Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Circuit Software

Photo by deejayres
We've been analyzing some basic series and parallel circuits in class. After doing many calculations, many students realize that this kind of work can be repetitive and tedious. Many of the processes we do in our analysis can be easily performed on a computer. For example, we often combine many resisters into a single,  "equivalent" resistance, and then use Ohm's Law to determine the current that will flow through each component of the circuit.

Consider this (easy) problem concerning circuit analysis... ... A 12-V battery is connected to a 100-ohm and a 200-ohm resistor arranged in parallel. This parallel arrangement is then connected in series to a third resistor that has a resistance of 50 ohms and then back to the battery. What current will flow through the 100-ohm resistor? Surely a computer can solve this problem automatically, right?

Do some searching online and see if you can find a program or, better yet, a web applet that allows the user to add electrical components to a blank canvas and then simulates the results. Post a link to your favorite analysis software, and post the answer to the above question.

Posted by Brian Bearss at 2:09 PM

7 comments:

  1. Brian BearssJune 1, 2011 at 2:14 PM

    To get things started with a huge hint... ... one I found is called circuit simulator 1.5h. It can be found at: http://wareseeker.com/download/circuit-simulator-1.5h.rar/371f03bfd

    You can probably find more user-friendly alternatives.

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  2. HraldoJune 2, 2011 at 10:34 PM

    I think that this applet would also be practical http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~wagner/index_files/ckt_anim/docs/projectdoc.htm

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brian BearssJune 3, 2011 at 7:45 AM

    Great find, Hraldo!

    ReplyDelete
  4. sciencegeek101June 3, 2011 at 10:16 AM

    Not to sure if I was suppose to find a website like Hraldo did, or actually solve the problem. So I solved the problem/equation.

    The 200-ohm has a current of .06 A, the 100-ohm has a current of .12A, and the highest current is the 50-ohm with a current of .24 A.



    Here's a website too that might, possibly, but probably not, be an answer to your questions.
    http://www.cabrillo.edu/~jmccullough/Physics/Electric_Circuits.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ner DarkstarJune 5, 2011 at 8:23 PM

    http://www.educypedia.be/electronics/javaComponents.htm

    this website shows many different apps that you can use for various different electrical componets.

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  6. Brian BearssJune 6, 2011 at 7:58 AM

    Let me try to clairify a little... ... I'm looking for two things in your post. First, the correct answer to the question of how much current will flow through the 50-ohm resistor (and the correct answer has not been posted yet). Second, a direct link to online software that allows the user to input a circuit and then the computer completely "solves" the circuit.

    Several of you posted links to directories or lists of sites relating to electricity. I want you to be very specific with your link.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brian BearssJune 16, 2011 at 8:22 AM

    Thanks for the comments this week.

    ReplyDelete

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