Administrative Stuff

Quiz 3 Is Friday, October 21, 4:30-5:45, CW101-102103.

Magnetic force and torque. Faradays law and
inductance. AC circuits.
Review will be Wednesday evening, October 19, 7:30
PM, CW 102.
SAS review will likely be Thursday, October 20, TBA.
A progress report consisting of your range of possible
points in various categories will be produced after Quiz
3.

An LCR circuit

If R=0

Suppose we put some charge Q0 on the capacitor, and

then close the switch.
Kirchoff tells us that LdI/dt-IR-Q/C=0.
Or, taking the derivative of both sides,
Ld2I/dt2+RdI/dt+(1/C)I = 0.
This is a non-trivial equation, but we have seen it before:
the damped mass on a spring or damped pendulum..

There is no i in team, but there is one in

complex numbers.
So now we guess that I(t) = Re(I0 eiwt). If we can find a
value for I0 (which could have real and imaginary parts),
our guess will be a good one.
So we just plug in, using the fact that derivatives and
integrals of exponentials are just proportional to the
exponentials: I0(-w2L+iwR+1/C) eiwt = 0.
To make this work, we need -w2L+iwR+1/C=0.

R
2L

1
LC

R2
4L 2

An RCL circuit-- Qualitative

The capacitor will block currents for very low

frequencies, and the inductor will block currents at very
high frequencies.
So we expect a frequency in the middle where a
maximum current will flow from the power supply.

Oscillation vocabulary
T

V0

V=V0cos(wt-f). V0=amplitude. (wt-f) = phase. f =

phase constant.
w=2pf=2p/T. T= period. f=frequency. w=angular
frequency.
Were going to use this formula today too!
eiwt = coswt+isinwt, with i2=-1.

RCL quantitative
Kirchoff tells us that V0coswt-LdI/dt-Q/C-IR=0.
Were going to solve this equation by apparently making
it harder! The effort is worth it.
Well start by making the equation apparently harder:
LdI/dt+IR+Q/C=V0eiwt
Whats this? Here i=[-1]1/2, ii=-1, and eiwt=coswt+isinwt,
one of the five most important mathematical formulas for
physics and engineering.
That is, i is the imaginary number. Now, we cannot
have imaginary voltages, but notice that the actual
driving AC voltage is the real part of eiwt:
V0coswt=Re(V0eiwt).

There is no i in team, but there is one in

complex numbers.
So now we guess that I(t) = Re(I0 eiwt). If we can find a
value for I0 (which could have real and imaginary parts),
our guess will be a good one.
So we just plug in, using the fact that derivatives and
integrals of exponentials are just proportional to the
exponentials: I0(iwL+R+/iwC) eiwt = V0 eiwt.
Lets pause here and note that we have an equation that
says currentsomething=voltage. That something is
the impedance, and using the imaginary number i lets us
turn the capacitor and inductor into effective frequencydependent and phase-shifting resistors, with ZR = R, ZL
= iwL, and ZC = 1/iwC.

Impedance
In the series RCL circuit, we have Z=R+i(wL-1/wC).
The inductor and the capacitor act like imaginary
frequency-dependent resistor.
What the i encodes in this expression is a phase shift
between the current and voltage.
To see how this might happen, note that any complext
number x+iy can be expressed as |A|eia, with the
amplitude |A| = (x2+y2)1/2, and the phase a given by
tana=y/x.
We can thus write Z=[R2+(wL-1/wC)2]1/2 eif,
with f=tan-1((wL-1/wC)/R).

The answer
So now we have our answer:
I(t) = V0 Re[eiwt/ (iwL+R+/iwC)].
Now, if you have a complex number z = x+iy, you can
always write this as z=|z|eia, with the amplitude |z| =
(x2+y2)1/2, and the phase a given by tana=y/x.
Applying this to the above, I(t) =Re[(V0/|Z|) eiwt-f], or
I(t) = (V0/|Z|)cos(wt-f), with
|Z| = [R2+(wL-1/wC)2]1/2 == [R2+(XL-XC)2]1/2.
tanf = (wL-1/wC)/R = (XL-XC)/R.

Resonance

If we graph the RMS current, we get

the curve on the left. You can see
the Goldilocks frequency
w0=1/[LC]1/2.
At this frequency, XL=XC, the
inductor and capacitor cancel each
other out; and maximum current and
power is delivered to the circuit,
which reduces to just the resistor.
The phase shift f=0 at resonance.
Moving w above or below w0 results
in a rapid decrease in IRMS and<P>;
the smaller R is, the more rapid the
decrease.
This is quantified by the number Q =
w0/Dw, where Dw is the full width at
half max. We find Q=w0L/R

LCR application 1

Variable capacitor
control

Oscillating electric fields in radio waves (coming soon)

generates currents in the radio antenna. An LCR
combination allows one to select which frequencies of
oscillation produced the highest currents (e.g. 1350 kHz
for KMAN).

A resistor connected to AC coltage

Notice we complete the circuit with ground connections.

We have V0cos(2pft)-i(t)R=0, so i(t)=(V0/R)cos(2pft).
The current is in phase with the voltage. That is, if we
expressed i(t) as i(t)=i0cos(2pft-fR), with fR the phase
constant, we have fR=0 for a resistor.
The power delivered is P(t)=V(t)i(t)=V02cos2(2pft)/R. The
power is not constant, but the fast oscillation is often not
important.
Of more interest is the average power.

Average power and RMS voltage

The average power is <P>=<V0cos(2pft)i0cos(2pft-f)>,
where <P> means the time average of P, and to be
general we let the current has a phase constant f.
This can be written
<P>=V0i0<cos2(2pft)cosf+cos(2pft)sin(2pft)sinf>
=(V0i0/2)cosf,
So <P>=V02/2R for a resistive load. It is conventional to
write this as <P>=Vrms2/R, where Vrms[<V2>]1/2=V0/2.
It is Vrms that equals 120V in USA household electricity
applications, and 220V in European household
electricity.
One can similarly define irms=[<i2>]1/2, so in general <P>
= Vrmsirmscosf.
The number cosf is sometimes called the power factor.
It is 1 for a resistor.

Instantaneous and RMS

Can current be flowing through a circuit element that draws
no RMS power?
A. No.
B. Yes.
If no current flows through a circuit element, can it be
consuming RMS power?
A. No.
B. Yes.

An inductor connected to AC voltage

Now V0cos(2pft)-Ldi/dt=0, so i(t)=(V0/2pfL)sin(2pft)

= (V0/2pfL)cos(2pft-p/2).
The current in the inductive circuit lags the voltage
across the inductor by p/2 radians.
The quantity XL=2pfL plays a very similar role as
resistance; it is called the reactance of the inductor.
The combination of the reactance and the fL=p/2 phase
shift is called the impedance of the inductor.

Power to an inductive load

The inductor draws and average power, given by the
power supply of <PL>=Vrmsirmscos(p/2)=0!
An inductive load draws no power on the average from
the supply.
Energy is moved in and out of the magnetic field. This
type of energy is conserved, in the sense that none of it
is converted into heat.

AC mnemonics for inductors

Which statement is most correct?
A. Inductors are short circuits at low frequencies and open
circuits at high frequencies.
B. Inductors are short circuits at high frequencies and
open circuits at low frequencies.
C. Inductors are short circuits at low and high frequencies.
D. Inductors are open circuits at low and high frequencies.

A capacitor connected to AC voltage

Now V0cos(2pft)-Q/C=0, so Q(t)=(CV0)cos(2pft), and

i(t)=dQ/dt=-(2pfCV0)sin(2pft)
= V0/(1/2pfC)]cos[2pft-(-p/2)].
The current in the capacitor circuit leads the voltage
across the capacitor by p/2 radians.
The quantity XC=1/2pfC plays a very similar role as
resistance; it is called the reactance of the capacitor.
The combination of the reactance and the fC=-p/2 phase
shift is called the impedance of the capacitor.

Power to a capacitive load

The capacitor draws and average power, given by the
power supply of <PL>=Vrmsirmscos(-p/2)=0!
A capacitive load draws no power on the average from
the supply.
Energy is moved in and out of the electric field. This
type of energy is conserved, in the sense that none of it
is converted into heat.

AC mnemonics for capacitors

Which statement is most correct?
A. Capacitors are short circuits at low frequencies and
open circuits at high frequencies.
B. Capacitors are short circuits at high frequencies and
open circuits at low frequencies.
C. Capacitors are short circuits at low and high
frequencies.
D. Capacitors are open circuits at low and high
frequencies.

LCR application 2
Electrical substations (e.g., in the big
parking lot across from Memorial
stadium) have large inductors for use in
transformers.
They also have big tank-like structures,
as in the photo. These are capacitors.
Their purpose is to tune the power
factor until cosf1 so that utility
companies most efficiently deliver
power to the mainly resistive loads in
households.