DC Circuits and Ohm’s Law

The DC Circuits and Ohm’s Law, Electro-magnetic force(E.M.F), Voltage Potential Difference Electromagnetism Applications of Electromagnetism

DC Circuits

A DC circuit (Direct Current circuit) is an electrical circuit that consists of any combination of constant voltage sources, constant current sources, and resistors.

In this case, the circuit voltages and currents are constant, i.e., independent of time.

More technically, a DC circuit has no memory.

That is, a particular circuit voltage or current does not depend on the past value of any circuit voltage or current.

This implies that the system of equations that represent a DC circuit do not involve integrals or derivatives.

Introduction:

In electronics, it is common to refer to a circuit that is powered by a DC voltage source such as a battery or the output of a DC power supply as a DC circuit even though what is meant is that the circuit is DC powered.

If a capacitor and/or inductor is added to a DC circuit, the resulting circuit is not, strictly speaking, a DC circuit. However, most such circuits have a DC solution.

This solution gives the circuit voltages and currents when the circuit is in DC steady state.

More technically, such a circuit is represented by a system of differential equations.

The solution to these equations usually contains a time varying or transient part as well as constant or steady state part.

It is this steady state part that is the DC solution.

There are some circuits that do not have a DC solution.

Two simple examples are a constant current source connected to a capacitor and a constant voltage source connected to an inductor.

Electro-magnetic force(E.M.F):

Electromotive Force is, the voltage produced by an electric battery or generator in an electrical circuit or, more precisely, the energy supplied by a source of electric power in driving a unit charge around the circuit.

The unit is the volt. A difference in charge between two points in a material can be created by an external energy source such as a battery.

This causes electrons to move so that there is an excess of electrons at one point and a deficiency of electrons at a second point.

This difference in charge is stored as electrical potential energy known as emf.

It is the emf that causes a current to flow through a circuit.

Voltage:

Voltage is electric potential energy per unit charge, measured in joules per coulomb.

It is often referred to as “electric potential”, which then must be distinguished from electric potential energy by noting that the “potential” is a “per-unit-charge” quantity.

Like mechanical potential energy, the zero of potential can be chosen at any point, so the difference in voltage is the quantity which is physically meaningful.

The difference in voltage measured when moving from point A to point B is equal to the work which would have to be done, per unit charge, against the electric field to move the charge from A to B.

Potential Difference:

A quantity related to the amount of energy needed to move an object from one place to another against various types of forces.

The term is most often used as an abbreviation of “electrical potential difference”, but it also occurs in many other branches of physics.

Only changes in potential or potential energy (not the absolute values) can be measured.

Electrical potential difference is the voltage between two points, or the voltage drop transversely over an impedance (from one extremity to another).

It is related to the energy needed to move a unit of electrical charge from one point to the other against the electrostatic field that is present.

The unit of electrical potential difference is the volt (joule per coulomb).

Gravitational potential difference between two points on Earth is related to the energy needed to move a unit mass from one point to the other against the Earth’s gravitational field.

The unit of gravitational potential differences is joules per kilogram.

Electromagnetism:

When current passes through a conductor, magnetic field will be generated around the conductor and the conductor become a magnet.

This phenomenon is called electromagnetism.

Since the magnet is produced electric current, it is called the electromagnet.

An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by a flow of electric current.

The magnetic field disappears when the current ceases.

In short, when current flow through a conductor, magnetic field will be generated. When the current ceases, the magnetic field disappear.

Applications of Electromagnetism:

Electromagnetism has numerous applications in today’s world of science and physics.

The very basic application of electromagnetism is in the use of motors.

The motor has a switch that continuously switches the polarity of the outside of motor.

An electromagnet does the same thing. We can change the direction by simply reversing the current.

The inside of the motor has an electromagnet, but the current is controlled in such a way that the outside magnet repels it.

Another very useful application of electromagnetism is the “CAT scan machine.”

This machine is usually used in hospitals to diagnose a disease.

As we know that current is present in our body and the stronger the current, the strong is the magnetic field.

This scanning technology is able to pick up the magnetic fields, and it can be easily identified where there is a great amount of electrical activity inside the body

The work of the human brain is based on electromagnetism. Electrical impulses cause the operations inside the brain and it has some magnetic field.

When two magnetic fields cross each other inside the brain, interference occurs which is not healthy for the brain.

Ohm’s Law

Ohm’s law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference or voltage across the two points, and inversely proportional to the resistance between them.

The mathematical equation that describes this relationship is:

I = V/R

where I is the current through the resistance in units of amperes,

V is the potential difference measured across the resistance in units of volts, and R is the resistance of the conductor in units of ohms.

More specifically, Ohm’s law states that the R in this relation is constant, independent of the current.

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