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Published byJames Pearson Modified over 9 years ago
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DC Circuits Currents. Resistors. Batteries. Kirchhoff’s Loop Rules. Power
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Examples of Circuits
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Current: flow of charge Average current: I av = Charge Q flowing across area A in time t Instantaneous current: differential limit of I av Units of current: Coulomb/second=Ampere (A)
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Direction of the current Direction of current is in direction of flow of positive charge or, opposite direction of flow of negative charge
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Current density J (1) J : current/unit area points in the direction of the current Units A/m 2
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Current density J (2) If the ara is not perpendicular to the current A n area or surface perpendicular to the direction of the current : angle between normal to A and current
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Why does current flow? If an electric field is set up in a conductor, charge will move (making a current in the direction of E) Note that when current is flowing, the conductor is not an equipotential surface (and E inside 0)!
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Microscopic picture (1) Drift speed is velocity forced by applied electric field in the presence of collisions, it is typically 4x10 -5 m/s, or 0.04 mm/s! To go one meter at this speed takes about 10 hours Thermal velocity is around 10 3 km/s ! How can this be?
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Microscopic picture (2) v d : drift velocity n : number of carriers per unit volume q : charge of each carrier (normally e) A : suface perpendicular to v d
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Conductivity and resistiviy Ability of current to flow depends on density of charges & rate of scattering. Two quantities summarize this: : conductivity : resistivity
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Microscopic Ohm’s Law And depend only on the microscopic properties of the material, not on its shape
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The voltage drops in a resistor The electric field brings about a voltage drop in a resistor
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What is the relationship between V and current? Ohm’s Law (1)
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R has units of ohms ( )=Volt/Amp Ohm’s Law (2) Then, units of : m and : -1 m -1
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Examples of Circuits
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Symbols for circuit elements
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Electromotive force -Battery Moving from the negative to positive terminal of a battery increases your potential Think: Ski Lift
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Internal resistance Real batteries have an internal resistance, r, which is small but non-zero Terminal voltage: Real battery=ideal battery in series with a resistance
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Sign conventions - Resistor Moving across a resistor in the direction of current decreases your potential Think: Ski Slope Voltage drop: Voltage decreases in the direction of the current
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Sign conventions - Capacitor Moving across a capacitor from the negatively to positively charged plate increases your potential
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Resistors in series The same current I must flow through both resistors or
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Resistors in parallel Voltage drop across the resistors must be the same or
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Measuring V, I, R
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Measuring Potential Difference A voltmeter must be hooked in parallel across the element you want to measure the potential difference across Voltmeters have a very large resistance, so that they don’t affect the circuit too much
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Measuring Current An ammeter must be hooked in series with the element you want to measure the current through Ammeters have a very low resistance, so that they don’t affect the circuit too much
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Measuring Resistance An ohmmeter must be hooked in parallel across the element you want to measure the resistance of Here we are measuring R 1 Ohmmeters apply a voltage and measure the current that flows. They typically won’t work if the resistor is powered (connected to a battery)
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