059:008 ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS Fall 2009

Midterm 01
Last Name
First Name
Section
Test # on left
Test # on right

Instructions and Notes

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Closed book, closed notes, closed neighbors

Adhere to calculator policy
Print name on all pages
Provide answers in spaces provided
Correct solutions preceded by incorrect work may not earn full credit
Solve problems using the method indicated. If no method is indicated use any
method

Question

Concept

Max Points

Energy, Charge

Power, Controlled Source

Parallel/Series Resistors

Superposition, KVL

20

Thevenin, independent sources

15

Thevenin, controlled sources

15

Mesh analysis

20

Maximum power

10

Nodal, supernode

15

10

Mesh, supermesh

15

Total

123

Student Score

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Question 1. (2 points) If a 12-V battery delivers 100 J in 5 s, find
a) The amount of charge delivered (1-point)
b) The current produced (1-point)
Solution
Part (a)

Part (b)

, so that

and charge is

, so that current is

Question 2. (5 points) Consider the circuit below.

a) Determine the power supplied/absorbed by the 20-V source. (2-points)
b) Determine the power supplied/absorbed by the dependent current source (3-points)
In each case, clearly state if the power is supplied or absorbed.

Solution
Part (a) Using the passive sign convention, the power absorbed/supplied by 20-V source is

The negative sign indicates the 20-V source is supplying 40 W.

Part (b) The current flowing though the controlled current source is
. This also
follows from applying KCL at node X. Then, using the passive sign convention, the power
absorbed/supplied is

The positive sign indicates the source is absorbing 128 W.

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Question 3. (6 points) Consider the circuit below. Determine the equivalent resistance between
a) Terminals (a) and (c) (2 points)
b) Terminals (a) and (b) (2 points)
c) Terminals (b) and (e) (2 points)

Solution
Part (a)

Part (b)

Part (c)

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Question 4. (20 points) Find

in the network below using superposition.

Solution
Step 1: Turn off the voltage source (by replacing it with a short circuit) and find

The equivalent resistance to the right of the currents source is

at node X is

Then, using the voltage divider rule,

. The voltage

is

Step 2: Turn off the current source (by replacing it with an open circuit) and find

The equivalent resistance to the left of the 2K resistor is

Step 3: perform the superposition,

and

, and

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Question 5. (15 points) Use Thevenins theorem to find

in the network below.

Solution

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Remove the 2K resistor and determine the open-circuit voltage

and apply KCL at :

(see (a) above). Use nodal analysis

Next apply KVL (see (b)) above:

To determine

turn off the voltage sources as in (d) above, and by inspection find

The Thevenin equivalent circuit with the 2K resistor restored, is shown in (d) above. Voltage division
gives the output voltage

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Question 6. (15 points) Determine the Thevenin equivalent resistance (looking back at B-C) for the
circuit below.

Solution
The circuit contains a dependent source, so the method of turning off all the sources and determining
the equivalent resistance does not apply. Instead, we add a test voltage/current source, and
determine the resulting test current/voltage, and
. In (a) below, we added a
voltage source
.

(a)

(b)

KCL at node A gives

Further,
; this follows from inspection since the two 1K resistors form a voltage divider that
divides in half. Alternatively, one can write a KVL equation around the loop indicated in (b) above.
Regardless, substituting
in the equation above gives

Solving yield

KCL at node B gives

Substituting

yields

Thus, the Thevenin equivalent resistance is 1K.

6

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Question 7. (20 points) Consider the circuit below. Write the mesh equations for the indicated mesh
currents. Arrange the equations in matrix form and complete the matrix below. Do not use
supernode concepts.

Solution
KVL for mesh 1:
KVL for mesh 2:
KVL for mesh 3:
KVL for mesh 4:
Collecting terms and rearranging

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Question 8. (10 points) The bridge circuit below is connected to a load
between terminals a and b.
Determine
in terms of the rest of the circuit values so that the maximum power is delivered to

Solution

(a)

(b)

(c)

Maximum power transfer occurs when

where
is the Thevenin equivalent resistance
looking back into terminals a, and b. To determine this resistance, turn off the 8-V source and find the
equivalent resistance between a and bsee (a) in figure above. In (b) the circuit is redrawn. Note
that rail/node X and rail/node Y are in fact identical, and one can fold the top two resistors and redraw
the circuit as in (c). From this, it follows that

Now

So that
Thus

is the value where most power is transferred to

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Question 9. (15 points) Consider the circuit below.
a) Indicate, by circling with a broken line, the supernode in the circuit (2 points)
b) Write down the nodal equation for the supernode (5 points)
c) Write down a constraint equation that captures the information in the circuit (3 points)
d) Solve the two equations and determine (5 points)

Solution
Part (a)

Part (b) KCL for the supernode:

, or

Further, the KVL equation for the supernode is

Solving for

. In matrix form these equations are

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Question 10. (15 points) Consider the circuit below.
a) Define and indicate mesh currents in the circuit (1 point)
b) Indicate, by circling with a broken line, the supermesh in the circuit (2 points)
c) Write down the mesh equation for the supermesh (5 points)
d) Write down a constraint equation that captures the information in the circuit (3 points)
e) Solve the two equations and determine (4 points)

Solution
Part (a) and (b) see figures below

Mesh currents

, and supermesh

Mentally remove current source

Part (c) Mentally remove the current source and then walk clock-wise around the supermesh. The
KVL equation is

or

Part (d) Account for the current source we removed. KCL at node A gives

Substituting this into the supermesh equation yields

Thus, the voltage

is

10

, or