Ohms Law

Objectives:
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.

Describe a basic electric circuit

Explain Ohms Law
Calculate current, voltage and
resistance in a circuit
Define Energy and Power
Calculate power in a circuit

Basic Circuit

a basic electric circuit consists of

a voltage source, a load, and a
path for current between the
source and the load

Schematic
a diagrammatical
representation of an electric
circuit
using standard symbols for
each element, organized
manner and shows how the
various components are
connected

Pictorial Diagram

Schematic Diagram
of the Circuit Above

Basic Circuit

Switch - commonly used for

controlling the opening or closing of
circuits

Ground - the reference point in

electric circuits
earth ground
reference ground

A circuit with a SPST switch

Commonly used ground symbols

Reference
or Earth
ground

Chassis
ground

Alternate
symbol for
ground

A simple circuit with

ground connection

Ohms Law

describes mathematically how voltage, current, and resistance

in a circuit are related
states that current is directly proportional to voltage and
inversely proportional to resistance

EQN.1

V
I
R

EQN.1.1

V IR

EQN.1.2

V
R
I

Ohms Law

Linear Relationship of Current and Voltage

A circuit with a variable voltage source

(10V to 100V) and an ammeter
connected in series with a 10 resistor

Ohms Law

Linear Relationship of Current and Voltage

A graph of voltage V versus current I

Ohms Law

Inverse Relationship of Current and Resistance

A circuit with a 10V voltage source and

an ammeter connected in series with a
variable resistor (10 to 100)

Ohms Law

Inverse Relationship of Current and Resistance

A graph of
resistance R
versus current I

Energy and Power

Energy is the ability to do work

Power is the rate at which energy is used
Power (P) is a certain amount of Energy (W) used in a certain
length of time (t), expressed
as follows:
EQN.2

W
P
t

One watt (W) is the amount of power when one joule of energy
is used in one second

Power in an Electric Circuit

The amount of power dissipated in an electric circuit is dependent

on the amount of resistance and on the amount of current,
expressed as follows:
EQN.3

PI R
2

Power is manifested
in resistor through
heat dissipation

Power in an Electric Circuit

You can obtain another equivalent expression by substituting

V/R for I

EQN.3.1

V2
P
R

You can get an equivalent expression for power in terms of voltage

and current by substituting V for IR

EQN.3.2

P VI

Sample Problem: Ohms Law

1.

How many amperes of current

are in the circuit shown?

2.

How much current is produced by a voltage

of 24 kV across a 12 k resistor?

3.

In the circuit shown, how

much voltage is needed to produce
5 A of current?

4.

Suppose that there is a current of 8A through 10 resistor.

How much voltage is across the resistor?

Sample Problem: Ohms Law

5.

In the circuit shown, how much

resistance is needed to draw 3.08 A
of current from the battery?

6.

Suppose that the ammeter indicates

4.55 mA of current and the voltmeter
reads 150 V. What is the value of R?

Sample Problem: Power

7.

Calculate the power in each of the three circuits.

(a)
8.

9.

(b)

(c)

If there is a current of 5 A through a 56 resistor, what is the

power dissipated?
How much power does the
source generate? What is the
power in the resistor? Are the
two values the same? Why?

Assignment
1.

2.

In a circuit consisting of a voltage source and a resistor, describe what

happens to the current when
a.
the voltage is tripled
b.
the voltage is reduced by 75%
c.
the resistance is doubled
A variable voltage source is
connected to the circuit as shown.
Start at 0 V and increase the
voltage in 10 V steps up to
100 V. Determine the current at
each voltage point, and plot a
graph of V versus I. Is the graph a straight line? What does the
graph indicate?

Assignment
3.

Determine the current in each case:

a.
V = 9V, R = 2.7k
b.
V=40V, R=68k
c.
V = 66kV, R = I0M

4.

Calculate the voltage for each value of land R:

a.
I = 1mA, R= 10
b.
I =50mA, R=33
c.
I = 3A, R = 5.6k

5.

Calculate the resistance of a rheostat for each set of V and I

values:
a.
V = 90V, l = 45A
b.
V = l0kV, I = 5A
c.
V = 500V, I = 250mA