“Introduction to Electricity”

Course Code: PHY104

Lecture # 3
“Electricity, Current, Voltage, Power”

Dr. Matiullah Khan

Associate Professor of Physics, KUST
E-mail: dr.matiullah@kust.edu.pk
Water vs. Electric Current

There are many analogous properties

between water and electric current
Characteristics such as
•Pressure
•Volume
•Flow
 Pressure
In a water system we In an electrical system
measure water pressure is measured in
pressure in Volts
foot lbs or PSI (pounds per square in)

A higher voltage pushes the charges

through the wire with greater force
 Pressure

How a water tower works:

1. Pump station
2. Reservoir
3. Water user
 Voltage
• Voltage is a measure of electric
potential energy, just like height is a
measure of gravitational potential energy.

• Voltage is measured in volts (V).

Using a voltmeter

• A voltage difference of 1 volt means 1 amp of

current does 1 joule of work in 1 second.
 Voltage
• Since 1 joule per second is a
watt (power), you can
interpret voltage as
• measuring the available
electrical power per amp of
current that flows.
 Voltage Source

A pump is a source of A battery is a source

fluid pressure of electrical
difference potential difference
 Voltage & Batteries
• The positive end of a 1.5 volt
battery is 1.5 volts higher than the
negative end.
• If you connect batteries positive-to-
negative, each battery adds 1.5 volts
to the total.
• Three batteries make 4.5 volts.
• Each unit of current coming out of
the positive end of the three-battery
stack has 4.5 joules of energy.
 Voltage source
VOLTAGE VOLTAGE
causes causes
current current

Charges do NOT flow unless there is potential difference

A voltage source is needed to provide a sustained potential

difference i.e. batteries or generators
The battery or source is represented by an escalator which raises
charges to a higher level of energy.
 Current and voltage
• A battery uses chemical energy to create a
voltage difference between its two terminals.
• In a battery, chemical reactions provide the
energy to pump the current from low voltage to
high voltage.
• A fully charged battery adds energy proportional
to its voltage.
 Volume
In our water system The Electrical
volume is in equivalent is a
cubic feet (ft3) or liters Coulomb

Coulomb is a unit of charge,

consists of
6.3 x 1018 electrons
(a big number indeed)
 Electric Charge
• A building up at the negative
terminal of a cell/battery
which then flows from this
terminal as negative charges
repel one another.
 Flow
• Fluid flowing through a system of pipes can
behave in many respects like electricity
flowing in a circuit
• The main difference is that water will fill any
space whereas electricity will 'fill' only a
conductor
 Flow
• Charge can only flow when there is a
potential difference or a difference in voltage
across the ends of a conductor
Current is a flow of charge
 Current
• Electric current is measured in units called
amperes, or amps (A) for short.
• One amp is a flow of a certain quantity of
electricity in one second.
• The amount of electric current entering a
circuit always equals the amount exiting the
circuit.
Electric Current
What is need for current to flow?
– one amp = 61018 electrons per second
• Electrons have a charge of –1.610-19 Coulombs
By convention, electrical current flows from high voltage to
low voltage

In other words, a positive current flows from higher to

lower electrical potential

NO POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE =
NO FLOW OF CURRENT
 Recap
• Relate water pressure and electric pressure.

• Units for electric pressure?

• Relate water volume to electric volume.

• Units for electric volume?

• Relate water flow and electric flow.

• Units for electric flow?

• Condition needed for electric flow.

 5 – Do Now Problems
1. What condition is necessary for the
sustained flow of charge in a conductor?
2. Differentiate between AC and DC.
3. What is voltage?

HW. Pg. 545 - 546 Review questions

How does current move through a
circuit?
 Conventional current

• Conventional current was proposed

by Ben Franklin in the 1700’s.

• Scientists later discovered that the particles that

carry electricity in a wire actually travel from
negative to positive.

• Today, we still use Franklin’s definition.

 Current Getting it Started

A potential difference is established between

two points and some charges are released

The positive terminal of a battery will attract

electrons charges

They will be acted on by the electrical force

and start to move
 Voltage source
VOLTAGE VOLTAGE
causes causes
current current

Charges do NOT flow unless there is potential difference

A voltage source is needed to provide a sustained potential

difference i.e. batteries or generators
The battery or source is represented by an escalator which raises
charges to a higher level of energy.
 Current & flow of charges
Electrical circuits, consist of current in the wire
moving from higher to lower electrical potential
 Current Electricity Example
• The continuous flow of charge
in a complete circuit.
 What does a battery do?
• A battery uses chemical energy to move
charges.
• If you connect a circuit with a battery the
charges flow out of the battery carrying energy.
Effects of Electric Current on the Body
Shock examples
Electrical Resistance and Ohm’s Law
Key Question:
How are voltage, current, and resistance related?
 Electrical resistance

• Resistance measures
how difficult it is for current to flow.
 Electrical Resistance
• The total amount of electrical resistance in a
circuit determines the amount of current that in
the circuit for a given voltage.
• The more resistance the circuit has, the less
current that flows.
 The ohm
• Resistance is measured in (W).
• One ohm is the resistance when a voltage of
1 volt is applied with a current of 1 amp.
Ohm’s Law  The formulae
 The resistance of electrical
devices
• The resistance of electrical
devices ranges from very
small (0.001 Ω) to very large
(10×106 Ω).

• Each device is designed with

a resistance that allows the
right amount of current to
flow when connected to the
voltage the device was
designed for.
 Ohm Quiz

Ohm plate Ice cream

Ohm on the range Ohm

Ohm sweet Ohm Broken Ohm Alone

Ohm
 Practice Quiz
1. If the resistance of your body were 100,000 ohms, what would be
the current in your body when you touched the terminals of a 12 volt
battery?

= 12 V / 100000 = 0.00012 A

2. If your skin were very moist so that your resistance was only 1000
ohms, and you touched the terminals of a 24 volt battery, how much
current would you draw?
See
= 24 V / 1000 = 0.024 A slide
18
 More Practice Problems
I = V/R
I = 110 V / 2200 Ώ
I = .05 A

R = V/I
R = 110 V/ .5A
R = 220 Ώ

V = IR
V = 1.2 A (100 Ώ)
V = 120 V
 Electric Resistance
1. Length
as the electrons will have more distance to move
and will therefore be bumping around more.
resistance varies with the length of a conductor

Ex: The length of a conductor is similar to the length of a

hallway. A shorter hallway would allow people to move through
at a higher rate than a longer one.
2. Cross-sectional area
resistance varies inversely with the cross sectional area
If the area doubles then the resistance is halved.
The wider the pipe, the easier it is for water to flow through
…………………………………………………
 Type of material
3. Type of material
good conductors have low resistance and many
free electrons

electrical conductance is measured

in siemens (S).
the inverse of the resistance
 Temperature
4. Temperature
most materials experience an increase in
resistance as their temperature increases
experience a decrease in resistance as their
temperature decreases
due to the kinetic theory of matter
……………………………………………… ………………………………………………
… …
 Electric Power
The work done by
an electric current
moving through a
circuit is given by

W=VIt

Power = Volts x Amps

1 watt = 1 volt x 1 amp
 Power Equations
Power (P)
Rate at which work is performed
Measured in watts (W)

• Power
• P= V I P = (I R) I = I 2 R
 Getting Power to Our Homes
Thomas Edison's GE company held the patents on the
DC generators being used in the early days

• Decided to power homes with DC power

– DC means direct current: just like what batteries
deliver
 Getting Power to Our Homes
• Do we want power plants close to our home?
• Probably NOT…so we need to have
– an ability to “ship” electricity across states
• So power lines are long
– Therefore resistance no longer negligible
 Power Dissipated in an Electricity Distribution System
150 miles

120 Watt
Light bulb

Power Plant 12 Volt

on Colorado River Connection Box

• Estimate resistance of power lines: say 0.001 Ohms

per meter, times 200 km = 0.001 W/m  2105 m
= 20 Ohms
• We can figure out the current required by a single
bulb using P = VI so I = P/V
=120 Watts/12 Volts
= 10 Amps
 Power Dissipated in an Electricity Distribution System
150 miles

120 Watt
Light bulb

Power Plant 12 Volt

on Colorado River Connection Box

• Power in transmission line is

P = I 2R
= 102  20 = 2,000 Watts!!

• “Efficiency” is έ = 120 Watts/4120 Watts = 0.3%

 The Tradeoff
• The big problem is the high current through
the (fixed resistance) transmission lines
• Need less current
• The square in I 2R that has the most effect

• Our appliances needs a certain amount of power

• I = P /V less current means higher voltage

 The Solution
• The Solution is high voltage transmission
• I = 120 Watts/12 kV = 0.01 Amps for one
bulb, giving
P = I 2R = (0.01)220 = 2010-4 Watts, so
P = 0.002 Watts
dissipated in transmission line
• Efficiency in this case is
• έ = 120 Watts/120.004 = 99.996%
 The Tradeoff
• But having high voltage in each household is a
recipe for disaster
– sparks every time you plug something in
– risk of fire
– not cat-friendly
• We need a way to step-up/step-down voltage at will
– We can’t do this with DC, so go to AC
 Basic Terminology
• Direct Current (DC) – charge
flows in one direction.
– Batteries
– Solar Panels
 Basic Terminology
• Alternating Current (AC)
– Magnitude & direction of
current flow periodically
change
– Each sequence called a cycle
– Frequency is cycles per second
(Hz)
 AC Circuits
• An AC voltage source reverses the positive
and negative terminals many times per
second.
• The current flows one direction and then the
other then the other…..
• This changing of polarity or cycling is
called frequency, measured in cycles per
second (hertz).
 Why AC?
• AC is like a battery where the terminals
exchange sign periodically!
• approx. 60 cycles per sec in household current
• AC sloshes back and forth in the wires
• Although net electron flow over one cycle is
zero, useful work can still be done!
• Imagine sawing (back & forth), or rubbing hands
together to generate heat
DC (direct current) and AC (alternating current)

Batteries produce DC Household/power plant: AC

I
 DC vs AC

AC
DC •Electrons flow in short burst
•Electrons flow constantly •Electrons switch directions
•Electrons flow in only one (60 times a second)
direction •House current
•Batteries
 AC
Nikola Tesla invented & George
Westinghouse introduced his system based
on high-voltage alternating current (AC),
which could carry electricity hundreds of
miles with little loss of power
 RESISTOR COLOR CODES

The resistor code is a color code. Around each resistor are colored
stripes. Each color stands for a number. You can tell how much
resistance by looking at the numbers.
Black = 0 Yellow = 4 Gray = 8
Brown = 1 Green = 5 White = 9
Red = 2 Blue = 6
Orange = 3 Violet = 7

•Gold or silver tells you how accurate the resistor is

•gold is (+) Or (–) 5% silver is (+) Or (–) 10%
 RESISTOR COLOR CODES
This is how to crack the code.
Write the numbers for the first two colors.
The third color tells you how many zeros to add.
Resistance is measured in ohms.

This resistor has a resistance of…..

1000 ohms
 Resistors

• Electrical components called

resistors can be used to control
current.
• Resistors have striped color codes
to record their "values" (writing
on them is difficult).
 Resistors
• Used to control current or
potential
difference in
a circuit.
 Quiz

2,500,000,000 W

6,200,000 W

740 W

7,400,000,000 W
880,000,000 W
Thanks