Lecture 3

Physics 2
Voronkov Vladimir Vasilyevich

Lecture 3
• Alternating Current (AC)

• Inductors in AC Circuits
• Capacitors in AC Circuits
• Series RLC Circuit
• Impedance
Alternating Current (AC)
• The voltage supplied by an AC source is

harmonic (sinusoidal) with a period T.
• AC source is designated by
Applying Kirchhoff’s loop, at any instant:
The instantaneous current in the resistor is:

Where Imax is the maximum current:
And eventually:
Plots of the instantaneous current iR
and instantaneous voltage vR
across a resistor as functions of
time. The current is in phase with
the voltage, which means that the
current is zero when the voltage is
zero, maximum when the voltage is
maximum, and minimum when the
voltage is minimum. At time t = T,
one cycle of the time-varying
voltage and current has been
completed.
So, for a sinusoidal applied voltage, the current in a resistor
is always in phase with the voltage across the resistor.
Phasor Diagrams
A phasor is a vector whose length is
proportional to the maximum value of the
variable it represents (Vmax for voltage and
Imax for current in the present discussion)
and which rotates counterclockwise at an
angular speed equal to the angular
frequency associated with the variable.
The projection of the phasor onto the
vertical axis represents the instantaneous
value of the quantity it represents.
Phasor diagram for a circuit with a resistor is:
The phasor diagram for the resistive circuit shows

that the current is in phase with the voltage.
The projections of the phasor arrows onto the
vertical axis are determined by a sine function of the
angle of the phasor with respect to the horizontal
axis. We can use the projections of phasors to
represent values of current or voltage that vary
sinusoidally in time.
RMS
The average value of the current over one

cycle is zero. What is of importance in an
AC circuit is an average value of current,
referred to as the rms current.The notation
rms stands for root-mean-square, which in this
case means the square root of the mean
(average) value of the square of the current:
• Because I2 varies as sin2 t and because the average value
of I2 is Imax/2, the rms current is
• Thus, the average power delivered to a resistor that

carries an alternating current is
• Alternating voltage is also best discussed in terms of rms

voltage, and the relationship is identical to that for current:
One reason we use rms values when discussing
alternating currents and voltages in this chapter
is that AC ammeters and voltmeters are designed to
read rms values. Furthermore, with rms values,
many of the equations we use have the same form as
their direct current counterparts.
Inductors in AC Circuits
Kirchhoff’s rule for AC
circuit with an inductor is:
After derivation we get:
iL is the current through the inductor L.

For a sinusoidal applied voltage, the current in an inductor
always lags behind the voltage across the inductor by 90°
(one-quarter cycle in time).
The maximal current in the inductor is
We can define the inductive reactance as

resistance of an inductor to the harmonic
current:
The instantaneous voltage across the inductor is:

Plot of the instantaneous Phasor diagram for the
current iL and instantaneous inductive circuit,
voltage vL across an showing that the
inductor as functions of current lags behind the
time. The current lags voltage by 90°.
behind the voltage by 90°.
Capacitors in AC
The current is /2 rad =
90° out of phase with
the voltage across the
capacitor:
For a sinusoidally applied voltage, the current

always leads the voltage across a capacitor by
90°.
The maximal current is:
The capacitive reactance of the capacitor to

the sinusoidal current is:
Then the instantaneous voltage across the

capacitor is:
Plot of the instantaneous Phasor diagram for the
current iC and instantaneous capacitive circuit,
voltage VC across a showing that the current
capacitor as functions of time. leads the voltage by
The voltage lags behind the 90°.
current by 90°.
The RLC Series Circuit
For convenience, and not
losing generalization, we
can assume that the
applied voltage is
and the current is
• Where =const is some phase angle between the current

and the applied voltage. Because the elements are in series,
the current everywhere in the circuit must be the same at
any instant. That is, the current at all points in a series AC
circuit has the same amplitude and phase.
The voltage across each element has a
different amplitude and phase:
Impedance
Using the previous calculations we can define a new
parameter impedance:
So, the amplitudes of voltage and current are related

as
Using the phasor diagram:

Power in AC Circuit
• The average power delivered by the source is

converted to internal energy in the resistor.
• No power losses are associated with pure
capacitors and pure inductors in an AC circuit.
Series RLC Circuit Resonance
A series RLC circuit is in resonance when the current has
its maximum value.
So resonance is at XL=XC, the frequency 0 when XL=XC is

called the resonance frequency:
This frequency corresponds to the natural frequency of

oscillation of an LC circuit
The average power dissipating in the resistor is
Then at resonance the average power is a

maximum and equals .
Units in Si
• voltage (potential difference) V V (Volt)
• current (electric current) I A (Ampere)
• inductance L H (Henry)
• inductive reactance XL Ohm)
• capacitive reactance XC Ohm)
• Impedance Z Ohm)
• Power P W (Watt)

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Physics 2

Voronkov Vladimir Vasilyevich

• Alternating Current (AC)

• The voltage supplied by an AC source is

The instantaneous current in the resistor is:

The phasor diagram for the resistive circuit shows

The average value of the current over one

• Thus, the average power delivered to a resistor that

• Alternating voltage is also best discussed in terms of rms

After derivation we get:

iL is the current through the inductor L.

We can define the inductive reactance as

The instantaneous voltage across the inductor is:

For a sinusoidally applied voltage, the current

The capacitive reactance of the capacitor to

Then the instantaneous voltage across the

and the current is

• Where =const is some phase angle between the current

So, the amplitudes of voltage and current are related

Using the phasor diagram:

• The average power delivered by the source is

So resonance is at XL=XC, the frequency 0 when XL=XC is

This frequency corresponds to the natural frequency of

Then at resonance the average power is a

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