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Electricity and Circuits

Electricity
 Introduction
• Electricity is a general term that encompasses a
variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and
flow of electric charge.
• Electricity is one of the efficient, pollution free and
useful forms of energy.
• In general usage, the word “electricity” is adequate to
refer to a number of physical effects.
• Electrical power is usually generated by electro-
mechanical generators driven by steam produced from
fossil fuel combustion.
 Electric Charge

Electric charge is a property of certain

subatomic particles, which gives rise to • Salt water conducts electric charge
and interacts with, the electromagnetic
force, one of the four fundamental forces
of nature. Charge originates in the atom,
in which its most familiar carriers are the
electron and proton. The presence of
charge gives rise to the electromagnetic
force. The charge on electrons and protons
is opposite in sign, hence an amount of
charge may be expressed as being either
negative or positive. Charge can be
measured by a number of means, an early
instrument being the gold-leaf
electroscope, which although still in use
for classroom demonstrations, has been
 Electric Current

The movement of electric charge is known

as an electric current. By historical
convention, a positive current is defined as
having the same direction of flow as any
positive charge it contains, or to flow from
the most positive part of a circuit to the
most negative part. Examples of electric
currents include metallic conduction,
where electrons flow through a conductor
such as metal, and electrolysis, where
charged atoms or ions flow through
liquids. In engineering or household
applications, current is often described as
being either direct current or alternating
current. Direct current, as produced by
example from a battery is a unidirectional
 Electric Field

The concept of the electric field was

introduced by Michael Faraday. An
electric field is created by a charged body
in the space that surrounds it. The study of
electric fields created by stationary
charges is called electrostatics. A hollow
conducting body carries all its charge on
its outer surface. The field is therefore
zero at all places inside the body. This is
the operating principal of the Faraday
cage, a conducting metal shell which
isolates its interior from outside electrical
effects. There is a finite limit to the
electric field strength that may be
withstood by any medium. Beyond this
point, electrical breakdown occurs and an
 Electric Potential

The concept of electric potential is closely

linked to that of the electric field. The
electric potential is defined as the energy
required to bring a unit test charge from
an infinite distance slowly to that point. It
is usually measured in volts. Earth is
assumed to be an infinite source of equal
amounts of positive and negative charge,
and is therefore electrically uncharged –
and unchargeable.Just as a released object
will fall through a difference in heights
caused by a gravitational field. The
electric field was formally defined as the
force exerted per unit charge, but the
concept of potential allows for a more
useful and equivalent definition: the
 Electromagnetism

Ørsted's discovery in 1821 that a magnetic

field existed around all sides of a wire
carrying an electric current indicated that
there was a direct relationship between
electricity and magnetism. Ørsted's
slightly obscure words were that "the
electric conflict acts in a revolving
manner. Ørsted did not fully understand
his discovery, but he observed the effect
was reciprocal: a current exerts a force on
a magnet, and a magnetic field exerts a
force on a current. This relationship
between magnetic fields and currents is
extremely important, for it led to Michael
Faraday's invention of the electric motor
in 1821. Faraday's homopolar motor
Uses Of
Electricity
 Light Energy
Logically, light is energy itself, and it is a
nature’s method of transferring energy
through space extremely quickly. Light’s
finite velocity can be illustrated clearly
when we examine huge distances, such as
those used in astronomy. The term “light”
is, itself, a little misleading, at least in
terms of its actual energy. It is actually
more typically referred to as
electromagnetic radiation, which is
basically the optical light that is visible to
us and can be perceived by our eyes.
Within this range, physics has also
informed us that light is often represented
as a “particle” phenomenon, made up of
“packs” of energy called photons. These
photons, however, are different with
regards to the amount of energy they
 Sound Energy
Sound energy is currently being explored
for a number of different purposes,
ranging from tactical weapon
development to energy production and Sound Energy Level
even as a means unto itself for lift and
propulsion. sound waves contain within
them the inherent nature to disrupt cellular
bindings and, as explored through tests on
laboratory animals, can actually cause
internal damage and bleeding if directed at
a high enough frequency at a living
creature. Alternatively sound energy has
been proven as a source of energy that can
easily be utilized in enclosed energy
production systems such as a Sterling
engine. The Sterling engine, designed
originally as a stem engine for
transportation, relies upon the heating and
 Mechanical Energy
Mechanical energy is the sum of energy in
a mechanical system. This energy includes
both kinetic energy, the energy of motion,
and potential energy, the stored energy of
position. A mechanical system is any
group of objects that interact based on
basic mechanical principles. Kinetic
energy, the energy of motion, exists
whenever an object is in motion. Potential
energy is based on the position of an
object. It can not cause any change on its
own, but it can be converted to other
forms of energy. Calculating both the
kinetic and potential energy of a single
object is a simple task; calculating kinetic
and potential energy for billions of tiny
molecules would be nearly impossible.
 Heat Energy
Heat energy (or just heat) is a form of
energy which transfers among particles in
a substance (or system) by means of
kinetic energy of those particle. In other
words, under kinetic theory, the heat is
transferred by particles bouncing into each
other. In physical equations, the amount of
heat transferred is usually denoted with
the symbol Q. The flow of energy from a
warmer object to a cooler object is called
Heat Energy. Heat Energy is needed to set
molecules in motion. Heat is measured in
calories and the instrument for measuring
heat is calorimeter. Heat can also be
transferred in
threeways:conduction,convection and
radiation. a. Conduction-is heat transfer by
direct contact between molecules.
Circuits
 Circuits

An electric circuit is an interconnection of

electric components such that electric
charge is made to flow along a closed path
, usually to perform some useful task. The
components in an electric circuit can take
many forms, which can include elements
such as resistors, capacitors, switches,
transformers and electronics. The
capacitor is a device capable of storing
charge. The unit of capacitance is the
farad, named after Michael Faraday. The
inductor is a conductor, usually a coil of
wire, that stores energy in a magnetic field
in response to the current through it. It
will freely allow an unchanging current,
but opposes a rapidly changing one.
 Analog Circuits
• Analog electronic circuits are those in which current or voltage may vary
continuously with time to correspond to the information being represented.
Analog circuitry is used to interact with the external world: analog
amplifiers drive speakers, send to and receive signals from antennas and
interact with sensors, such as cameras, thermocouples and photocells.
Analog circuitry is constructed from two fundamental building blocks:
series and parallel circuits. In a series circuit, the same current passes
through a series of components. A string of Christmas lights is a good
example of a series circuit: if one goes out, they all do. In a parallel circuit,
all the components are connected to the same voltage, and the current
divides between the various components according to their resistance. The
basic components of analog circuits are wires, resistors, capacitors,
inductors, diodes, and transistors. When the circuit size is comparable to a
wavelength of the relevant signal frequency, a more sophisticated approach
must be used. Wires are treated as transmission lines, with constant
characteristic impedance, and the impedances at the start and end
determine transmitted and reflected waves on the line.
 Digital Circuits
• In digital electronic circuits, electric signals take on discrete values, to represent logical
and numeric values . These values represent the information that is being processed. In
the vast majority of cases, binary encoding is used: one voltage represents a binary '1' and
another voltage represents a binary '0'. Digital circuits make extensive use of transistors,
interconnected to create logic gates that provide the functions of Boolean logic: AND,
OR, NOT, and all possible combinations thereof. Transistors interconnected so as to
provide positive feedback are used as latches and flip flops, circuits that have two or
more metastable states, and remain in one of these states until changed by an external
input. Digital circuits therefore can provide both logic and memory, enabling them to
perform arbitrary computational functions. (Memory based on flip-flops is known as
SRAM. Memory based on the storage of charge in a capacitor, DRAM is also widely
used. Digital circuits are fundamentally easier to design than analog circuits for the same
level of complexity, because each logic gate regenerates the binary signal, so the designer
need not account for distortion, gain control, offset voltages, and other concerns faced in
an analog design. As a consequence, extremely complex digital circuits, with billions of
logic elements integrated on a single silicon chip, can be fabricated at low cost. Such
digital integrated circuits are ubiquitous in modern electronic devices, such as calculators,
mobile phone handsets, and computers.
 Mixed Signal Circuits
• Mixed-signal or hybrid circuits contain elements of
both analog and digital circuits. Examples include
comparators, timers, PLLs, ADCs (analog-to-digital
converters), and DACs (digital-to-analog converters).
Most modern radio and communications circuitry uses
mixed signal circuits. For example, in a receiver,
analog circuitry is used to amplify and frequency-
convert signals so that they reach a suitable state to be
converted into digital values, after which further signal
processing can be performed in the digital domain.