AGK Electrics

Lesson 3: Current
 Current
• The flow of electrons (charge)
• A current is the amount of charge(coulombs) that
passes a point on the wire per unit of time(seconds)
• A current of 1 amp is a charge flow rate of 1 coulomb
per second
• Measured in amperes (amps)
• Symbol: I
• Measured with an ammeter which is wired in series in
the circuit
Polarity and Current Direction
• How much charge is moving per time?
• Which direction it is moving?
• Direction of current is defined as the
direction that positive charge is moving
 Polarity and Current Direction
• Point A has 6 protons and 3 electrons(+3 coulombs)
• Point B has 3 protons and 6 electrons(-3 coulombs) at the beginning
• Later we discover that Point A has +1 coulombs and Point B has -1
Coulombs
• Point A has become less positive and Point B has become less negative
• So it means that overall movement of positive charge from Point A to
Point B

Conventional current flow is defined as the rate of flow of

positive charge!
 Types of Current
• Direct Current(DC) – Current always flow in the same direction
• Alternating Current(AC) – Current direction alternates many
times a second
• Smaller aircraft has DC systems
• Larger aircraft has a small DC system for redundancy,
surrounded by a larger AC system
Driving of Current
• In this circuit the battery is acting as the power
supply, İt is a store of energy thsat is responsible
for driving the current around the circuit.
Measurement of Current
• By ammeter
• To measure the current a wire is cut and two ends
are connected to the ammeter
• Current in the wire actually flows through the
ammeter
• Measurement of a current is made at a single point
Kirchhoff’s Current Law

• At any point in an electrical circuit, the total

current flowing into that point is equal to
the current flowing out of that point
• If we have a length of wire and we measure
the current at one point, we know that
current is the same at every other point.
Simple Circuit
• Current is constant all the way around the
simple circuit
Circuit with a Branch

•
Depicting Current Direction
• If the value derived from a formula is
negative then it means that the current is
flowing in the opposite direction.
• A dot in a conductor means flow out of the
page(arrowhead)
• A cross in a conductor means flow into the
page(tail fletching)