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Fundamentals of
Electric Circuits

Chapter 7

© 2021 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom.
No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.
 Overview
• This chapter examines RC and LC circuits’
reaction to switched sources.
• The circuits are referred to as first order circuits.
• Three special functions, the unit step, unit
impulse, and unit ramp function are also
introduced.
• Both source free and switched sources are
examined.

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 First Order Circuits
• A first order circuit is characterized by a first order
differential equation.
• There are two types of first order circuits:
• Resistive capacitive, called RC.
• Resistive inductive, called RL.
• There are also two ways to excite the circuits:
• Initial conditions.
• Independent sources.

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 Source Free RC Circuit 1

• A source free RC circuit

occurs when its dc source
is suddenly disconnected.
• The energy stored in the
capacitor is released to
the resistors.
• Consider a series
combination of a resistor
and a initially charged
capacitor as shown:

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 Source Free RC Circuit 2

• Since the capacitor was initially charged, we can

assume at t=0 the initial voltages is:
v ( 0 ) = V0
• Applying KCL at the top node:
0
iC + iR =
• Or
dv v
+ 0
=
dt RC
• This is a first order differential equation.
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 Source Free RC Circuit 3

• Rearranging the equation and solving both sides

yields:
t
ln v =
− + ln A
RC
• Where A is the integration constant.
• Taking powers of e produces Taking powers of e
produces.
v ( t ) = Ae − t / RC

• With the initial conditions:

v ( t ) = V0 e − t / RC
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 Natural Response
• The result shows that the
voltage response of the
RC circuit is an
exponential decay of the
initial voltage.
• Since this is the
response of the circuit
without any external
applied voltage or
current, the response is
called the natural
response.

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 Time Constant 1

• The speed at which the voltage decays can be

characterized by how long it takes the voltage to
drop to 1/ e of the initial voltage.
• This is called the time constant and is represented
by τ.
• By selecting 1/ e as the reference voltage:
τ = RC
• The voltage can thus be expressed as:
v ( t ) = V0 e − t /τ
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 Time Constant 2

• After five time constants

the voltage on the
capacitor is less than one
percent.
• After five time constants a
capacitor is considered to
be either fully discharged
or charged.
• A circuit with a small time
constant has a fast
response and vice versa.
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 RC Discharge
• With the voltage known, we can find the current:
V0 − t /τ
iR ( t ) = e
R
• The power dissipated in the resistor is:
V02 −2t /τ
p (t ) = e
R

• The energy absorbed by the resistor is:

1
wR ( t )
=
2
(
CV02 1 − e −2t /τ )
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 Source Free RC Circuit Summary
• The key to working with this type of situation is:
• Start with the initial voltage across the capacitor
and the time constant.
• With these two items, the voltage as a function of
time can be known.
• From the voltage, the current can be known by
using the resistance and Ohm’s law.
• The resistance of the circuit is often the Thevenin
equivalent resistance.

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 Source Free RL Circuit 1

• Now lets consider the series connection of a

resistor and inductor.
• In this case, the value of interest is the current
through the inductor.
• Since the current cannot change instantaneously,
we can determine its value as a function of time.
• Once again, we will start with an initial current
passing through the inductor.

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 Source Free RL Circuit 2

• We will take the initial

current to be:
i ( 0) = I0

• Applying KVL around

the loop:
0
vL + vR =

• Or:
di
0
L + Ri =
dt
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 Source Free RL Circuit 3

• After integration:
i ( t ) = I 0 e − Rt / L

• Once again, the natural response is an

exponentially decaying current.
• The time constant in this case is:
L
τ=
R
• The same principles as the RC circuit apply here.

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 Singularity Functions
• Before we consider the response of a circuit to an
external voltage, we need to cover some important
mathematical functions.
• Singularity functions serve as good
approximations to switching on or off a voltage.
• The three most common singularity functions are
the unit step, unit impulse, and unit ramp.

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 The Unit Step 1

• A step function is one

that maintains a
constant value before a
certain time and then
changes to another
constant afterwards.
• The prototypical form is
zero before t=0 and one
afterwards.
• See the graph for an
illustration.
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 The Unit Step 2

• Mathematically, the unit step is expressed as:

0, t < 0
u (t ) = 
1, t > 0

• The switching time may be shifted to t=t0 by:

0, t < t0
u ( t − t0 ) =

1, t > t0

• Note that this results in a delay in the switch.

• The unit step function is written as u(t)

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 Equivalent Circuit
• The unit step
function has an
equivalent circuit to
represent when it is
used to switch on a
source.
• The equivalent
circuits for a
voltage and current
source are shown.

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 The Unit Impulse Function
• The derivative of the
unit step function is the
unit impulse function.
• This is expressed as:

 0 t<0

=δ ( t ) =Undefined t 0
 0 t >0


• Voltages of this form

can occur during
switching operations.
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 The Unit Ramp Function
• Integration of the unit
step function results in
the unit ramp function:

0, t ≤ 0
r (t ) = 
 t, t ≥ 0

• Much like the other

functions, the onset of
the ramp may be
adjusted.

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 Step Response of RC Circuit 1

• When a DC source is
suddenly applied to a RC
circuit, the source can be
modeled as a step function.
• The circuit response is
known as the step response.
• Let’s consider the circuit
shown here.
• We can find the voltage on
the capacitor as a function of
time.
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 Step Response of RC Circuit 2

• We assume an initial voltage of V0 on the capacitor.

• Applying KCL:
dv v Vs
+ =u ( t )
dt RC RC

• For t>0 this becomes:

dv v Vs
+ =
dt RC RC

• Integrating both sides and introducing initial conditions

finally yields:
 V0 , t<0
v (t ) = 
V
 s + (V0 − V s ) e − t /τ
t >0
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 Step Response of RC Circuit 3

• This is known as the

complete response, or total
response.
• We can consider the
response to be broken into
two separate responses:
• The natural response of the
capacitor or inductor due to
the energy stored in it.
• The second part is the forced
response.
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 Forced Response
• The complete response can be written as:
v= vn + v f
• Where the nature response is:
− t /τ
vn = V0 e
• And the forced response is:

(
v f Vs 1 − e − t /τ
= )
• Note that the eventual response of the circuit is to
reach Vs after the natural response decays to
zero.
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 Another Perspective
• Another way to look at the response is to break it
up into the transient response and the steady
state response:
v= vt + vss
• Where the transient is:
vt
= (V0 − Vs ) e−t /τ
• And the steady state is:
vss = Vs

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 Step Response of RL Circuit 1

• Now we can look at the step

response of a RL circuit.
• We will use the transient and
steady state response
approach.
• We know that the transient
response will be an
exponential:

it = Ae − t /τ

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 Step Response of RL Circuit 2

• After a sufficiently long time, the current will reach

he steady state:
Vs
iss =
R
• This yields an overall response of:
− t /τ Vs
=i Ae +
R
• To determine the value of A we need to keep in
mind that the current cannot change
instantaneously.
( ) ( )
0+
i= 0−
i= I0
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 Step Response of RL Circuit 3

• Thus we can use the t=0 time to establish A.

Vs
A= I 0 −
R

• The complete response of the circuit is thus:

V  V  − t /τ
i (t ) = s +  I0 − s e
R  R 

• Without an initial
current, the circuit
response is shown here.

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 Application: Delay Circuit
• The RC circuit can be used to delay the turn on of
a connected device.
• For example, a neon lamp which only triggers
when a voltage exceeds a specific value can be
delayed using such a circuit.

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 Delay Circuit 2

• When the switch is closed, the capacitor charges.

• The voltage will rise at a rate determined by:
τ
= ( R1 + R2 ) C
• Once the voltage reaches 70 volts, the lamp
triggers.
• Once on, the lamp has low resistance and
discharges the capacitor.
• This shuts off the capacitor and starts the cycle
over again.

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© 2021 McGraw Hill. All rights reserved. Authorized only for instructor use in the classroom. 31
No reproduction or further distribution permitted without the prior written consent of McGraw Hill.