Basic Laws

Chapter 2
2.1 Ohms Law
Materials in general have a characteristic behavior of resisting the flow of electric charge.
This physical property, or ability to resist current, is known as resistance and is represented
by the symbol R.
We can represent resistance (as measured in
the laboratory), in mathematical form,
Ohm defined the constant of proportionality for a resistor to be the resistance, R. (The
resistance is a material property which can change if the internal or external conditions of
the element are altered, e.g., if there are changes in the temperature.)

which is the mathematical form of Ohm’s law.

• To apply Ohm’s law as stated, we must pay careful attention to the current direction
and voltage polarity.
• The direction of current i and the polarity of voltage v must conform with the passive
sign convention.
This implies that current flows from a higher potential to a
lower potential in order for V= iR . If current flows from a
lower potential to a higher potential, V= - iR .

V= ixR
V= - ixR
Two extreme possible values of R: 0 (zero) and  (infinite) are related with two
basic circuit concepts: short circuit and open circuit.
Conductance is the ability of an element to conduct electric current; it is the

reciprocal of resistance R and is measured in mhos or siemens S .

1 i
G 
R v

The power dissipated by a resistor:

2
v
p  vi  i R  2

R
Example 1 An electric iron draws 2 A at 120 V. Find its resistance.
Solution 1 From Ohm’s law,

Example 2

Solution 2
Example 3

Solution 3

The conductance is G =
The power p = x R = 3mA2 x 10k = 90 mW
Example 4

Solution 4
2.2 Nodes, Branches and Loops
• A branch represents a single element such as a voltage source or a
resistor.
• A node is the point of connection between two or more branches.
• A loop is any closed path in a circuit.

• A network with b branches, n nodes, and l independent loops will

satisfy the fundamental theorem of network topology:

b  l  n 1
Since there are four elements in the circuit, the circuit has four branches:
10 V, 5Ω, 6Ω and 2 A. Three nodes.
The 5 Ω resistor is in series with the 10-V voltage source because the same
current would flow in both. The 6 Ω resistor is in parallel with the 2-A
current source because both are connected to the same nodes 2 and 3.
Since there are five elements in the circuit, the circuit has five
branches: 10 V, 1Ω, 2Ω, 5Ω, and 4Ω. Three nodes. 1 Ω and 2 Ω
resistors are parallel and 10V DC voltage source and 4 Ω
resistor are parallel.
2.3 Kirchhoff’s Laws
• Ohm’s law by itself is not sufficient to analyze circuits.
However, when it is coupled with Kirchhoff’s two laws, we
have a sufficient, powerful set of tools for analyzing a large
variety of electric circuits.
• These laws are formally known as Kirchhoff’s current law
(KCL) and Kirchhoff’s voltage law (KVL).
 N
Mathematically,
i
n 1
n 0
 M
Mathematically, v
m 1
n 0
Example 5

Solution 5
Example 6

Solution 6
We apply KVL around the loop in the clockwise direction.
=0
From Ohm`s Law,

-32 V + 4i +8+ 2i = 0 Then i = 4 A.

= 16 V 𝑉 2=− 2𝑖=− 8 𝑉
Example 7

Solution 7
Example 8

Solution 8
2.4 Series Resistors and Voltage Division
This is called the principle of voltage division,
2.5 Parallel Resistors and Current Division
Consider the circuit below, where two resistors are connected in parallel and therefore
have the same voltage across them.
We can extend the result in parallel of two resistance to the general case of a circuit with N
resistors in parallel. The equivalent resistance is

Given the total current i entering node a in figure below, how

do we obtain current i1 and i2?
Example 9
Find Req for the circuit shown below
Solution 9
Example 10 Find io and Vo in the circuit shown below. Calculate the power dissipated in
the 3 Ω resistor

Solution 10
Example 11 For the circuit shown below, determine: (a) the voltage Vo (b) the power
supplied by the current source, (c) the power absorbed by each resistor.

Solution 11
For the circuit shown below, find:
(a) V1 and V2
(b) the power dissipated in the 3kΩ and 20kΩ resistors, and
(c) the power supplied by the current source.
2.6 Problems
1. For each of the circuit below apply KVL to find the unknown voltages.

(b)
(a)

(c)
2. For each of the circuit below apply KCL to find the unknown currents.

(a)
(b)

(c)
3. Calculate the unknowns for each of the circuit below.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
4.
Calculate R ab the equivalent resistance at terminals a-b for each of the circuits
5.
Find i1 through i4 in the circuit shown .

6.
Find the value of R in the circuit shown .
7.
For the circuit shown below, find the current, voltage, and power associated with the
20 kΩ resistor.

8.
Find V0 in the circuit shown and the power absorbed by the dependent source.