Basic Electricity Manual

I. History of electricity: refer to the book of Electrical History by Tom Henry.

Electron theory:

Matter – anything that occupies space, weight, volume and some other phenomenon.

Three types of matter:

1. solid - stones

2. liquid – water

3. gas - air

Molecules – is the smallest particle of an atom.

Atom – it s the smallest particle of an element.

Element – a substance by any of the means under his control, resolve into two or more substances. A
mass is composed of an atoms all of which are of one kind. There are two kinds of an element; the
metals which there are 73 and the nonmetals of which there are 18.

Three Parts of Atomic Energy:

1. Protons – positive (+) charge (heavy)

2. Electrons – negative (-) charge (weightless)

3. Neutrons - neutral (like protons and electrons bonded together)

Simple Structure of an atom:

What is a conductor?

Conductor – is a material that permit the free-motion of electrons.

Here are a few common examples of conductors:

 silver
 copper
 gold
 aluminum
 iron
 steel
 brass
 bronze
 mercury
 graphite
 dirty water
 concrete

STRUCUTRE OF CONDUCTOR:

What is an insulator?
Insulator- are materials that have very few electrons. In these materials a lot of energy is needed to get
the electrons out from their orbit of an atom and actually there is no such things as a perfect insulator.

Example of good Insulators:

 glass
 rubber
 oil
 asphalt
 fiberglass
 porcelain
 ceramic
 quartz
 (dry) cotton
 (dry) paper
 (dry) wood
 plastic
 air
 diamond
 pure water

STRUCTURE OF INSULATOR:

What is electricity ?

Electricity – is a flow of electrons or an extreme flow of free-electrons passing to certain conductor

materials.

- It is an invisible flow of electrons cause by chemical and mechanical action of energy that give
effect.

Electron flow (current)

Static Electricity

Electric Fields
Groups of electric charges can be combined to make more complete electric fields.

Energy – It is a resources of getting power.

- It is the amount of physical work a system is capable of doing. Electrical energy is measured in
watt-seconds or the product of power and time.
PE --- Potential energy

KE --- Kinetic energy

Sources of Electrical Energy:

1. hydro – water 5. wind – mill prime motor

2. geothermal – heat from volcano 6. generator – conductor magnetism

3. fuel – gas of combustion engine 7. battery – chemical or carbon

4. solar – sun radiance 8. transformer – induced magnetism

Forms of Energy:

1. mechanical (motors) 3. Heat (heating appliances)

2. light (lamps) 4. Sound (elx appliances)

Electric current - is a free-movement of free-electrons. The unit is Ampere.

- Is a transfer of electrical energy in a conductor by means of electrons flowing constantly and

position in a vibrating manner.
- It is a flow of electrical energy along a conductor from the higher to the lower of two points
having different pressures.
- It is a free-movement of electrons through a conductor; measured in amperes, milli-amperes
and microamperes.
Two Sources of Current:

1. DC – direct current

2. AC – alternating current

Voltage/ emf/pd – it is known as the electrical pressure. The unit is Volts.

- An energy charge relation that results in electric pressure (voltage) which produces or tends to
produce charge flow.

Resistance – a quality of electric circuit that opposes the flow of electrons. The unit is Ohms.

- The opposition offered by a substance or body to the passage through it of an electric current
which converts electric energy into heat. Resistance is the reciprocal of conductance.

Power – it is the rate of doing work. The unit is Watts.

- The rate at which work is done; it is usually expressed as the number of foot pounds in one
minute, that is, if you lift 33,000 foot pounds in one minute, you have done 1 horsepower of
work.

What is a Circuit?

Circuit – is a complete path way of electric current.

Parts of complete circuit:

1. source – generator/ battery

2. consuming device – lamps/loads

3. controlling device – switches/safety panels

4. conductor – wire
Example of complete circuit:

Types of circuit:

1. series 3. series-parallel/combination

2. parallel
1. 2.

3.

Series – a circuit supplying energy to a number of loads connected in series, that is, the same current

passes through each load in completing its path to the source of supply.

- a connection which contain of only one possible path for the current flow through the circuit.

Parallel or multiple circuit – a multiples circuit consist of two or more circuits connected to a common

junction points so that the same potential drop is established through its branch.

- a connection which contain of two or more path for electrons, supplied by a common voltage.

Series-parallel circuit or combination circuit – an electric circuit containing groups of parallel

connected receptive devices, the group being arranged in the circuit in series or series multiple.

- a connection of loads along one line then another loads connected across the lines supplied by a
common voltage source.

Four (4) common electrical measuring instruments:

1. Voltmeter 3. wattmeter

2. Ohmmeter 4. Ammeter
Voltmeter – is used to measure the amount of voltage in the circuit and is connected in parallel to the
source.

Ohmmeter – is used to measure the amount of resistance in the de-energize circuit and is connected
across or parallel to the load.

Wattmeter – an electrical instruments design to measure directly the product of current and voltage in
the circuit and gives its reading in watts.

Ammeter – is used to measure the amount of current in the circuit and is connected in series the line.
Meters Connection:

Chart of the factors of electricity and symbols:

Factors of Electricity Symbols Unit of measurement Unit symbols

Current I Amperes A.

Voltage E Volts V.

Resistance R Ohms Ω

Power P Watts W.
Series current, voltage and resistance:

Current – the total load current in series circuit connection is equal to the source current.

It = I1 = I2 = I3

Voltage – the total voltage in series circuit connection is equal to the sum of all loads voltages.

Et = E1 = E2 = E3

Resistance – the total resistance in series circuit connection is equal to the sum of all loads resistances.

Rt = R1 + R2 + R3

Parallel current, voltage and resistance:

Current – the total current in parallel circuit connection is equal to the sum of all loads ampacity.

It = I1 + I2 + I3

Voltage – the total voltage in parallel circuit connection is equal to the source voltage.

Et = E1 = E2 = E3

Resistance – the total resistance in parallel circuit connection is smaller than the smallest load resistance
value.

Rt = R1 x R2
R1 + R2

Rt = R1 x R2 x R3
(R1 x R2) + (R1 x R3) + (R2 x R3)

1 = 1 + 1 + 1
Rt R1 R2 R3

Ohm’s Law – is the mathematical relationship between current, voltage and resistance.

Standard statement of Ohm’s law:

 EXAMPLE PROBLEM ON RESISTORS IN SERIES
Question 
The current flowing in a circuit containing four resistors connected in series is I = 1.0
A. The potential drops across the first, second and third resistors are, respectively: V =
5 V, V = 8 V and V = 7 V. 
The equivalent resistance of the circuit is R = 30 .

Find the total voltage supplied by the battery, and also

current, voltage drop, and resistance of each resistor in the
circuit.
 
Figure 1 Example Problem:
Resistors in series
Hints
1. How are resistors related when connected in series?
2. What is true about potential drops of resistors when connected in series?
3. You will need to use Ohm's Law.
 First, let's label the diagram with the information given in
the question.
There are several ways of solving this problem
(see alternate solutions), but this tutorial will only go
through one of these ways.
 
Figure 2 Example Problem, with
given data
Because the resistors are connected in series, then the same current flows through
each one. Using the Ohm's Law, we can find the resistances of the first, second and
third resistors.

Now, using the equivalent resistance, we can find the resistance in the fourth resistor.
This is a series circuit, so the equivalent resistance is the sum of the individual
resistances.
 

The current flowing through the fourth resistor is also I=1.0A. Using Ohm's Law
again, we find the voltage across this resistor.
 

The total voltage supplied by the battery must equal to the total voltage drop across
the circuit (this is known as Kirchhoff's Voltage Law). So, we must sum up the
voltage drops across the resistors.

Series Resistance
The total resistance in a series circuit is equal to the sum of all the parts of that circuit, as shown in equation (2-3).
Example:
A series circuit has a 60Ω, a 100Ω, and a 150Ω resistor in series (Figure 1). What is the total resistance of the circuit?
Solution:

Figure 1: Resistance in a Series Circuit

The total voltage across a series circuit is equal to the sum of the voltages across each resistor in the circuit (Figure 2) as shown in
equation (2-4).
 Figure 2: Voltage Drops in a Series Circuit
Ohms law may now be applied to the entire series circuit or to individual component parts of the circuit. When used on individual
component parts, the voltage across that part is equal to the current times the resistance of that part. For the circuit shown in Figure
3, the voltage can be determined as shown below.
 Figure 3: Voltage Total in a Series Circuit
To find the total voltage across a series circuit, multiply the current by the total resistance as shown in equation (2-5).

Example 1: A series circuit has a 50Ω, a 75Ω, and a 100Ω resistor in series (Figure 4). Find the voltage necessary to produce a
current of 0.5 amps.

Figure 4: Example 1 Series Circuit

Solution:
Step 1: Find circuit current. As we already know, current is the same throughout a series circuit, which is already given as 0.5 amps.
Step 2: Find RT.
Step 3: Find VT. Use Ohms law.

Example 2: A 120 V battery is connected in series with three resistors: 40Ω, 60Ω, and 100Ω (Figure 5). Find the voltage across each
resistor.

Figure 5: Example 2 Series Circuit

Solution:
Step 1: Find total resistance.

Step 2: Find circuit current (I).

Step 3: Find the voltage across each component.

The voltages of V1, V2, and V3 in Example 2 are known as "voltage drops" or "IR drops." Their effect is to reduce the available
voltage to be applied across the other circuit components. The sum of the voltage drops in any series circuit is always equal to the
applied voltage. We can verify our answer in Example 2 by using equation (2-4).

Parallel current, voltage and resistance:

Current – the total current in parallel circuit connection is equal to the sum of all loads ampacity.

It = I1 + I2 + I3

Voltage – the total voltage in parallel circuit connection is equal to the source voltage.

Et = E1 = E2 = E3

Resistance – the total resistance in parallel circuit connection is smaller than the smallest load resistance
value.

Rt = R1 x R2
R1 + R2

Rt = R1 x R2 x R3
(R1 x R2) + (R1 x R3) + (R2 x R3)

1 = 1 + 1 + 1
Rt R1 R2 R3
Resistance in Parallel
Total resistance in a parallel circuit can be found by applying Ohms Law. Divide the voltage
across the parallel resistance by the total line current as shown in equation (2-9).

Example: Find the total resistance of the circuit shown in Figure 8 if the line voltage is 120 V
and total current is 26A.

The total load connected to a 120 V source is the same as the single "equivalent resistance" of
4.62Ω connected across the source (Figure 9). Equivalent resistance is the total resistance a
combination of loads present to a circuit.

Figure 9 Equivalent Resistance in a Parallel Circuit

The total resistance in a parallel circuit can also be found by using the equation (2-10).

Example 1: Find the total resistance of a 4Ω, an 8Ω, and a 16Ωresistor in parallel (Figure 10).
 Figure 10 Total Resistance in a Parallel Circuit
Solution:

Ohm’s Law:

Ohm’s Law – is the mathematical relationship between current, voltage and resistance.

Standard statement of Ohm’s law:

 Watt’s Law

Watt's Law states the relationships of power to current, voltage and resistance. Enter any two known values
and press "Calculate" to solve for the others.

The current, voltage, resistance and power relationship: (The application of Omh’s Law and Watt’s
Law:

I E R P

E/R IR E/I EI

P/E P/I E2/P I2R

√P/R √PR P/I2 E2/R