EAS 199A Lecture 2:     28, 29 September 2011

2. Power consumption in resistors. Resistors in series and parallel.

Class meeting on 28, 29 September 2011

Learning Objectives

1. Be able to compute the power dissipation (or consumption or use) when current flows through serial and parallel combinations of resistors.
2. Be able to compute the equivalent resistance for two resistors in series.
3. Be able to compute the equivalent resistance for two resistors in parallel.

Notes and Supplemental Files

1. Lecture notes from LA Tech
2. Hand-written lecture notes
3. Sample problem and solution for series and parallel combination of resistors

Quiz 1

Quiz 1 will cover Electricity, Ohm's Law, and the basic structure of an atom

Email format

Your email should at least have these components

1. A meaningful subject line. For homework assignments, your subject line should include
• The class Department and number, e.g. "EAS 199A"
• The assignment number, e.g. "Problem Set 1"
• A short description of the content, e.g., "Completing the email assignment".
2. Body text that is
• Grammatically correct.
• Consisting of complete sentences with proper capitalization and punctuation.
• Organized into paragraphs if the message is more than, say, four sentences long.
3. A closing or signature that includes
• Your full name (first and last)
• Optionally, additional identifying information like section number

Example of well-written e-mail

 
 

Example of badly written e-mail

 
 

Arduino Experimenter Kits

To be ready for the in-class projects and homework in week 2, you will need to purchase your own Arduino Experimenter's Kit. Each student needs a kit. The kits are available from the PSU Bookstore. Ask for the kit at the downstairs to the textbook desk.

How to use a multimeter

Sparkfun has a helpful tutorial on how to use a multimeter. Read this before coming to class meeting number 3

Extra Notes on Electricity

The tronixstuff blog has three posts on resistors that complement the class notes

• Introduction to resistors
• Resistors, Part 2
• Resistors, Part 3 explains meaning of and application for "pull-up" and "pull-down" resistors. That topic is more advanced than you need to worry about now, but note this post for future reference.

Java Animations of Electrical Circuits

Paul Falstad has many educational Java applets

The following applets may help you learn about basic electrical circuits

• Ohm's Law
• Resistors in series and parallel
• Voltage Divider

Note that you can edit the circuits by right-clicking on the image