UNIT II

Electricity
Dr. Jeeban Pd Gewali
 Current Electricity
Many inventions and discoveries have been made in order to facilitate human life smoothly.
The discovery of current electricity is one such discovery that we are highly dependent on to
make our life easier. Benjamin Franklin is credited with the discovery of electricity.

What is Current Electricity?

Current electricity is defined as the flow of electrons from one

section of the circuit to another.
Electromotive Force (EMF) and Voltage:
When two bodies at different potentials are linked with a wire, free electrons
stream from Point 1 to Point 2, until both the objects reach the same potential, after
which the current stops flowing. Until a potential difference is present throughout a
conductor, current flows.

From the above analogy, we can define electromotive force and voltage as
follows:

Electromotive Force Definition: Electromotive force is defined as the electric

potential produced by either an electrochemical cell or by changing the magnetic
field.

Voltage Definition: Voltage is defined as the electric potential difference between

two points.
Types of Current Electricity

There are two types of current electricity as follows:

Direct Current (DC)

Alternating Current (AC)

Direct Current

The current electricity whose direction remains the same is known as direct current. Direct
current is defined by the constant flow of electrons from a region of high electron density to
a region of low electron density. DC is used in many household appliances and applications
that involve a battery.

Alternating Current
The current electricity that is bidirectional and keeps changing the direction of the charge
flow is known as alternating current. The bidirectionality is caused by a sinusoidally varying
current and voltage that reverse directions, creating a periodic back and forth motion for the
current. The electrical outlets at our home and industries are supplied with alternating
current.
Generation of Current Electricity

Current electricity can be generated by the following methods:

By moving a metal wire through a magnetic field (Both alternating current and direct
current can be generated by the following method)

By a battery through chemical reactions (Direct current can be generated through this
method)
charged body and its electric field
 Capacitor And Capacitance
A capacitor is a little like a battery but they work in completely different ways.
A battery is an electronic device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy whereas a
capacitor is an electronic component that stores electrostatic energy in an electric field.

What is a Capacitor?
A capacitor is a two-terminal electrical device that possesses the ability to store energy in the
form of an electric charge. It consists of two electrical conductors that are separated by a
distance.  The space between the conductors may be filled by vacuum or with an insulating
material known as a dielectric. The ability of the capacitor to store charges is known as
capacitance.

Capacitors store energy by holding apart pairs of opposite charges. The simplest design for a
capacitor is a parallel plate, which consists of two metal plates with a gap between them. But,
different types of capacitors are manufactured in many forms, styles, lengths, girths, and
materials.
How Does a Capacitor Work?
For demonstration, let us consider the most basic structure of a capacitor – the parallel
plate capacitor. It consists of two parallel plates separated by a dielectric. When we
connect a DC voltage source across the capacitor, one plate is connected to the positive
end (plate I) and the other plate to the negative end (plate II). When the potential of the
battery is applied across the capacitor, plate I become positive with respect to plate II. The
current tries to flow through the capacitor at the steady-state condition from its positive
plate to its negative plate. But it is unable to flow due to the separation of these with an
insulating material.
An electric field appears across the capacitor. The positive plate (plate I) accumulates
positive charges from the battery, and the negative plate (plate II) will accumulate negative
charges from the battery.  After a point, the capacitor holds the maximum amount of charge
as per its capacitance with respect to this voltage. This time span is called the charging time
of the capacitor.
When the battery is removed from the capacitor, the two plates hold a negative and positive
charge for a certain time. Thus, the capacitor acts as a source of electrical energy.
Capacitance is the ratio of the change in the electric charge of a system, to the corresponding
change in its electric potential.

The capacitance of any capacitor can be either fixed or variable depending on its usage. From
the equation, it may seem that ‘C’ depends on charge and voltage. Actually, it depends on the
shape and size of the capacitor and also on the insulator used between the conducting plates.
 The rate of flow of charge through any cross-section of a wire is called electric current
flowing through it.
Electric current (I) = q / t. Its SI unit is ampere (A).
The conventional direction of electric current is the direction of motion of positive charge.

The current is the same for all cross-sections of a conductor of non-uniform cross-section.
Similar to the water flow, charge flows faster where the conductor is smaller in cross-section
and slower where the conductor is larger in cross-section, so that charge rate remains
unchanged.
If a charge q revolves in a circle with frequency f, the equivalent current,
i = qf
 Electrical Energy and Power
Electrical energy is an important concept in science, yet it is frequently misunderstood.
So what exactly is electrical energy and what are some of the rules applied when it is
used in calculations? In this article, let us find answers to these questions.

What is an Electrical Energy?

Electrical energy is the energy derived from electric potential energy or kinetic energy of
the charged particles. In general, it is referred to as the energy that has been converted
from electric potential energy. We can define electrical energy as the energy generated by
the movement of electrons from one point to another. The movement of charged particles
along/through a medium (say wire) constitute current or electricity.
Units of Electrical Energy
The basic unit of electrical energy is the joule or watt-second. An electrical energy is
said to be one joule when one ampere of current flows through the circuit for a
second when the potential difference of one volt is applied across it. The commercial
unit of electrical energy is the kilowatt-hour (kWh) which is also knwon as the Board
of trade unit (B.O.T).
1 kwh = 1000 × 60 × 60 watt – second
1 kwh = 36 × 105 Ws or Joules
Generally, one kwh is called one unit.
UNIT 3

Magnetism
Magnetic materials
All substances show some kind of magnetic behaviour. After all, they are made up of
charged particles: electrons and protons. It is the way in which electron clouds arrange
themselves in atoms and how groups of these atoms behave that determines the magnetic
properties of the material. The atom (or group of atoms) in effect becomes a magnetic
dipole or a mini bar magnet that can align according to the magnetic field applied. The net
effect of all these dipoles determines the magnetic properties of the magnetic materials.
 Magnetic effect of electric current

A magnetic field is the magnetic effect of electric currents and

magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is
specified by both a direction and a magnitude (or strength); as such
it is represented by a vector field. The term 'magnetic effect of
electric current' means that an electric current flowing in a wire
produces a magnetic field around it. An iron, steel, nickel and
cobalt.
Magnetic effect of electric current is one of the major effects of
electric current in use, without the applications of which we cannot
have motors in the existing world. A current carrying conductor
creates a magnetic field around it, which can be comprehended by
using magnetic lines of force or magnetic field lines. The nature of
the magnetic field lines around a straight current carrying
conductor is concentric circles with centre at the axis of the
conductor.