No single discovery has affected our lives, our culture and our survival more than electricity.
Solar Electricity
Electricity is present everywhere; it lights our street, helps cook our food and can even brush your teeth. For example, imagine where there is a light-out in every hospital without electricity and in that sense check how many lives would have been lost but because of electricity we have been saving a lot of lives due to electrical devices like defibrillators, pacemakers, etc. From talkies to eight tracks to screaming “I want my MTV”, even hashtagging, none of it would be possible WithoutElectricity.
Component of Electricity includes
Current
Voltage
Resistance
Understanding Current
This flow of electrical charge is referred to as electric current. There are two types of current,
Direct current (DC) and
Alternating current (AC).
DC AC
DC is current that flows in one direction with a constant voltage polarity while AC is current that changes direction periodically along with its voltage polarity.
Thomas Edison and Alessandro Volta were pioneers in DC current and wrote much of electricity’s history. But as societies grew the use of DC over long transmission distances became too inefficient. Nikola Tesla changed all that with the invention of alternating current electrical systems. With AC it is possible to produce the high voltages needed for long transmissions. Therefore today, most portable devices use DC power while power plants produce AC.
Ohms Law
The most fundamental law in electricity is Ohm’s law or V=IR.
VOLTAGE
The V is for voltage, which means the potential difference between two charges. it is a measurement of the work required to move a unit charge between two points. When we see a value such as 10 Volts, it is a measurement of the potential difference between two reference points.
Normally the two points will be +10V and 0V (also known as ground), but it can also be the difference between +5V and -5V, +20V and +10V, etc. In the field, you might hear the term “common grounds” which refers to each device in a system using the same zero-point reference (or ground) to ensure the same potential difference ( or voltage) is applied throughout the system.
The next component of Ohm’s law is current, the units of which are Amperes; in the formula, current is represented by the very logical choice of the letter I.
As mentioned previously, current is the measurement of the flow of charge in a circuit.
RESISTANCE
Light Bulb offering resistance
This leaves us with the letter R which represents Resistance. Electrical resistance, measured in Ohms, is the measure of the amount of current repulsion in a circuit. Simply, resistance resists current flow.
When electrons flow against the opposition offered by resistance in the circuit, friction occurs and heat is produced. The most common application for resistance in a circuit is the light bulb.
The light bulb introduces enough resistance in a circuit to heat up the filament inside, causing light to be emitted. Resistance in a circuit can also be helpful when needing to alter voltage levels, current paths, etc. Resistors are self-contained packages of resistance that can be added to a circuit and are commonly used to divide voltage levels.
Series Circuits
Battery connected in Series
Before I get into the use of Ohm’s law, I want to introduce a few other electric current flow concepts.
First, we need to understand what Series and Parallel circuits means. Series circuits are those which are connected in-line with the power source. The current in series circuits is constant throughout but the voltage may vary.
Parallel Circuit in Battery to Rotor
Parallel Circuits
Parallel circuits are those which branch off from the power supply. The total current supplied from the power source is divided among each of the branches but voltage is common throughout.
Example
Ever experienced the pain involved with installing Christmas lights only to realize none of them work. There is probably one bulb out somewhere in the hundreds that you hung up.
Christmas Light Demonstrating both Parallel and Series Connections
More than likely it is because one of the lights decided to break or burn out and because they are wired in series the rest are now out as well. Since all of the lights are in-line with each other, if one goes out it causes an open circuit at that point. No current will flow to the other lights because of the open circuit path.
Fortunately, a lot of the new light strands are wired in parallel. Therefore if one light goes out, then only that branch of the circuit will be out. The open will be isolated to that branch and current will continue to the other lights in the strand, Joy…to… the…World!
Application of Ohm’s Law
Now, let’s apply Ohm’s law to the following circuit (for exercise purposes only, circuits are theoretical) and calculate the voltage and current supplied to each load. The schematic below shows a supply circuit for a child’s bedtime toy. R1 represents the resistance value of the speaker and R2 shows the resistance value of the LEDs. R1 is equal to 430 Ohms, R2 is equal to 284 Ohms and the supply is a battery with 5VDC and 5A. What is the voltage supplied to the LEDs and to the speaker? First, we need to find the current in the loop once the bell is pressed and switch 1 (S1) closes. The supply offers 5 amps of current but the circuit will only use what is demanded by the loads. Using Ohm’s law, we can reconfigure the formula to solve for current in the loop, or
I (loop) = V (loop)/ R (loop).
Using the supplied values, we can calculate that
I (loop current) = 5VDC/714Ω = 7mA.
Ohm’s Law Applied to a Series Circuit
So now that we know the current in the loop is 7mA and in a series circuit that current is constant throughout, we can use Ohm’s law to calculate the voltage supplied to the speaker:
V(speaker) = I(loop) x R(speaker) or V(speaker) = (7mA) x (430Ω) or ~ 3VDC.
The LEDs will in turn have a supply voltage of:
V(LED) = (7mA) x (284) or ~ 2VDC.
Case Study
This circuit is known as a voltage divider circuit. The supply voltage was divided among the loads in proportion to the resistance each load carries. R1 had a higher resistance and received 3VDC of the total 5VDC supply and R2 received the rest or 2VDC. It can otherwise be stated that R1 has a voltage drop of 3VDC and R2 has a voltage drop of 2VDC.
Kirchoff’s Voltage Law (KVL)
This voltage drop principle leads to another important law in basic electrical engineering, Kirchoff’s Voltage Law (KVL).
This law states that the algebraic sum of the voltages in a closed loop is always equal to zero.
If we only knew the supply potential and the voltage drop of R1, we could use KVL to find the other voltage drop. With KVL you have to follow the current path and use the polarities of the components shown. If current path is unknown you have to assume one. We will use the positive to negative (clockwise) path.
This time let’s find out how much current each branch is pulling from the source. As mentioned previously, with parallel circuits the voltage across each branch will be equal to the supply voltage. So right away, I can tell you that the voltages across R1 and R2 are both 5VDC.
Using Ohm’s law, I can also calculate the current in each loop or branch. Set up the formula for current or
I(R1) = V(R1)/R1 which is solved as, I(R1) = 5VDC/430Ω = 11.63mA.
Doing the same for the other loop,
we get I(R2) = V(R2)/R2 , I(R2) = 5VDC/284Ω = 17.6mA.
Let’s also find the total current drawn by the whole circuit. We’re not going to add the two branch currents together; we’ll use Ohm’s law and the parallel resistance calculation.
First we need to find the total resistance in the circuit. In series circuits we would just add all of the resistance values together. While In parallel, you have to add the reciprocals of all the resistance values together and then reciprocate back.
Here we have, 1/R(total) = 1/R1 + 1/R2 = 1/430Ω + 1/284Ω = 0.0058467
You can see that if we had added the two loop currents together we would have gotten the same result,
I(R1) + I(R2) = 11.63mA + 17.6mA = 29.23mA.
One quick note, current will always try to take the path of least resistance.
Do you know that current flows much the same as water.
If you have two channels in a river and one is partially blocked by logs, then most of the water will flow through the clear channel. Same is true with current. In a parallel circuit, the branch with the least amount of blockage or resistance will receive the majority of the current. In our example both channels are partially blocked but the one that is most clear (R2) will receive the most current.
Quiz, what if R2 was to short out? Well, in short there is no resistance, so all of the current would flow though that branch. The wire could overheat causing the worm to lose its glow and quite possibly everything else. Fusing that branch would save little girl’s favorite toy and fusing is a very important part of design both in circuits and in systems as a whole.
Kirchoff’s Current Law (KCL)
Note that in series circuits, current is constant and voltage varies but in parallel circuits voltage is constant and current varies. This current varying in parallel circuits brought about Kirchoff’s next big law in basic electrical engineering, Kirchoff’s Current Law (KCL).
This law basically states that
current into a node will equal the current out of the node.
In other words, the net current in a node i
s zero or 0 = I(in) – I(out).
Looking at the node (connection between two loops) in the diagram below, we already know that to be true:
0 = 29.23mA – (11.63mA + 17.6mA).
KVL and KCL are very useful in more advanced circuitry like the one below (toy car remote control).
Toy Car Remote Circuit
Power Equation
One last equation that is useful to remember is the power equation,
P = IE.
P is for power measured in Watts, I is for current and the E is for voltage. This equation can be combined with Ohm’s law to solve for values that are unknown. For example:
In Ohms law we know that I = E/R
so combined with the power equation (P = IE)
we get P = E (E/R) or P = E^2/R.
Also, from Ohm’s we know that E = IR,
so combine this with P = IE and we get P = I^2R.
Using the previous parallel example, we can find the power consumed by the circuit. We know the voltage rating of the battery is 5VDC and we calculated the total resistance in the parallel circuit (171Ω). Using these two values, the power consumed by the toy would be:
P(total) = (5VDC)^2/171Ω = 146mW.
In Conclusion I hope this information helps to refresh that which may have been forgotten. It is in no way intended to encompass every possible scenario, equation or topic that is electricity or electrical circuits. To get more knowledge on electricity and Electricity Generation Through Solar Technology contact us at Arthur energy Technology Ltd through 0703 286 2249 or 08165116685
Its like you read my thoughts! You appear to grasp a lot approximately this,
like you wrote the guide in it or something. I believe that you could do
with some % to drive the message house a little bit, however other than that, this is magnificent
blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
My husband and i ended up being very relieved that Raymond could do his preliminary research from your precious recommendations he had when using the blog. It is now and again perplexing to simply find yourself giving out things men and women could have been selling. We consider we need the writer to thank for that. The specific illustrations you have made, the easy site navigation, the friendships your site help to foster – it is everything astounding, and it is leading our son and our family consider that the article is awesome, and that’s quite fundamental. Many thanks for everything!
Your personal dedication to passing the message all around ended up being definitely practical and has without exception encouraged guys like me to get to their dreams.
I have to show my appreciation to you just for rescuing me from such a instance. Right after scouting throughout the search engines and coming across solutions which were not helpful, I figured my entire life was over. Existing devoid of the strategies to the difficulties you have sorted out by way of your main website is a critical case, as well as the kind which might have negatively affected my entire career if I had not noticed your web page. Your good expertise and kindness in controlling every item was precious. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if I had not come across such a subject like this. It’s possible to at this moment relish my future. Thanks a lot so much for this skilled and amazing guide. I won’t hesitate to endorse your web site to any person who ought to have counselling about this topic.
Comments (153)
Elvira Knapp
December 16, 2018 - AT 4:41 pmthumps up to the carver
Connie Hodges
December 16, 2018 - AT 5:22 pmi love this high school stuff
Daniel Sutherland
December 16, 2018 - AT 7:10 pmBasic Electrical theory well explained
Stephen Wale
December 16, 2018 - AT 9:04 pmgreat article you’ve got here i will bookmark this site
Brit Cooper
December 16, 2018 - AT 10:44 pmGreat point you’ve got
Ceara Bough
December 17, 2018 - AT 12:25 amI love your articles
Myles Mittles
December 17, 2018 - AT 2:11 amEducative
Brood Wigbia
December 17, 2018 - AT 11:02 amHighly informative
George Winkins
December 17, 2018 - AT 12:21 pmGreat article
Cornelius James
December 17, 2018 - AT 1:23 pmcant believe my eyes
Corlins Vendafils
December 17, 2018 - AT 2:47 pmhigh school
Broslin Leu
December 17, 2018 - AT 5:04 pmnice job
Grather Viagreen
December 17, 2018 - AT 6:05 pmThis is a sell-able point
Cynthia Bettis
December 17, 2018 - AT 10:47 pmHigh school physics well carved
Werner Lee
December 18, 2018 - AT 1:02 amoh my gush high school days
Florence Warren
December 18, 2018 - AT 2:50 amI think i love this artwork
Marie Knight
December 18, 2018 - AT 3:41 amI love learning new stuff
Issac Finnerty
December 18, 2018 - AT 11:32 amgood old days
Clifford James
December 18, 2018 - AT 12:27 pmI need this for my brother
Sovak Schubauer
December 18, 2018 - AT 5:12 pmi would surely bookmark this site
Vincent Chenault
December 19, 2018 - AT 12:58 amoh my oh my cant believe this high school mehn
Skeigh Arnett
December 19, 2018 - AT 3:03 amLove this article
Mark Hulshizer
December 19, 2018 - AT 5:13 amoh high school physics bless your heart
Darrell Bell
December 19, 2018 - AT 5:47 amInformatively correct
Margaret Zavala
December 19, 2018 - AT 7:23 amEducative
Teresa Gretchen
December 19, 2018 - AT 8:48 amabsolutely correct
James Bires
December 19, 2018 - AT 10:03 amI came through this in high school thank you arthur energy
Tyler Pena
December 19, 2018 - AT 12:15 pmThis is highly educative
Leslie Westover
December 19, 2018 - AT 1:24 pmthis is mind boggling
Barb Smith
December 19, 2018 - AT 2:31 pmReally
Roberto Salinas
December 19, 2018 - AT 4:46 pmI’m so in love with this blog keep it up
Mayme Martin
December 19, 2018 - AT 6:28 pmVirtually everything we do is with electricity
Larry Silva
December 19, 2018 - AT 8:28 pmElectricity is the bedrock of most businesses
Nestar Countryman
December 19, 2018 - AT 11:19 pmIts like you read my thoughts! You appear to grasp a lot approximately this,
like you wrote the guide in it or something. I believe that you could do
with some % to drive the message house a little bit, however other than that, this is magnificent
blog. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
Sara Mcbeth
December 20, 2018 - AT 1:30 amYour explanation on AC DC is the best i’ve ever read
Laddie Clark
December 20, 2018 - AT 3:12 amI love my high school days but physics ahhh
Collins Booz
December 20, 2018 - AT 4:32 amHigh School Physics, good old days man
Jacob Gerald
December 20, 2018 - AT 5:13 amQuite explanatory for a rookie
Brian Esau
December 20, 2018 - AT 6:18 amHigh school physics
Roger Cilis
December 20, 2018 - AT 7:04 amCreative art
Tilda Lisa
December 20, 2018 - AT 8:07 ameducative
Cathy M
January 2, 2019 - AT 11:16 amgood job admin
Welch Peter
January 2, 2019 - AT 12:50 pmi can relate
Charles Eping
January 2, 2019 - AT 8:39 pmgreat job never thought i could come across this again
HOOLE M
January 2, 2019 - AT 10:15 pmnice piece
Michael D
January 2, 2019 - AT 11:58 pmHigh school physics great job man
Oleah Shinnik
January 6, 2019 - AT 5:13 pmMy husband and i ended up being very relieved that Raymond could do his preliminary research from your precious recommendations he had when using the blog. It is now and again perplexing to simply find yourself giving out things men and women could have been selling. We consider we need the writer to thank for that. The specific illustrations you have made, the easy site navigation, the friendships your site help to foster – it is everything astounding, and it is leading our son and our family consider that the article is awesome, and that’s quite fundamental. Many thanks for everything!
Willins B.
January 7, 2019 - AT 2:42 amI had to explain to my bro
Levite Collins
January 7, 2019 - AT 3:04 amnot tire of reading through your site
Biggy Cud
January 7, 2019 - AT 4:09 amHighly informative beneficial
Gerradina Bingles
January 7, 2019 - AT 4:22 amCertain 3 facts on this page are in fact the most beneficial we’ve had.
Teirs Rooney
January 7, 2019 - AT 5:30 amI am always impressed considering the surprising tips served by you.
Drawnie Shadow
January 7, 2019 - AT 11:59 amThanks so much for giving everyone remarkably special possiblity to read in detail from this blog.
Tallon Tailor
January 7, 2019 - AT 1:23 pmi see the light
Peter Nitrac
January 7, 2019 - AT 1:32 pmeveryone told me about electricity but never believed in it
Cobalt Rubby
January 7, 2019 - AT 3:04 pmi love what you do
Nadia Jeremy
January 7, 2019 - AT 3:06 pmoh good old days
Stephen D.
January 7, 2019 - AT 6:20 pmbookmarked
Cud M.
January 8, 2019 - AT 12:48 ambasic i need advance
Stewart Derson
January 8, 2019 - AT 12:56 amyou nailed it
Mama N.
January 8, 2019 - AT 1:50 amguaranteed
Richard F.
January 8, 2019 - AT 1:54 ami need to bookmark this site
King Lof
January 8, 2019 - AT 2:27 amcomplete
Andrew Weblin
January 8, 2019 - AT 3:47 amYour own informative guidelines implies this much to me and extremely more to my office colleagues. Regards; from each one of us.
Carsh Myles
January 8, 2019 - AT 4:01 amYour personal dedication to passing the message all around ended up being definitely practical and has without exception encouraged guys like me to get to their dreams.
Yeez Wills
January 8, 2019 - AT 7:02 amI wish to voice my admiration for your kind-heartedness giving support to those people that need help on this one situation.
Benson J
January 8, 2019 - AT 12:26 pmi cant wait for next
Glyn H.
January 8, 2019 - AT 2:05 pmWished be do common exclude in consequence respond. Adage supported as well pleasure packaging wrapped properness.
Eagle B.
January 8, 2019 - AT 2:45 pmThose an peer head no long time do. By belonging consequently suspiciousness elsewhere an house described.
Views domicile natural law heard jokes too.
Mercy Lucy
January 8, 2019 - AT 4:37 pmyea high school
Jones Freeman
January 8, 2019 - AT 11:57 pmloving it
Tosha T
January 9, 2019 - AT 1:40 ami’ll give anything for more
Camly Nike
January 9, 2019 - AT 2:27 amI have to show my appreciation to you just for rescuing me from such a instance. Right after scouting throughout the search engines and coming across solutions which were not helpful, I figured my entire life was over. Existing devoid of the strategies to the difficulties you have sorted out by way of your main website is a critical case, as well as the kind which might have negatively affected my entire career if I had not noticed your web page. Your good expertise and kindness in controlling every item was precious. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if I had not come across such a subject like this. It’s possible to at this moment relish my future. Thanks a lot so much for this skilled and amazing guide. I won’t hesitate to endorse your web site to any person who ought to have counselling about this topic.
Habib Kalid
January 9, 2019 - AT 3:18 amneed more of this for my project
Kibby Healis
January 9, 2019 - AT 3:22 amFrom the beginning to the end cant just stop
John Brown
January 9, 2019 - AT 3:27 amEverywhere, places and site this is one in a million
Elaina Rishy
January 9, 2019 - AT 5:16 amit takes a lot of study to understand
Pear M
January 9, 2019 - AT 11:33 amnice piece of arts
Philips A.
January 9, 2019 - AT 11:51 amNice piece
George S.
January 9, 2019 - AT 11:54 amGreat content
Callie Lei
January 9, 2019 - AT 1:06 pmi’ll bookmark for my colleague
Darlene Chins
January 9, 2019 - AT 2:51 pmnice piece
Taylor Smiths
January 9, 2019 - AT 4:10 pmThis spans ages
Sparner Leah
January 9, 2019 - AT 4:29 pmyou all need to read carefully through this article
Talia Jeas
January 9, 2019 - AT 5:52 pmNo single discovery has affected our lives more as electricity
Micheal Repins
January 9, 2019 - AT 11:10 pmgive us advance we waiting
Lornin Boggis
January 10, 2019 - AT 6:25 pmso cool its practicable
Tagund Jagunda
January 10, 2019 - AT 7:47 pmcool
Motti Nara
January 10, 2019 - AT 8:21 pmYes cool one yey yeyeyeyeeey
Sofin J
January 10, 2019 - AT 10:09 pmi said it high school
bafVinna
January 11, 2019 - AT 2:30 amthis is valid till tomorrow
Wood M
January 11, 2019 - AT 4:25 ami can catch up with this easily you did justice to the topic
Michael Cam
January 11, 2019 - AT 5:46 amI will jump miles for this
Epinch Sora
January 11, 2019 - AT 9:51 amI love your site
Lonia Coof
January 11, 2019 - AT 10:27 amNice theory i will bookmark this surely
Charles Bron
January 11, 2019 - AT 11:43 amI love this highly informative
Lonia Bridge
January 16, 2019 - AT 1:23 pmgreat article
Aaron Ifeanyi
January 25, 2019 - AT 10:17 amKeep on expanding our knowledge
Jay Slaiet
February 20, 2019 - AT 5:13 amGood theory
John Brown
April 10, 2019 - AT 12:43 amExcellent art
Km Suartawan
April 10, 2019 - AT 12:44 amOk
Oac Solar Oac Solar
April 10, 2019 - AT 12:57 amJust checking you out
Suthep Ngamsikam
April 10, 2019 - AT 12:58 amHey! Hello
Liell Queen
April 10, 2019 - AT 1:42 amThis is the bomb
Kenneth Nwa
April 10, 2019 - AT 1:47 amOk i need more articles like this
Bright Brilliant
April 10, 2019 - AT 1:54 amYou thought me today just know that
Momoh Zeniat
April 10, 2019 - AT 1:54 amUna try small
JIM KEITA
April 10, 2019 - AT 2:26 ami GOT ADDICTED TO YOUR ARTICLES
Joan Ranka
April 10, 2019 - AT 2:43 amI totally fell for this
Keiz Waldi
April 10, 2019 - AT 2:55 amgreat
Emeka Nze
April 10, 2019 - AT 4:10 amCorrect
Ajayi Tunde
April 10, 2019 - AT 4:23 amthis just explains it
Srewed Boy
April 10, 2019 - AT 4:24 amCool
Bob Karl
April 10, 2019 - AT 4:37 amYes
Olbin Luwanga
April 10, 2019 - AT 4:39 amUsed this for my sons assignment it was really informative
Benzema Chalaka
April 10, 2019 - AT 4:44 amlove your piece
Ugo Samuel
April 10, 2019 - AT 4:45 amBest Energy Company in Nigeria
King Thor
April 10, 2019 - AT 5:28 amNever a boring day on arthurenergy.com you guys are the best
Kortis Vamin
April 10, 2019 - AT 5:35 amGood one
Fr Mobouni
April 10, 2019 - AT 5:35 amInformative piece
Perverroti Moishe
April 10, 2019 - AT 5:44 amYour made my day i will sure bookmark this site
Thankgod
April 10, 2019 - AT 6:08 amInformative Piece of idea
Jesus Navas
April 10, 2019 - AT 7:02 amEducative
Karen Via
April 10, 2019 - AT 7:22 amBeautiful piece there
Margaret Belusconi
April 10, 2019 - AT 7:33 amNice
Sheila Babados
April 10, 2019 - AT 7:38 ami love this 100%
Kelvin Musibau
April 10, 2019 - AT 7:47 amWow
Vine Parker
April 10, 2019 - AT 8:11 amWe need advance thanks
Kachie Benard
April 10, 2019 - AT 8:19 amWow
Mia Xioxin
April 10, 2019 - AT 8:30 amI love your articles
Korede Gbadamosi
April 10, 2019 - AT 8:33 amNice one
Abosede Bashiru
April 10, 2019 - AT 8:49 amI learn’t something
Kenneth Rowline
April 10, 2019 - AT 9:27 amGreat one thumps up
Caldis Owen
April 10, 2019 - AT 9:34 amNice writeups
Kardle Bartender
April 10, 2019 - AT 9:58 amInteresting
Rude Boy
April 10, 2019 - AT 10:02 amThis is justice done to simple equation
Rasat Kumar
April 10, 2019 - AT 10:03 amExcellent
Billy Carmle
April 10, 2019 - AT 10:13 amI cant believe am seeing this physics yeh
Michael Faraday
April 10, 2019 - AT 10:24 amThis is highly educative i love it
Callus berrango
April 10, 2019 - AT 10:41 amhaven’t read a better article in years
James Chiemere
April 10, 2019 - AT 10:43 amWell Calved
Kenny Phillips
April 10, 2019 - AT 10:44 amThis helped me in my assignments thanks team arthur
Dene Ping
April 10, 2019 - AT 11:48 amgood one thanks
Aaron
April 10, 2019 - AT 11:59 ami just keep learning
Williams
April 10, 2019 - AT 12:00 pmThanks good one
Alexndria Clarke
April 10, 2019 - AT 12:42 pmNever read a piece as elaborate in years
Kazeem Briz
April 29, 2019 - AT 11:03 amNever learn this before
Cheezy View
April 29, 2019 - AT 12:53 pmWow so simple
Arot Zilla
April 29, 2019 - AT 1:40 pmThank you
Tiffany Cag Diana
August 14, 2019 - AT 12:10 pmThis is getting useful
Thordir Mark
August 14, 2019 - AT 12:57 pmInteresting
Jarollmo Genrikh
August 14, 2019 - AT 1:13 pmNONE THE LESS
Charles paul
November 20, 2019 - AT 10:41 amcheap mobic