forces in such a way that the flow of current between two points is proportional to the voltage difference between those points. Such a substance is called ohmic, and an object made out of an ohmic substance can be rated in terms of its resistance, R=ΔV/I. An important corollary is that a perfect conductor, with R=0, must have constant voltage everywhere within it.

A schematic is a drawing of a circuit that standardizes and stylizes its features to make it easier to understand. Any circuit can be broken down into smaller parts. For instance, one big circuit may be understood as two small circuits in series, another as three circuits in parallel. When circuit elements are combined in parallel and in series, we have two basic rules to guide us in understanding how the parts function as a whole:

the junction rule: In any circuit that is not storing or releasing charge,
conservation of charge implies that the total current flowing out of any junction
must be the same as the total flowing in.

the loop rule: Assuming the standard convention for plus and minus signs,
the sum of the voltage drops around any closed loop in a circuit must be zero.

The simplest application of these rules is to pairs of resistors combined in series or parallel. In such cases, the pair of resistors acts just like a single unit with a certain resistance value, called their equivalent resistance. Resistances in series add to produce a larger equivalent resistance,

Rseries = R1 + R2 ,

because the current has to fight its way through both resistances. Parallel resistors combine to produce an equivalent resistance that is smaller than either individual resistance,

because the current has two different paths open to it.

An important example of resistances in parallel and series is the use of voltmeters and ammeters in resistive circuits. A voltmeter acts as a large resistance in parallel with the resistor across which the voltage drop is being measured. The fact that its resistance is not infinite means that it alters the circuit it is being used to investigate, producing a lower equivalent resistance. An ammeter acts as a small resistance in series with the circuit through which the current is to be determined. Its resistance is not quite zero, which leads to an increase in the resistance of the circuit being tested.




Last Update: 2010-11-11