Basic Electricity, Ohms, and Kerkoves laws by Maurice Rhoades The first thing we had better do is go over some

definitions:

Volt: the volt (symbol: V) is the SI derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (17451827), who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery. single volt is defined as the difference in electric potential across a wire when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. It is also equal to the potential difference between two points 1 meter apart in an electric field of 1 newton per coulomb. Additionally, it is the potential difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of charge that passes through it. It can be expressed in terms of SI units as follows:

Coulomb: the coulomb (symbol: C) is the SI derived unit of electric charge. It is defined as the charge transported by a steady current of one ampere in one second:

One coulomb is also the amount of excess charge on the positive side of a capacitance of one farad charged to a potential difference of one volt:

Newton: is the SI unit for force; it is equal to the amount of net force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram at a rate of one meter per second squared Current: is a flow of electric charge through a medium. This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire. It can also be carried by ions in an electrolyte, or by both ions and electrons in a plasma. Amp: the ampere (symbol: A) is the SI unit of electric current (symbol: I) and is one of the seven SI base units. It is named after Andr-Marie Ampre (17751836), French mathematician and physicist, considered the father of electrodynamics. In practice, its name is often shortened to amp. In practical terms, the ampere is a measure of the amount of electric charge passing a point in an electric circuit per unit time with 6.241 1018 electrons, or one coulomb per second constituting one ampere. The practical definition may lead to confusion with the definition of a coulomb (i.e., 1 amp-second), but in practical terms this means that measures of a constant current (e.g., the nominal flow of charge per second through a simple circuit) will be defined in amps (e.g., "a 20 mA circuit") and the flow of charge through a circuit over a period of time

will be defined in coulombs (e.g., "a variable-current circuit that flows a total of 10 coulombs over 5 seconds"). In this way, amperes can be viewed as a "rate of flow" and coulombs viewed as an "amount of flow." The SI unit for measuring the rate of flow of electric charge is the ampere, which is charge flowing through some surface at the rate of one coulomb per second. Electric current is measured using an ammeter Resistance: the electrical resistance of an electrical element is the opposition to the passage of an electric current through that element; the inverse quantity is electrical conductance, the ease at which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the mechanical notion of friction. The SI unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (), while electrical conductance is measured in siemens (S). An object of uniform cross section has a resistance proportional to its resistivity and length and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional area. All materials show some resistance, except for superconductors, which have a resistance of zero. The resistance of an object is defined as the ratio of voltage across it to current through it.

Electricity
To put it simply in you can compare electricity to your water hose for understanding it. The voltage compares with the water pressure and the amount of flow out of the hose as the current and the resistance is like the length of the hose which will reduce the amount of flow the longer the hose gets at the same pressure. The symbol for resistance is given below along with a battery on the left lets talk about this to figure out whats going on. If it is a 1 volt battery and a 1 ohm resister what would the current be? For this we will need ohms law. Which is: (Below) In this circuit the entire voltage of the battery is droped across the resistor.

or E= IR

where: E = electrical potential(the same as volts I = current in amps R= resistance in ohms I = 1 amp

1 volt + + So

1 amp

= 1 amp The previous illustrates the flow in a simple circuit for more complex circuits Kirchhoff's law is needed to determine the voltage and currents flowing in the circuits

Kirchhoffs law: This law is also called Kirchhoff's first law, Kirchhoff's point rule, Kirchhoff's junction rule (or nodal rule), and Kirchhoff's first rule. The principle of conservation of electric charge implies that: At any node (junction) in an electrical circuit, the sum of currents flowing into that node is equal to the sum of currents flowing out of that node. Or The algebraic sum of currents in a network of conductors meeting at a point is zero. Recalling that current is a signed (positive or negative) quantity reflecting direction towards or away from a node, this principle can be stated as:

n is the total number of branches with currents flowing towards or away from the node. This formula is valid for complex currents:

The law is based on the conservation of charge whereby the charge (measured in coulombs) is the product of the current (in amperes) and the time (in seconds). This law is also called Kirchhoff's second law, Kirchhoff's loop (or mesh) rule, and Kirchhoff's second rule. The principle of conservation of energy implies that The directed sum of the electrical potential differences (voltage) around any closed circuit is zero. or More simply, the sum of the emfs in any closed loop is equivalent to the sum of the potential drops in that loop. or The algebraic sum of the products of the resistances of the conductors and the currents in them in a closed loop is equal to the total emf (electromotive force) available in that loop. Similarly to KCL, it can be stated as:

Here, n is the total number of voltages measured. The voltages may also be complex:

This law is based on the conservation of "energy given/taken by potential field" (not including energy taken by dissipation). Given a voltage potential, a charge which has completed a closed loop doesn't gain or lose energy as it has gone back to initial potential level. This law holds true even when resistance (which causes dissipation of energy) is present in a circuit. The validity of this law in this case can be understood if one realizes that a charge in fact doesn't go back to its starting point, due to dissipation of energy. A charge will just terminate at the negative terminal, instead of positive terminal. This means all the energy given by the potential difference has been fully consumed by resistance which in turn loses the energy as heat dissipation. To summarize, Kirchhoff's voltage law has nothing to do with gain or loss of energy by electronic components (resistors, capacitors, etc.). It is a law referring to the potential field generated by voltage sources. In this potential field, regardless of what electronic components are present, the gain or loss in "energy given by the potential field" must be zero when a charge completes a closed loop.

Lets work an example to see how it works.

Check out my electrical cheat sheet for the formulas for finding the resistance and currents in parallel and series circuits also on this social site.