Week # 1: Lecture Notes

• Basic Concept of Voltage, Current, Energy and Power

• Introduction to Ammeter and Voltmeter

Basic Concept of Voltage, Current, Energy

and Power
Voltage and current are the cornerstone concepts in electricity. We will create our first mental models
for these basic electrical quantities. We will also talk about power, which is what happens when
voltage and current act together.

CHARGE
The concept of electricity arises from an observation of nature. We observe a force between objects,
that, like gravity, acts at a distance. The source of this force has been given the name charge. A very
noticeable thing about electric force is that it is large, far greater than the force of gravity. Unlike
gravity, however, there are two types of electric charge. Opposite types of charge attract, and like
types of charge repel. Gravity has only one type: it only attracts, never repels.

CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS

Conductors are made of atoms whose outer, or valence, electrons have relatively weak bonds to their
nuclei, as shown in this fanciful image of a copper atom. When a bunch of metal atoms are together,
they gladly share their outer electrons with each other, creating a "swarm" of electrons not associated
with a particular nucleus. A very small electric force can make the electron swarm move. Copper, gold,
silver, and aluminum are good conductors. So is saltwater.

There are also poor conductors. Tungsten—a metal used for light bulb filaments—and carbon—in
diamond form—are relatively poor conductors because their electrons are less prone to move.

Insulators are materials whose outer electrons are tightly bound to their nuclei. Modest electric forces
are not able to pull these electrons free. When an electric force is applied, the electron clouds around
the atom stretch and deform in response to the force, but the electrons do not depart. Glass, plastic,
stone, and air are insulators. Even for insulators, though, electric force can always be turned up high
enough to rip electrons away—this is called breakdown. That's what is happening to air molecules
when you see a spark.

Semiconductor materials fall between insulators and conductors. They usually act like insulators, but
we can make them act like conductors under certain circumstances. The most well-known
semiconductor material is Silicon (atomic number 14). Our ability to finely control the insulating and
conducting properties of silicon allows us to create modern marvels like computers and mobile
phones. The atomic-level details of how semiconductor devices work are governed by the theories of
quantum mechanics.

CURRENT
Current is the flow of charge. IMPORTANT:
Current is reported as the number of charges per unit time ‘Charge’ flows in a
passing through a boundary. Visualize placing a boundary all
the way through a wire. Station yourself near the boundary
current!
and count the number of charges passing by. Report how Notice the careful
much charge passed through the boundary in one second. grammar here.
We assign a positive sign to current corresponding to the Current is a flow. It is
direction a positive charge would be moving. technically more correct
to say "charge flows"
than "current flows".
However, the common
habit among engineers is
to say, "current flows".
This is such an ingrained
habit that it is perfectly
acceptable engineering
talk, as long as you
Since current is the amount of charge passing through a understand that it's
boundary in a fixed amount of time, it can be expressed actually charge that is
mathematically using the following equation: moving.
𝑑𝑞
𝑖=
𝑑𝑡
That's current in a nutshell.

A FEW REMARKS ON CURRENT

What carries current in metal? Since electrons are free to move about in metals, moving electrons
are what makes up the current in metals. The positive nuclei in metal atoms are fixed in place and do
not contribute to current. Even though electrons have a negative charge and do almost all the work
in most electric circuits, we still define a positive current as the direction a positive charge would
move. This is a very old historical convention.

Can current be carried by positive charges? Yes. There are lots of examples. Current is carried by both
positive and negative charges in saltwater: If we put ordinary table salt in water, it becomes a good
conductor. Table salt is sodium chloride, NaCl. The salt dissolves in water, into free-floating Na+ and
Cl- ions. Both ions respond to electric force and move through the saltwater solution, in opposite
directions. In this case, the current is composed of moving atoms, both positive and negative ions, not
just loose electrons. Inside our bodies, electrical currents are moving ions, both positive and negative.
The same definition of current works: count the number of charges passing by in a fixed amount of
time.

What causes current? Charged objects move in response to electric and magnetic forces. These forces
come from electric and magnetic fields, which in turn come from the position and motion of other
charges.

What is the speed of current? We don't talk very often about the speed of current. Answering the
question, "How fast is the current flowing?" requires understanding of a complex physical
phenomenon and is not often relevant. Current usually isn't about meters per second, it's about
charge per second. More often, we answer the question "How much current is flowing?" all the time.

How do we talk about current? When discussing current, terms like through and in make a lot of
sense. Current flows through a resistor; current flows in a wire. If you hear, "the current across ...", it
should sound odd.

VOLTAGE
To get our initial toehold on the concept of voltage, let's Limits of this
look at an analogy: analogy
Voltage resembles gravity
Charged particles differ
For a mass 𝑚, a change of height ℎ corresponds to a change from rolling balls in one
in potential energy, ∆𝑈 = 𝑚𝑔∆ℎ very important way. Balls
do not repel, whereas
For a charged particle 𝑞, a voltage 𝑉 corresponds to a change charges with the same
in potential energy, ∆𝑈 = 𝑞𝑉 sign—an electron swarm
Voltage in an electric circuit is analogous to the product in a wire, for example—
of 𝑔. ∆ℎ. Where 𝑔 is the acceleration due to gravity and ∆ℎ is strongly repel each
the change of height. other. The analogy to
gravity strains when
A ball at the top of the hill rolls down. When it is halfway many charges are
down, it has given up half of its potential energy. involved. A crowd of
An electron at the top of a voltage "hill" travels "downhill" balls does not behave
through wires and elements of a circuit. It gives up its the same as a crowd of
potential energy, doing work along the way. When the electrons.
electron is halfway down the hill, it has given up, or
"dropped", half of its potential energy.
For both the ball and the electron, the trip down the hill happens spontaneously. The ball and electron
move towards a lower energy state all by themselves. On the trip down, there can be things in the
way of the ball, like trees or bears to bounce off. For electrons, we can guide electrons using wires and
make them flow through electronic components —circuit design— and do interesting things along the
way.

We can express the voltage between two points mathematically as the change of energy experienced
by a charge:
∆𝑈
𝑉=
𝑞
That's an intuitive description of voltage in a nutshell.

POWER
Power is defined as the rate energy (U) is transformed or transferred over time. We measure power
in units of joules/second, also known as watts.

1 watt = 1 joule/second
𝑑𝑈
𝑃=
𝑑𝑡

An electric circuit is capable of transferring power. Current is the rate of flow of charge, and voltage
measures the energy transferred per unit of charge. We can insert these definitions into the equation
for power:
𝑑𝑈 𝑑𝑈 𝑑𝑞
𝑃= = ∙ = 𝑣𝑖
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑞 𝑑𝑡

Electrical power is the product of voltage times current. in units of watts.

SUMMARY OF TERMS
• Voltage - the electric potential between one place and another. How much the electricity
wants to move from one point to another. Measured in volts.

• Current - the current flow from one point to another, literally based on how many electrons
are moving per second. Measured in amps

• Power - work that is being done per second. In circuits, this usually means the amount of heat
given off by a circuit. Measured in watts, or joules per second.

• Energy - total amount of work done. There is no time component for this, which is the
differentiator between power and energy. Measured in joules.

POWER VERSUS ENERGY

Let’s focus on power and energy again. Saying that the relationship between power and energy is only
a matter of the time component is unsatisfying and not very clear. Let’s do a quick example that may
make things simpler. Imagine you need to lift a box 10 feet. You can throw it directly up in 1 second
or lift it slowly over 10 seconds. The amount of energy needed to move the box from 0 to 10 feet is
the same but the first option, throwing it directly upwards requires 10 times the power as lifting it
slowly. In the vast majority of circuits applications and problems, we only care about power and ignore
energy, but when discussing energy sources like batteries and capacitors, this distinction becomes
critical.

“Batteries are more energy dense than capacitors but capacitors are more power dense than
batteries. Expanding on the box example and using some arbitrarily chosen numbers, what this means
is that a capacitor can lift a box 100 feet in the air in one second, while a battery the same physical
size can only lift a box 10 feet in the air in one second. But, given equal physical sizes, the battery can
lift a box a total of 5,000 feet before running out of energy but a capacitor can lift a box a total of 300
feet before running out of energy.”

Electric power, mathematically, is simply current times voltage, so is a factor of both flow and
potential. Going back to the water analogy, you can have a small flow from a great height produce a
lot of power. Or you can have a very large flow from a relatively low height create a lot of power. But
if you have too little of one or the other, there isn’t much power. Much like a raindrop falling won’t
create a usable amount of power, a huge voltage without any current won’t produce much power. Or
water spilling out of a cup on a table may have flow but there’s no potential behind it to do any work.
It’s the combination that creates the power.
Ammeters and Voltmeters
Ammeters and voltmeters are cleverly designed for the way they are used. Ammeters measure the
current of a circuit, and voltmeters measure the voltage drop across a resistor. It is important in the
design and use of these meters that they don't change the circuit in such a way as to influence the
readings. While both types of meters are technically resistors, they are specifically designed to make
their readings without changing the circuit itself.

Ammeter

An ammeter measures the current traveling through the circuit. They are designed to be connected
to the circuit in series, and have an extremely low resistance. If an ammeter were connected in
parallel, all of the current would go through the ammeter and very little through any other resistor.
As such, it is necessary for the ammeter to be connected in series with the resistors. This allows the
ammeter to accurately measure the current flow without causing any disruptions. In the circuit
sketched above, the ammeter is m2.

Voltmeter

In contrast, a voltmeter is designed to be connected to a circuit in parallel, and has a very high
resistance. A voltmeter measures the voltage drop across a resistor, and does not need to have the
current travel through it to do so. When a voltmeter is placed in parallel with a resistor, all the current
continues to travel through the resistor, avoiding the very high resistance of the voltmeter. However,
we know that the voltage drop across all resistors in parallel is the same, so connecting a voltmeter in
parallel allows it to accurately measure the voltage drop. In the sketch, the voltmeter is m1.

A galvanometer is a device that uses the magnetic field generated by a flowing electric current to push
a needle. When placed in parallel with a resistor, it can act as an ammeter and be used to measure
the amount of current flowing through a circuit. When placed in series with a resistor, it can act as a
voltmeter and measure the voltage across the device.

Summary

• Ammeters measure the current through a resistor.

• Ammeters have low resistances and are placed in the circuit in series.
• Voltmeters measure the voltage drop across a resistor.
• Voltmeters have high resistances and are placed in the circuit in parallel.