Questions

1. Do the polarities of the sources in figure 3.1 matter as to the resulting voltages? Will the
magnitude of the voltages be the same if one or both sources have an inverted polarity?

After running a simulation 4 times where one is the same as figure 3.1, where E1 alone
is inverted, where E2 is the one inverted, and both E1 and E2 were inverted. Each time the
simulation is run in corresponds to the change of polarities, there are always different results.
Even though the magnitude of the results remains the same like the results of the first
simulation and the last simulation, there is still a difference in the integer values as one result is
the positive and another result of the inverse of the simulation will be the negative. With this we
can also say that the polarities of the sources in figure 3.1 actually matter in the resulting
voltages.

2. In both circuits of this exercise, the negative terminals of the sources are connected to
the ground. Is this a requirement for nodal analysis? What would happen to the node
voltages if the positions of E1 and R1 in figure 3.1 were swapped?

Electricity always flows to the least resistance conductor. A ground is a low resistance-
conductor that provides a passage return path of current to the voltage source. Ground is
always in the negative terminal of the source because if it is in the positive terminal the
electricity will flow into it since it has low resistance and thus, the circuit does not receive any
voltage.

In nodal analysis, we have the reference node and the non-reference node. The
reference node is a node that has the most branches and acts as the reference point to the
other nodes. The ground happens to be always at the reference node, because it is the efficient
way of terminating the voltage to 0V as our circuit is connected to the ground. With this
statement we can say that this is a requirement for nodal analysis.

Conclusion

In conclusion the position of polarities of the power sources are very important as it
severely affects the resulting voltage. Not only that, it also ensures that the circuit is well
connected and well functioning. Not having the required voltage may cause the circuit to not
function properly or worse it gets broken.
As for the ground and the reference node, the ground should always be at the reference
node as it is not the node we are going to calculate node voltage at. Placing the ground before
the essential node where we want to calculate the node voltage, this will extremely change the
value of the node voltage. In circuits, where having near accurate/precise computation are a
necessity, small miscalculations may result in different consequences.