PHYSICS 2

Direct-Current Circuits

Content standard:
The learners demonstrate an understanding of:
1. Devices for measuring currents and voltages
2. Resistors in series and parallel
3. Kirchhoff’s rules
4. R-C circuits

Learning competencies:
1. Operate devices for measuring currents and voltages
2. Draw circuit diagrams with power sources (cell or battery), switches, lamps, resistors (fixed and
variable) fuses, ammeters and voltmeters
3. Evaluate the equivalent resistance, current, and voltage in a given network of resistors
connected in series and/or parallel
4. Calculate the current and voltage through and across circuit elements using Kirchhoff’s loop and
junction rules (at most 2 loops only)
5. Solve problems involving the calculation of currents and potential differences in circuits
consisting of batteries, resistors, and capacitors

Measuring Devices for currents and voltages

Voltage Measurements
Voltage measurements are probably the easiest type of circuit measurement to make.
The following procedure can be used to measure voltage between two points in a circuit: 1.
Select the correct voltage mode (ac or dc) on the meter. 2. Select a range that is higher than the
expected value of circuit voltage. 3. Connect the leads of the meter between the two points
being measured. Figure 3-50 shows the proper way to measure voltage in a circuit. An encircled
V is used to represent a voltmeter on a schematic diagram. In most cases, the black (–) lead of
the meter should be connected to the most negative of the two points being measured. The red
(+) lead of the meter connects to the most positive potential. If an analog meter is connected in
the reverse direction, it may be damaged since the pointer will try to deflect off of the left side of
the scale. A digital meter will normally operate correctly with either polarity; however, the polarity
indications on the meter may confuse the technician unless the meter is used in a consistent
manner (e.g., black lead to the most negative potential).
Key point: Voltage measurements are made by connecting the voltmeter leads across the
component to be measured. The negative side of the meter should be connected to the
most negative (or least positive) of the two measured points.

Voltage is measured by connecting the meter between the two points being monitored.

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Current Measurements
Current measurements are more difficult than voltage measurements, because the
circuit must be broken in order to insert the meter. Recall that current in a wire is actually a flow
of electrons. In order for the current meter to determine the number of electrons moving in the
circuit, the flow of electrons must be diverted from the wire through the meter. Figure 2 shows
how to perform the following steps to measure current in a circuit:
Key point: To measure current flow, the technician must break the circuit at the point of
measurement, then bridge the newly formed open with the meter.

Fig. 2 The circuit must be opened to insert the current meter.

1. Remove power to the circuit.

2. Open the circuit at the point where current is to be measured.
3. Connect the current meter across the newly formed open (negative meter lead
toward negative source terminal and positive meter lead toward positive source
terminal).
4. Set the meter for current measurements.
5. Select a current range higher than the expected reading.
6. Reapply power to the circuit.

As shown in Figure 2, a current meter (ammeter) is represented on a schematic

diagram by an encircled A. Figure 2 shows another very important consideration. When the
meter is inserted across the opened circuit, it is essential to connect the meter such that
electrons enter the negative side of the meter, flow through the meter, and return to the circuit
via the positive lead of the meter. It is often helpful to run your finger along the wire in the
direction electrons will flow. Your path should enter the negative side of the current meter, go
through the meter, and find its way back to the circuit.

Figure 3 current meter across the resistor instead of in-line with it. Figure 3-52(b) shows
the correct way to measure resistor current. Figure 3-52(c) shows a current meter that has been
incorrectly connected to measure current through a wire. Again, the technician has forgotten to
break the circuit. Figure 3-52(d) shows the correct way to measure the current.

Figure 3. Two common errors when measuring current in a circuit

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Resistors in series and parallel

Resistors in Series

The figure above shows the series combination of three resistors with resistance R1, R2,
and R3. In a series connection, the path between points a and b is considered a single path. In
this case, the current across the circuit is always the same. Since the current is the same
throughout the resistors and by applying Ohm’s law to each resistor, the potential difference for
each resistor is:

From the expression, we can say that

In accordance with Ohm’s law, R = V/I. Thus, the equivalent resistance is just the sum of
the resistance of every resistor expressed as:

Resistors in series have some special characteristics worth remembering. Any

configuration of resistors in a series will have the following properties.
1. The same current flows through each resistor:
I1= I2 =…. =In
2. Potential difference is distributed among series resistors:
ΔVs=ΔV1+ΔV2+…+ΔVn
3. The resistor with the biggest resistance has the greatest voltage.
4. The equivalent resistance Req start subscript, s, end subscript is always more
than any resistor in the series configuration.

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When you put two resistors in series, they’re resistors just add to create an equivalent
resistance that’s larger than the individual resistance of either resistor.

Example:
If we put two 100 Ω resistors in series with each other, we simply get an equivalent
resistance of Req equals 100 plus 100 ohms equals 200 ohms. If we put a 100 Ω resistor in
series with a 47 Ω resistor we get an equivalent resistance of 147 Ω.

Req= 100 Ω + 100 Ω= 200 Ω

100 Ω 100 Ω

Req= 100 Ω + 47 Ω= 147 Ω

100 Ω 47 Ω

If we keep adding more resistors in series that resistance just keep going up for example
if we put 4 resistors in series, we get the equivalent resistance of R1+R2+R3+R4.

Problem 1: A resistor having an electrical resistance value of 100 ohms, is connected to

another resistor with a resistance value of 200 ohms. The two resistances are connected in
series. What is the total resistance across the system?
Solution:
Here, R1 = 100 Ω and R2= 200 Ω
Req= R1 + R2
Req= 100 Ω + 200 Ω= 300 Ω
Problem 2: What is the equivalent resistance of the resistors connected in series below?

R1 R2 R3

20 Ω 50Ω 170Ω

Solution:
Here, R1 = 20 Ω and R2= 50 Ω R3= 170 Ω
Req= R1 + R2+ R3
Req= 20Ω + 50 Ω + 170 Ω = 240 Ω
Problem 3: Two resistors are wired in series. The second resistor has twice the resistance as
the first. Current passes through the combination. Compared to the current through the first
resistor, the current through the second resistor is:

A. Twice the magnitude

B. The same
C. Half the magnitude
D. Quarter of the magnitude

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 Answer: B
Justification: Since the two resistors are in series, the current is the same everywhere
in the circuit. Charge does NOT pile up and begin to accumulate at any given location
such that the current at one location is more than at other locations. Charge does NOT
become used up by resistors such that there is less of it at one location compared to
another. The charges can be thought of as marching together through the wires of an
electric circuit, everywhere marching at the same rate. Current is the rate at which
charge flows and is the same everywhere in a series circuit. Therefore, option B is the
correct answer.

Resistors in Parallel

Unlike the previous series resistor circuit, in a parallel resistor network the circuit current
can take more than one path as there are multiple paths for the current. Then parallel circuits
are classed as current dividers.

Since there are multiple paths for the supply current to flow through, the current may not
be the same through all the branches in the parallel network. However, the voltage drop across
all of the resistors in a parallel resistive network IS the same. Then, Resistors in Parallel have
a Common Voltage across them and this is true for all parallel connected elements.

The figure above shows the parallel combination of three resistors with resistance R1,
R2, and R3. In a parallel connection, alternative paths are given between points a and b. In this
case, the potential difference across the circuit is always the same. Since the potential
difference is the same throughout the resistors and by applying Ohm’s law to each resistor, the
current for each resistor is:

The total current I must be equal to the sum of the three currents. Thus,

In accordance with Ohm’s law, R = V/I. In this case, I/V= 1/R. Thus, the equivalent
resistance is just the sum of the resistance of every resistor expressed as:

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 In other words, the resistances add inversely because we’ve taken the inverse of each
resistance here.

Resistors in parallel also have some special characteristics:

1. The current is distributed across resistors:

I = I1 + I2 +…+In
2. Potential difference is the same across all resistors in parallel:
ΔV1=ΔV2=…=ΔVn
3. The smallest resistance gets the most current.
4. The equivalent resistance Req, start subscript, p, end subscript is always
less than any resistor in the parallel configuration.

Example 1: Solution:

100Ω 1 1 1
= +
Re R1 R2
q
1 1 1
= +
Req 100Ω 100Ω

100Ω 1 2
= 100 Ω
Req
Req 100 Ω
=
1 2
Req = 50Ω

Example 2: if R1=2 Ω and R2= 6 Ω and R3=3 then the equivalent resistance is:

1 1 1 1
= + +
Re R1 R2 R3
q
1 1 1 1
= + +
Req 2Ω 6Ω 3Ω

1 6 2 4
= +
Req 12 12 12

1 12 12
=
Req 12

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Get the reciprocal.
Req 12
=
1 12
Req = 1Ω

Example 3: Find the equivalent resistance of the parallel circuit below.

Solution:
1 1 1 1 1 1
= + + +
Re R1 R2 R3 R4
q
1 1 1 1 1 1
= + + +
Req 100 10Ω 20Ω 30Ω 40Ω

= 4.8Ω
 How do we quickly use our calculator to calculate this? Notice in your calculator a key of
1/x. Can you find it in your calculator? It’s our inverse key/ multiplicative inverse/ or
reciprocal function. Some calculator may have a different form like X-1. So let’s try to
calculate our second example here. So first we take the R1 which is 10 then we use the
inverse key, then add 20 then inverse key, we add again 30 this time then use the
inverse key, and lastly, add the 40 and then use the inverse key and hit equals and we
get an answer of point 0.208333… is that our resistance? NO! that’s the inverse of our
resistance. Well what do we do now? That’s right we use the inverse key one last time
and we get 4.8 and that’s our final answer, 4.8 Ω. Do we have a clear understanding on
how we use the calculator in solving the resistance of our parallel circuit?

Problem 1: Calculate the equivalent resistance.

A.
3Ω

6Ω

9Ω

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 7Ω 5Ω 2Ω

B.

Solution: A
1 1 1 1
= + +
Req R1 R2 R3 100

1 1 1 1 1
= + +
Req 3 6 9 R2
1 6 3 2
= +
Req 18 18 18

1 11
=
Req 18
Req 18
=
1 11
Req =1.64 Ω

Solution B:
1 1 1 1
= +
Req R1 R2 R3

1 1 1 1
= +
Req 7 5 2
1 10 14 35
= +
Req 70 70 70

1 59
=
Req 70

Req = 70
59
Req = 1.2 Ω

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Resistors in series or parallel can be replaced by a single resistor of equivalent resistance. This
strategy is helpful for solving complex circuit problems because it lets us simplify the circuit. We
can redraw the circuit with the resistors in series and parallel replaced by a single equivalent
resistor.

Example: Req= 100 Ω + 100 Ω= 200 Ω

100 Ω 100 Ω 200 Ω

PARALLEL CIRCUIT

1 1 1 1 1 1
Example: = + = = + = Req = 50Ω
Re R1 R2 Req 100Ω 100Ω

100 Ω

50Ω
100 Ω

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Current and Voltage in Series and Parallel circuits

Series
R1 R2 R2

I1 I2 I3 V3 I3
V1 V2

 The amount of current is the same through any component in a series circuit.
o This is because there is only one path for current flow in a series circuit.
Because electric charge flows through conductors like marbles in a tube, the
rate of flow (marble speed) at any point in the circuit (tube) at any specific
point in time must be equal.
o Now that we have all the necessary information to calculate the circuit current because
we have voltage between points 1 and 4 (9volts) and resistance between point 1 and 4
(18k Ω):

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  The supply voltage in a series circuit is equal to the sum of the individual
voltage drops.
o Knowing that current is equal through all components of a series circuit (and
we just determined the current through the battery), we can go back to our
original circuit schematic and note the current through each component:
o Now that we know the amount of current through each resistor, we can use
Ohm’s Law to determine the voltage drop across each one (applying Ohm’s
Law in its proper context):

Parallel Circuit

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In the above two figures, first shows the close circuit with a voltage source and a
single resistor. The second one is the parallel circuit of 3 resistors and a voltage
source.
 The voltage in this circuit is the same for each and every three branches
and it is also the same as the voltage of the source. Formulaically, that is:

Vtotal = V1 = V2 =V3
o The first principle to understand about parallel circuits is that
the voltage is equal across all components in the circuit. This is
because there are only two sets of electrically common points in a
parallel circuit, and the voltage measured between sets of common
points must always be the same at any given time.

o Therefore, in the above circuit, the voltage across R1 is equal to the
voltage across R2 which is equal to the voltage across R3 which is
equal to the voltage across the battery.

 The total current in this given parallel circuit is represented by Itotal. The
formula for this is given as.

Itotal = I1 + I2+I3
 in the above example circuit, we can immediately apply Ohm’s Law to
each resistor to find its current because we know the voltage across each
resistor (9 volts) and the resistance of each resistor:

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 At this point, we still don’t know what the total current or total resistance for
this parallel circuit is, so we can’t apply Ohm’s Law to the rightmost
(“Total”) column. However, if we think carefully about what is happening, it
should become apparent that the total current must equal the sum of all
individual resistor (“branch”) currents:

 As the total current exits the positive (+) battery terminal at point 1 and
travels through the circuit, some of the flow splits off at point 2 to go
through R1, some more splits off at point 3 to go through R2, and the
remainder goes through R3. Like a river branching into several smaller
streams, the combined flow rates of all streams must equal the flow rate of
the whole river.

 The same thing is encountered where the currents through R1, R2, and
R3 join to flow back to the negative terminal of the battery (-) toward point
8: the flow of current from point 7 to point 8 must equal the sum of the
(branch) currents through R1, R2, and R3.
 This is the second principle of parallel circuits: the total circuit current is
equal to the sum of the individual branch currents.
 Using this principle, we can fill in the IT spot on our table with the sum of
IR1, IR2, and IR3:

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Kirchhoff’s rules
In solving complicated networks, we will be using Kirchhoff’s rules. However, be
familiar with the following terms: junction and loop. A junction is a point where
three or more conductors meet. A loop is the closed conducting path.
There are two (2) statements (points) under Kirchhoff’s rules.
(1) Point Rule: The sum of the currents in the branch is always equal to
zero. This is based on the conservation of charges. Junctions should not
accumulate charges. Hence, the total current entering the junction must be
equal to the total current leaving the junction. Figure 1 shows the 11 A
current entering the junction. When it leaves the junction, the 11 A current
split into 7A and 4A currents.

The junction rule is expressed as the sum of current, which is equal to

zero.

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 Problem 1: What is the value of I in the circuit segment shown below?

Answer: Total current flowing through the three wires connected together at a
node is 9A, and so the unknown current is I =4A.

Problem 2: Try to reason through this example by yourself, before we talk about
the theory. The schematic below shows four branch currents flowing in and out of
a distributed node. The various currents are milliamps, mA. One of the currents,
I, is not known. What is I?

a. -4 mA
b. +2 mA
c. +4 mA

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 d. +8 mA

Justification: It makes intuitive sense that currents flowing into the node find

some way to flow out on another branch. After all, we don't expect flowing charge
to pile up inside the node.

6mA flows into the node (5 from the left, and 1 from the right), so 6mA must flow
out somewhere. 2 mA flows out the top, leaving 4mA that must flow out the
bottom on branch I. the blue current arrow for I points out of the node, in the
same direction as the current, so he answer is positive.

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Loop Rule: The sum of the potential differences in any loop must equal to
zero. This is an expression of the energy relationship. As a charge goes around
the loop and returns to its starting point, the sum of the changes of its potential
energy is equal to zero. Figure 3 shows the loop rule.

This is expressed as:

It will not matter which direction or loop you would like to assume. If we have
wrong guess of its direction, we will get a negative value for the current. If we
have the correct guess of its direction, we will get a positive value for the
current. Let us be reminded with the following sign conventions:

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Sign conventions for the loop rule. (a) Negative potential if the assumed
direction of loop is the same with the direction of current; (b) Positive potential
if the assumed direction of loop is opposite with the direction of current; (c)
Positive potential if the direction of the assumed direction of loop is from
negative terminal to positive terminal; and (d) Negative potential if the
assumed direction of loop is from positive to negative terminal.

Example:
In the circuit shown below, find the unknown current I, the resistance R,
and the emf ε.

What is/are given?

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  1A across 2Ω, 6A across 2 Ω and 18 V.

What is/are asked?

 ε, R1 and current across R1

Strategy:
 First, we assume the direction of currents in junction a. The charges will start
traveling from the positive terminal of the sources and end in negative terminals.

 We assign junction a as an application for junction rule.

We obtain

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Next, we assume the directions of the loop 1, 2 and 3.

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Solution:
We solve for the unknown values using equations 1,2,3 and 4 Solve for
I using equation 1:
I + 1A – 6A = 0 I + 6A – 1A = 5A I= 5A
Hence, we have the correct assumption of the direction of current. The
unknown current is 5A. Substitute this value in equation 2:
18 V – IR1 + 1 A(2Ω) = 0
18 V – (5A) R1 + 1 A(2Ω) = 0
– (5A) R1 = -18 V – 2V

R1 = 4Ω

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 The unknown resistance is 4Ω.

Solve for ε using equation 3

1 A (2Ω) + 6A (2Ω) + ε = 0
2V + 12 V + ε = 0
ε = -14 V

Therefore, the unknown emf is -14 V

The negative value obtained implies that the actual polarity of the emf is
opposite from our assumption. The positive terminal should lie on the
right life side.

Resistance – Capacitance circuit

The figure below shows a simple circuit diagram of capacitor, voltage
source and resistor. At some time, t, we close the switch to allow the
capacitor to charge. As the capacitor charges, the voltage increases and
the potential difference across the resistor decreases. However, the sum
of the voltage drops is equal to V.

When the capacitor is fully charged, the potential difference across the
resistor becomes zero, the current becomes zero and the voltage
appears now at the capacitor. This is expressed as:

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As shown in Kirchhoff’s rule:

Solving for current i

As the charge increases, q/RC becomes larger and the capacitors

reaches final value denoted as Qf. The current i becomes zero.

It was also found out that when capacitor reaches the final value CV=
Qf, the time it takes is equal to RC. The product RC is then the measure
of how quick the capacitor charges also known as time constant or
relaxation time:

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References:

https://znnhs.zdnorte.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/
GenPhysics2_Module-5.pdf

https://isaacphysics.org/concepts/
cp_kirchhoffs_laws#:~:text=Kirchhoff's%20laws%20quantify%20how
%20current,a%20consequence%20of%20charge%20conservation.
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/high-school-physics/dc-
circuits/series-and-parallel-resistors-2/a/resistors-in-series-and-
parallel

http://scienceres-edcp-educ.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2015/10/sec_phys_ci
rcuits_problems.pdf

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