Rhodes University

Physics & Electronics Department

PHY 201: Electronics: Circuit Concepts
March 15 - 21: Memo

QUESTIONS

1. For the following circuit

100Ω A

5V +- 100Ω vAB RL
B

(a) Draw the Thevenin equivalent circuit for the circuit to provide the source voltage,
vAB .
(b) Draw the Norton equivalent circuit.

Solution:
(a) For the Thevenin equivalent circuit:

• First calculate the Thevenin voltage, VT H , drawing no current. The two

100 Ω resistors act like a voltage divider giving

100Ω
VT H = × 5 = 2.5VX1
200Ω
• To calculate the Thevenin resistance, RT H , we consider shorting the voltage
source, so that the two 100Ω resistors are in parallel, i.e.
1 1 1 2
= + = X1 =⇒ RT H = 50ΩX1
RT H 100Ω 100Ω 100Ω

50Ω A

X1
2.5V +- vAB RL
X1 B
 (b) For the Norton equivalent circuit, the Norton current is

2.5V 2500mV
iN = = = 50mAX1
50Ω 50Ω

The Norton resistance is the same as the Thevenin resistance, RN = 50ΩX1.

Proceed and draw the circuit.

2. A 10V battery has Rs = 0.5Ω.

(a) Draw both equivalent circuits.
(b) When a resistor is connected across the terminals the voltage drops to 8V. What is
the value of the resistor?

Solution:

(a) We have vT H = 10V and RT H = 0.5Ω. Also RN = 0.5Ω, while the Norton
equivalent current is
vT H 10V
iN = = = 20A
RT H 0.5Ω
So the Thevenin and Norton equivalent circuits are

Battery
RT H X1 Battery
A A
X1 X1 X1
vT H + 0.5Ω vAB iN RN X1 vAB
RL RL
10V - 20A 0.5Ω
B B

Thevenin equivalent circuit Norton equivalent circuit

(b) With the terminal voltage vAB = vL = 8V , from the Thevenin equivalent circuit,
it means that there is a vdrop = 2V X1 drop across RT H , so that load current is

vdrop 2V
iL = X1 = = 4AX1
RT H 0.5Ω
Now, a simple Ohm’s law gives
vL 8V
RL = X1 = = 2ΩX1
iL 4A

3. Nortonise and Thevenise the following circuits:

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 1kΩ 1kΩ 20kΩ
A 30V -+
A

5V -
+
1kΩ 10kΩ
B B
(a) (b)
1kΩ 2kΩ
1kΩ 1kΩ A
A
5kΩ
100mA 1kΩ 10V +-
B 2mA
(c) B
* (d)

Solution:

(a) Thevenin: The Thevenin voltage is

1
vT H = × 5V = 2.5V.
2
The Thevenin resistance is
1
RT H = (1kΩ k 1kΩ) + 1kΩ = kΩ + 1kΩ = 1.5kΩ
2
Norton: The Norton current is
5/2V
iN = = 1.67mA
3/2kΩ

(b) Thevenin: The Thevenin voltage is

1
vT H = × 30V = 10V.
3
The Thevenin resistance is
20kΩ
RT H = (10kΩ k 20kΩ) = = 6.7kΩ
3
Norton: The Norton current is
10V
iN = = 1.5mA
20kΩ/3

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 (c) Thevenin: The Thevenin resistance is obtained by making the current-source
an open circuit, giving RT H = 2kΩ. For the Thevenin voltage, since we are
drawing no current, the voltage will be equal to the voltage drop across the
one 1kΩ resistor, i.e.

vT H = 100mA × 1kΩ = 100V

Norton: The Norton current is

100V
iN = = 50mA
2kΩ

(d) Thevenin: The Thevenin resistance is obtained by making the current-source

an open circuit and the voltage source short-circuit, giving, RT H = 3kΩ.
For the Thevenin voltage, we note that the current from the current source
can only be flowing through the 1kΩ resistor, giving a voltage drop of 2V.
The Thevenin voltage will therefore be 12V.
Norton: The Norton current is
12V
iN = = 4mA
3kΩ
*Proceed and draw all the circuits.

4. * For the following circuit, calculate the voltage and current through the load, RL = 3Ω,
by determining the Thevenin equivalent circuit of the source circuit. Hint: KCL may be
useful.

6Ω

1Ω 15A
A

2Ω
20V +- 15A 3Ω
B

Solution:

(a) Start by calculating the Thevenin equivalent voltage by removing the load resis-
tor. Also we label the currents through the three resistors, as shown:

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 6Ω
i3
y

1Ω 15A
x A
i1 i2
2Ω
20V +- 15A vAB
B

• We now apply KCL at the node x, with all the current leaving node x
adding up to zero:

0 = i1 + i2 + 15 + 15
vx − 20 vx − vy
= + + 30
1 2
= 2vx − 40 + vx − vy + 60

giving the equation

3vx − vy + 20 = 0 (1)

• Similarly, we apply KCL at the node y, with all the current entering node
y adding up to zero:

0 = i2 + i3 + 15

and following the same steps as before gives the equation (check)

3vx − 4vy + 110 = 0 (2)

Solving the simultaneous equations (1) and (2) gives the solution:

10
vx = V and vy = 30V
3

But vy ≡ vAB = vT H , so that vT H = 30V.

(b) To calculate the Thevenin equivalent resistance we need to short-circuit the

voltage sources, open-circuit the current sources and then calculate the resistance
of the resulting circuit:

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 6Ω

1Ω A

2Ω RAB

We get RT H = 2Ω.

(c) We now have the Thevenin equivalent circuit

2Ω A
iL

30V +- vL 3Ω
B

from which we can calculate the load current

30V
iL = = 6A,
5Ω
while the load voltage is
3
vL = × 30V = 18V.
5

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