Investigating Basic Circuits

Post-Activity Discussion

Digital Electronics 2014 Project Lead The Way, Inc.

 This Presentation Will
Answers the following questions:
What are some of the basic components that make up
simple circuits and what do they do?
What are the important characteristics of a circuit and
how do I measure different parts of a circuit?
How do I work safely with circuits?
How do I measure voltage in a circuit?
How does the arrangement of components affect the
characteristics of the circuit?
How can I use calculations to design circuits before I
start creating one?

2
 Light Emitting Diode (LED)
In Activity 1.1.2 Investigating Basic Circuits you created a
simple circuit similar to the one shown below.

With the circuit active, what happened when you flipped

the LED in the opposite direction?
The LED will not light up.
What does that tell you about LEDs (a type of diode)?
They are semiconductors that only work in one direction.
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 Resistors
What do you think the role of the resistor is in the circuit?

The resistor protects the LED by limiting the flow of

current through it.
Resistor - Component made of material that
opposes flow of current and therefore has some
value of resistance.
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 How to Properly Use a DMM
What happened when you switched the leads?
The DMM still reads the voltage, it is just negative.
Everyone read slightly different values. Why?
Tolerances of components.
The voltage sources are slightly different.
5V -5V

5
 How to Properly Use a DMM
How do you ensure the best precision in reading voltage
with the DMM? (most significant figures)
The DMM reading becomes more precise by a factor of ten
each time the voltage range is decreased.
Range Reading

600V-0V 005V (1 s.f.)

20V-0V 4.7V (2 s.f.)
2V-0V 1 or +Over

Why was there no reading at 2V-0V?

The range is too small.
2V-0V range cannot measure 4.7V.
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 What is Voltage?
Now that you can measure it, lets explore what
voltage is in more detail.

Voltage is the electrical force that causes current to

flow in a circuit. It is measured in VOLTS.

This force can be created by separating charges.

Voltage has been described many different ways as

the science around electricity has evolved.

We will describe voltage by looking at another common

component in electronics called a capacitor.
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 Capacitors
A capacitor is an electronic component that can be used
to store an electrical charge.
A capacitor can be thought of as a temporary battery.

- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +

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- +
 What is Voltage?
Example:
Parallel Plate Capacitor
A battery pushes charge onto
opposite plates which
generates an electric field.
Theoretically, a positive test
charge placed in the field has
the potential to move.
Can you guess which way the
test charge would move in this
electric field? Good guess! The test charge has the potential to move left.
(opposites attract)
- +
- +
- +
- +
- + +
- Test Charge
+
- +
- +
- +
- +
- +
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 What is Voltage?
Example
Parallel Plate Capacitor - +
- +
- +
If a conductor were to touch - +
both plates, all the charges one - +
would move to the other. - +
- +
This can create a lot of current! - +
- +
Be careful when dealing with - +
high voltage capacitors.
- +

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 Voltage Source: Battery
A battery is a device that converts chemical energy into
electrical energy.
The chemical reaction provides more charges for a longer
time than a capacitor does.
One side of a battery has the potential to do work
(12V) High Potential (right side of battery)
One side of a battery has no potential to do work
(0V) Low Potential or Ground (left side of battery)

+ - + +
Test Charge B Test Charge A

The battery would make both test charges move to the right.
 What is Voltage?
In order for a charge to move, there must be a separation
of charge or a potential difference across two points in the
circuit.

Voltage is defined mathematically as

V = V final V initial

A Volt(V) is a Joule(J) of work per Coulomb (C) of charge.

1V = 1J
1C
A 12V battery is able to do 12 Joules of work for every 1
Coulomb of charge the battery can provide. 12
 What is Voltage?
Both of these situations read zero volts on the DMM. Why?

(6a) (6b)

There is no separation of charge. For each of these arrangements, the

potential difference or voltage across the test points is zero.
(6a) V = 5V-5V=0 13
(6b) V = 0V-0V=0
 Current: An Analogy
The flow of water from one tank to another is a good analogy for
an electrical circuit and the mathematical relationship between
voltage, resistance, and current.
Force: The difference in the water levels Voltage

Flow: The flow of the water between the tanks Current

Opposition: The valve that limits the amount of water Resistance

Force
Flow

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Opposition
 Anatomy of a Flashlight

Switch Switch
Light Light
Bulb Bulb
D - Cell

Battery - +
Battery

Block Diagram Schematic Diagram

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 Flashlight Schematic

Current

Resistance

- + - +
Voltage

Closed circuit (switch closed) Open circuit (switch open)

Current flow No current flow
Lamp is on Lamp is off
Lamp is resistance, uses Lamp is resistance, but is not
energy to produce light (and using any energy
heat)
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 Current Flow
Conventional Current assumes
that current flows out of the
Conventional
positive side of the battery,
Current
through the circuit, and back to
the negative side of the battery.
This was the convention
established when electricity was
first discovered, but it is incorrect!
Electron Flow is what actually
happens. The electrons flow out
of the negative side of the battery,
through the circuit, and back to Electron
Flow
the positive side of the battery.
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 Engineering vs. Science
The direction that the current flows does not affect what the
current is doing; thus, it doesnt make any difference which
convention is used as long as you are consistent.
Both Conventional Current and Electron Flow are used. In
general, the science disciplines use Electron Flow, whereas
the engineering disciplines use Conventional Current.
Since this is an engineering course, we will use Conventional
Current.

Electron Conventional
Flow Current

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 Ohms Law
Defines the relationship between voltage, current, and
resistance in an electric circuit
Ohms Law:
Current in a resistor varies in direct proportion to the voltage
applied to it and is inversely proportional to the resistors value.
Stated mathematically:

V
+ -
I R

Where: I is the current (amperes)

V is the potential difference (volts)
R is the resistance (ohms) 19
Ohms Law Triangle

V
I R

V
I R

V
I R

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 Example: Ohms Law
Example:
The flashlight shown uses a 6 volt battery and has a bulb
with a resistance of 150 . When the flashlight is on, how
much current will be drawn from the battery?

Schematic Diagram
IR

+
VT = VR
-

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 Example: Ohms Law
Example:
The flashlight shown uses a 6 volt battery and has a bulb
with a resistance of 150 . When the flashlight is on, how
much current will be drawn from the battery?

Solution:
Schematic Diagram
IR
V
+
VT = VR I R
-

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 Circuit Configuration

The other LED went out. The other LED remained lite.

What happened when you removed an LED from each

of these circuits?
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 Circuit Configuration
Components in a circuit can be connected in one
of two ways.
Series Circuits Parallel Circuits
Components are connected Both ends of the components are
end-to-end. connected together.
There is only a single path for There are multiple paths for current
current to flow. to flow.

Components 24
(i.e., resistors, batteries, capacitors, etc.)
 Kirchoffs Voltage Law (KVL)
In this circuit we used a 5V power source.
The resistor you measured had roughly 3V across it.
What did you guess would be the voltage across the LED?

Power Source (a)Voltage across LED and Resistor (b) Voltage across Resistor only
5V 5V 3V

VTotal=VR1 + VLED
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5V = 3V + 2V
 Series Circuits
Characteristics of a series circuit
The current flowing through every series component is equal.
The total resistance (RT) is equal to the sum of all of the resistances
(i.e., R1 + R2 + R3).
The sum of all of the voltage drops (VR1 + VR2 + VR2) is equal to the
total applied voltage (VT). This is called Kirchhoffs Voltage Law.
VR1
IT + -

+ +
VT VR2
- -

- +
RT 26
VR3
 Example: Series Circuit
Example:
For the series circuit shown, use the laws of circuit theory to calculate
the following:
The total resistance (RT)
The current flowing through each component (IT, IR1, IR2, and IR3)
The voltage across each component (VT, VR1, VR2, and VR3)
Use the results to verify Kirchhoffs Voltage Law.
VR1
IT + -

+ IR1 +
VT IR2 VR2
- IR3 -

- 27
RT +
VR3
 Example: Series Circuit
Solution:
Total Resistance:

Current Through Each Component:

V
I R

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 Example: Series Circuit
Solution:
Voltage Across Each Component:

V
I R

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 Example: Series Circuit
Solution:
Verify Kirchhoffs Voltage Law:

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Kirchoffs Current Law (KCL)
Note:
LEDs can be viewed as resistors in this
circuit to simplify the discussion.

The 330 resistor was also removed to

make the relationship easier to see.

Why do you think the 330 resistor

placed in the actual circuit when the
components are arranged this way?

For components that are in series, the current is the

same in each component regardless of the
resistance values.
In this circuit configuration, if R1 and R2 have
different resistances the current is not the same.
What would R1 and R2 have in common? Voltage 31
 Parallel Circuits
Characteristics of a Parallel Circuit
The voltage across every parallel component is equal.
The total resistance (RT) is equal to the reciprocal of the sum of the
reciprocal:

The sum of all of the currents in each branch (IR1 + IR2 + IR3) is equal
to the total current (IT). This is called Kirchhoffs Current Law.
IT

+ + + +
VT VR1 VR2 VR3
- - - -

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RT
 Example: Parallel Circuit
Example:
For the parallel circuit shown, use the laws of circuit theory to calculate
the following:
The total resistance (RT)
The voltage across each component (VT, VR1, VR2, and VR3)
The current flowing through each component (IT, IR1, IR2, and IR3)
Use the results to verify Kirchhoffs Current Law.
IT

IR1 IR2 IR3

+ + + +
VT VR1 VR2 VR3
- - - -

33 33
RT
 Example: Parallel Circuit
Solution:
Total Resistance:

Voltage Across Each Component:

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 Example: Parallel Circuit
Solution:
Current Through Each Component:

V
I R

35
 Example: Parallel Circuit
Solution:
Verify Kirchhoffs Current Law:

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 Summary of Kirchhoffs Laws
Kirchhoffs Voltage Law (KVL):
The sum of all of the voltage drops in a
series circuit equals the total applied
voltage.

Gustav Kirchhoff Kirchhoffs Current Law (KCL):

1824-1887
German Physicist
The total current in a parallel circuit equals
the sum of the individual branch currents.

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 Up Next
Now that you have been introduced to some of the basic
characteristics, components, and measurement tools used
in electronics, we will build on that knowledge in the
upcoming activities.

Scientific & Engineering Notation

Component Identification: Analog Devices
Circuit Theory Laws
Hand Calculations
Simulation
Breadboarding

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 Analog Versus Digital
The circuits we have explored to this point have included
only analog components.
Later we will be learning what some of the digital
components are and how they can be used to create
desired outputs to a circuit given specific inputs.

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The Random Number Generator
The Random Number Generator (RNG) is an example
circuit that we will use to illustrate all the parts of a
complete circuit design.
It includes an analog section and two digital sections.

Push Button
Push Random
Button Number
Imput Output

0 0 0 1 1 1

Sequential Combinational
0 1 1 0 0 1
Analog Logic Logic
Section Section Section
(Digital) 1 0 1 0 1 0 (Digital)

1 2 3 4 5 6 40