EAT 105

(FUNDAMENTAL OF
ELECTRICAL
ENGINEERING)
CHAPTER 1:
Voltage And Current
 OUTLINE

• CHAPTER 1 - Voltage and Current

• CHAPTER 2 - Resistance
• CHAPTER 3 - Ohm’s Law, Power and Energy
• CHAPTER 4 - Series Circuit
• CHAPTER 5 - Parallel Circuits

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 INTRODUCTION
• A basic electric circuit consisting of a source of
electrical energy, a switch, a load and
interconnecting wire.
Switch
Lamp
(load)
Battery
(Source)
Interconnecting
wire

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ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW
Protons (+)

Neutrons

Electrons (-)

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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW
• Consists of a nucleus of protons and neutrons
surrounded by a group of orbiting electrons.
• Electrons are negatively charged (-), protons
are positively charged (+).
• In normal state, each atom has an equal no. of
electrons and protons.
• Each elements has its own unique
combination of electrons and protons.

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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW

Simplified representation of the atom. Electrons travel in roughly spherical

orbits called “shells”

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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW
• Only certain numbers of electrons can exist
within one shell, and no electrons can exist in the
space between shells.
• The max no of any shell can hold is = 2n2, where
n is the number of shell.
• The max no. of electron for K = 2; L = 8; M=18;
and N=32.
• The outermost shell is called its valence shell,
and it is called valence electron.
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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW: Electrical Charge

• If the atom has equal protons and electrons, their

charges are equal and opposite, they cancel , leaving
the atom uncharged.
• If the atom acquire additional electrons (leaving it
more electrons than protons), it is negatively charged/
negative ion.
• If the atom loses electrons (leaving it more protons
than electrons), it is positively charged/ positive ion.
• Usually the atom is uncharged however, this balance is
easily disturbed.
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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW: Coulomb’s Law

• Coulomb determined experimentally the force

between two charges q1 and q2. Mathematically:

Where:
k = 9 x 109
Fe = is in Newton (N) q2

q1

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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW: Coulomb’s Law

• Force decreases inversely as the square of

distance; thus the bigger the distance, the
weaker the force.
• Hence, the electrons in outer orbits (valence
electrons, remember?) are less strongly
attracted to nucleus than those in inner orbits.
• If they acquire sufficient energy (the valence
electrons), they will escape from their parent
atoms.
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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW: Free Electrons
• The amount of energy required to escape depend on
the number of electrons in valence shell. E.g.: Copper
that has 1 valence electron, can gain sufficient energy
from the heat, even at room temperature to escape
from their parent atom. Such electrons are called
free electrons.
• In copper, there are 1023 free electrons/cm3 – makes
a good conductor of electric current.

Random motions of free electrons 11

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 ATOMIC THEORY REVIEW: Conductors,
Insulators And Semiconductors
CONDUCTORS
• Conductors – materials through which charges move easily.
• Metals are good conductors since they have large no. of free
electrons. E.g.: Silver, copper, gold and aluminum.
INSULATORS
• Material that do not conduct (e.g. glass, rubber, porcelain, plastic,
rubber) are termed insulators.
• They do not conduct because they have full or nearly full valence
shells, thus, their electrons are tightly bound.
SEMICONDUCTORS
• They have half-filled valence shells and are thus neither good
conductors nor good insulators (E.g.: silicon and germanium).
• This unique properties make them an important material for
electronic industries. NMN S1 2014/2015 12
 TEST YOURSELF
• Describe the basic structure of atom.
• What are valence shell? What does the
valence shell contain?
• Describe Coulomb’s Law. Why electrons far
from nucleus are loose?
• What are free electrons?
• Briefly distinguish between a normal atom,
positive ion, and a negative ion.
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 UNIT OF ELECTRICAL CHARGE: The Coulomb

• The SI units for electrical charge is the coulombs (C).

• The coulomb is defined as the charge carried by 6.24 x
1018 electrons. If an electrically neutral body has 6.24 x
1018 electrons removed, it will be left with a net positive
charge of 1 coulomb.
Q= 1C
• If an electrically neutral body has 6.24 x 10 18 electrons
added, it will have a net negative charge of 1 coulomb.
Q= -1C
WHAT IS THE CHARGE FOR 1 ELECTRON?

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 UNIT OF ELECTRICAL CHARGE: The Coulomb

An initial neutral body has 1.7 μC of negative

charge removed. Later, 18.7 x 1011 electrons are
added. What is the bodies final charge?

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 UNIT OF ELECTRICAL CHARGE: The Coulomb

• First of all, convert the electrons to the unit of C:

11 1C
18.7 ´ 10 electrons ´ 18
=0.3m C
6.24 ´ 10 electrons
• Solve for the total charge:+1.7m C +(- 0.3mC) =+1.4mC

To get an idea how big C is, if we place 2 charges

of 1 C each at 1 meter apart, the force between
them are: q1q2 9 (1C)(1C) 9
Fe =k 2
=(9 ´ 10 ) 2
=9 ´ 10 N
This is about 1
2
r 1m million tons!!
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 TEST YOURSELF
1. Positive charges q1 = 2μC and q2=12μC are separated center to
center by 10 mm. Compute the force between them. Is it
repulsive attractive or repulsive?
2. 2 equal charges are separated by 1 cm. If the force of repulsion
between them is 9.7 x 10-2 N, what is their charge? What are
the charges be, both positive, both negative or 1 positive and 1
negative?
3. After 10.61 x 1013 electrons are added to a metal plate, it has a
negative charge of 3μC. What was its initial charge in C?

Answer: 1. 2160 N, repulsive; 2. 32.8 nC, both (+) or both (-); 3. 14 μC (+)

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 VOLTAGE
• When charges are detached from 1 body and transferred to
another, a voltage results between them.
• During electrical storms, electrons in thunderclouds are
stripped from their parent atoms by forces of turbulence and
carried to the bottom cloud, leaving deficiency of electrons (+
charge) at top and (–) charge at the bottom.
• The (+) charge left at the top of the cloud exerts a force on the
electrons that tries to pull them back (attractive). Since, the
electrons moved against this force, work (force x distance) is
required. This work is known as potential energy (N.m/J).
• Therefore, in simple words voltage is created solely by
separation of (+) and (-) charges.
• The most common/ practical voltage sources: Battery
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VOLTAGE

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 VOLTAGE: THE VOLT
• In electrical term – difference in potential
energy is defined as voltage.
• By definition: The voltage between 2 points is 1
volt if it requires 1 joule of energy to move 1
coulomb of charge from 1 point to the other.
W
V= [volts,V]
Q
where W is energy in J, Q is charge in C.

NOTE: Voltage is defined between points, thus,

voltage does not exist at a point by itself.
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 VOLTAGE: THE VOLT
(EXAMPLE)

If it takes 35 J of energy to move a charge of 5 C

from 1 point to another, what is the voltage
between two points?

SOLUTION:
W 35J
V= = =7J / C =7V
Q 5C

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 TEST YOURSELF
1. The voltage between 2 points is 19 V. How
much energy is required to move 67 x 1018
electrons from 1 point to the other?
2. The potential difference between 2 points is
140 mV. If 280 μJ of work are required to move
a charge Q from 1 point to other, what is Q?

Answer: 1. 204J; 2. 2mC

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VOLTAGE: SYMBOL FOR DC VOLTAGE SOURCES

+ + +
Symbol Symbol A 1.5V
E for a cell for a 1.5V battery
- E
- battery -

Battery symbol. The long bar denotes the (+) terminal and the short bar the (-) terminal

• Battery is the source of electrical energy that moves

charges around the circuit.
• Because 1 of the battery terminals is always (+) and
the other is always (-), current is always in the same
direction. Hence, this unidirectional current is called
direct current (dc). Battery is called dc source.
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 CURRENT
• There are large number of free electrons in
metals e.g. copper. (Remember?? Slide 11)
• Assume a cell is connected as figure. The
electrons passing by through the wire and
the cell.
• This movement is known as electric
current.
• The more electrons per seconds that pass
through the circuit, the greater the current.
• Current is the rate of flow of charge.
Electron flow in a conductor. Electrons
• Conventional current flow – A movement
(-) sre attracted to the positive (+) pole
of (+) charge and these charge moved of battery. As electrons move saround
around the circuit from (+) terminal to (-) the circuit, they replenished at the (-)
terminal of the battery (as shown in the pole of battery. This flow of charge is
figure). called an electric current.

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 CURRENT: The Ampere
• In SI system, 1 coulomb per second is defined as 1
ampere (A).
• By definition: 1 A is the current in a circuit when 1
C of charge passes a given 1 point in 1 second.
Q
I = [ampere, A]
t
where Q is the charge in C, t is time interval in seconds.

Note: t does not represent a discrete point in time but it

is the interval of time during which the transfer of
charge occurs.
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 CURRENT: The Ampere
(Example)

If 840 C of charge pass through the wire during

time interval of 2 minutes, what is the current?

SOLUTION:

Q 840C
I= = =7C / s =7A
t (2 ´ 60)s

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 TEST YOURSELF
1. Between t = 1 ms and t = 14 ms, 8 μC of charge
pass through a wire. What is the current?
2. After the switch in a circuit is closed, current I=
4A. How much charge passes through the lamp
between the time the switch is closed and the
time that it is opened 3 minutes later??

Answer: 1. 0.615 mA; 2. 720 C

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 CURRENT: Alternating Current
• Alternating current – current that changes
direction cyclically, i.e. charges alternately
flow in one direction, then in the other in a
circuit.
• The most common AC source – the
commercial AC power system that supplies
energy to your home.

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CELLS IN SERIES AND PARALLEL

Cells connected in series Cells connected in parallel

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