Power in a circuit

Claimed by Hunter Brown Short Description of Topic

The Main Idea

Measuring the power in a circuit can provide useful insight into the ability of a circuit to accomplish a given task. In order to understand how to calculate and interpret power in a simple circuit, one must know the mechanical definition and significance of Power. For this section, we will be using the unit of Watt for power.

It is important to note that the power in parts of a circuit can be represented in several different ways. Most commonly, power in a circuit is expressed in terms of Voltage (E, Emf, Volts), Current (I, Amps), and Resistance (R, Ohms).

A Mathematical Model

The power dissipated in a resistor is [math]\displaystyle{ P=IV }[/math] or [math]\displaystyle{ P=I^2R }[/math] or [math]\displaystyle{ P=V^2/R }[/math]

A Graphical Model

<a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=15yw1fa" target="_blank"><img src="http://i63.tinypic.com/15yw1fa.png" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a>

Examples

3 varying examples.

Connectedness

1. How is this topic connected to something that you are interested in?

This topic is extremely important in examining infrastructure related to energy distribution. For example, in power grids, power lines are resistors, and therefore dissipate a certain amount of power. Since resistance is also related to the length of a wire, we can deduce that more power will be dissipated across longer power lines.

1. How is it connected to your major?

1. Is there an interesting industrial application?

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See also

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