SECTION 7.

2 THE INDUCTOR 225

Important Characteristics of an Ideal Capacitor

1. There is no current through a capacitor if the voltage across it is not
changing with time. A capacitor is therefore an open circuit to dc.
2. A finite amount of energy can be stored in a capacitor even if the
current through the capacitor is zero, such as when the voltage
across it is constant.
3. It is impossible to change the voltage across a capacitor by a finite
amount in zero time, as this requires an infinite current through the
capacitor. (A capacitor resists an abrupt change in the voltage
across it in a manner analogous to the way a spring resists an
abrupt change in its displacement.)
4. A capacitor never dissipates energy, but only stores it. Although
this is true for the mathematical model, it is not true for a physical
capacitor due to finite resistances associated with the dielectric as
well as the packaging.

7.2 THE INDUCTOR

•
Ideal Inductor Model
In the early 1800s the Danish scientist Oersted showed that a current-
carrying conductor produced a magnetic field (compass needles were
affected in the presence of a wire when current was flowing). Shortly there-
after, Ampère made some careful measurements which demonstrated that
this magnetic field was linearly related to the current which produced it.
The next step occurred some 20 years later when the English experimental-
ist Michael Faraday and the American inventor Joseph Henry discovered
almost simultaneously3 that a changing magnetic field could induce a volt-
age in a neighboring circuit. They showed that this voltage was proportional
to the time rate of change of the current producing the magnetic field. The
constant of proportionality is what we now call the inductance, symbolized
by L, and therefore

di
v=L [5]
dt

where we must realize that v and i are both functions of time. When we wish
to emphasize this, we may do so by using the symbols v(t) and i(t).
The circuit symbol for the inductor is shown in Fig. 7.10, and it should iL
be noted that the passive sign convention is used, just as it was with the re- L
sistor and the capacitor. The unit in which inductance is measured is the + vL –
henry (H), and the defining equation shows that the henry is just a shorter ■ FIGURE 7.10 Electrical symbol and current-voltage
expression for a volt-second per ampere. conventions for an inductor.

(3) Faraday won.

226 CHAPTER 7 CAPACITORS AND INDUCTORS

The inductor whose inductance is defined by Eq. [5] is a mathematical

model; it is an ideal element which we may use to approximate the behavior
of a real device. A physical inductor may be constructed by winding a
length of wire into a coil. This serves effectively to increase the current that
is causing the magnetic field and also to increase the “number” of neigh-
boring circuits into which Faraday’s voltage may be induced. The result of
this twofold effect is that the inductance of a coil is approximately propor-
tional to the square of the number of complete turns made by the conduc-
tor out of which it is formed. For example, an inductor or “coil” that has the
form of a long helix of very small pitch is found to have an inductance of
μN 2 A/s, where A is the cross-sectional area, s is the axial length of the he-
lix, N is the number of complete turns of wire, and μ (mu) is a constant of
the material inside the helix, called the permeability. For free space (and
very closely for air), μ = μ0 = 4π × 10−7 H/m = 4π nH/cm. Several ex-
amples of commercially available inductors are shown in Fig. 7.11.
Let us now scrutinize Eq. [5] to determine some of the electrical charac-
teristics of the mathematical model. This equation shows that the voltage
across an inductor is proportional to the time rate of change of the current
through it. In particular, it shows that there is no voltage across an inductor
carrying a constant current, regardless of the magnitude of this current.
Accordingly, we may view an inductor as a short circuit to dc.
Another fact that can be obtained from Eq. [5] is that a sudden or dis-
continuous change in the current must be associated with an infinite voltage
across the inductor. In other words, if we wish to produce an abrupt change
in an inductor current, we must apply an infinite voltage. Although an
infinite-voltage forcing function might be amusing theoretically, it can
never be a part of the phenomena displayed by a real physical device. As we

(a) (b)
■ FIGURE 7.11 (a) Several different types of commercially available inductors, sometimes also referred to as “chokes.” Clockwise, starting from far left:
287 μH ferrite core toroidal inductor, 266 μH ferrite core cylindrical inductor, 215 μH ferrite core inductor designed for VHF frequencies, 85 μH iron
powder core toroidal inductor, 10 μH bobbin-style inductor, 100 μH axial lead inductor, and 7 μH lossy-core inductor used for RF suppression. (b) An
11 H inductor, measuring 10 cm (tall) × 8 cm (wide) × 8 cm (deep).
 SECTION 7.2 THE INDUCTOR 227

shall see shortly, an abrupt change in the inductor current also requires an
abrupt change in the energy stored in the inductor, and this sudden change
in energy requires infinite power at that instant; infinite power is again not a
part of the real physical world. In order to avoid infinite voltage and infinite
power, an inductor current must not be allowed to jump instantaneously
from one value to another.
If an attempt is made to open-circuit a physical inductor through which
a finite current is flowing, an arc may appear across the switch. This is use-
ful in the ignition system of some automobiles, where the current through
the spark coil is interrupted by the distributor and the arc appears across the
spark plug. Although this does not occur instantaneously, it happens in a
very short timespan, leading to the creation of a large voltage. The pres-
ence of a large voltage across a short distance equates to a very large
electric field; the stored energy is dissipated in ionizing the air in the path
of the arc.
Equation [5] may also be interpreted (and solved, if necessary) by
graphical methods, as seen in Example 7.4.

EXAMPLE 7.4
Given the waveform of the current in a 3 H inductor as shown in
Fig. 7.12a, determine the inductor voltage and sketch it.
i(t) (A) v (t) (V)

1
3

t (s) t (s)
–1 0 1 2 3 –1 0 1 2 3
–3
(a) (b)
■ FIGURE 7.12 (a) The current waveform in a 3 H inductor. (b) The corresponding voltage
waveform, v = 3 di/dt.

Defining the voltage v and the current i to satisfy the passive sign con-
vention, we may obtain v from Fig. 7.12a using Eq. [5]:
di
v=3
dt

Since the current is zero for t < −1 s, the voltage is zero in this inter-
val. The current then begins to increase at the linear rate of 1 A/s, and
thus a constant voltage of L di/dt = 3 V is produced. During the
following 2 s interval, the current is constant and the voltage is there-
fore zero. The final decrease of the current results in di/dt = −1 A/s,
yielding v = −3 V. For t > 3 s, i(t) is a constant (zero), so that
v(t) = 0 for that interval. The complete voltage waveform is sketched
in Fig. 7.12b.
228 CHAPTER 7 CAPACITORS AND INDUCTORS

P R ACTICE
●
7.4 The current through a 200 mH inductor is shown in Fig. 7.13.
Assume the passive sign convention, and find v L at t equal to
(a) 0; (b) 2 ms; (c) 6 ms.
iL (mA)

t (ms)
–3 –2 –1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
–2

–4

–6
■ FIGURE 7.13

Ans: 0.4 V; 0.2 V; −0.267 V.

Let us now investigate the effect of a more rapid rise and decay of the
current between the 0 and l A values.

EXAMPLE 7.5
Find the inductor voltage that results from applying the current
waveform shown in Fig. 7.14a to the inductor of Example 7.4.
i(t) (A) v(t) (V)

1 30

t (s) t (s)
–1 0 1 2 3 –1 0 1 2 3
–0.1 2.1 –0.1 2.1
–30
(a) (b)
■ FIGURE 7.14 (a) The time required for the current of Fig. 7.12a to change from 0 to 1 and from
1 to 0 is decreased by a factor of 10. (b) The resultant voltage waveform. The pulse widths are
exaggerated for clarity.

Note that the intervals for the rise and fall have decreased to 0.1 s.
Thus, the magnitude of each derivative will be 10 times larger; this
condition is shown in the current and voltage sketches of Fig. 7.14a
and b. In the voltage waveforms of Fig. 7.13b and 7.14b, it is interest-
ing to note that the area under each voltage pulse is 3 V · s.

Just for curiosity’s sake, let’s continue in the same vein for a moment. A
further decrease in the rise and fall times of the current waveform will pro-
duce a proportionally larger voltage magnitude, but only within the interval