Abstract
After having introduced the concept of model, in the basic level of this chapter we define components, descriptive variables, reference directions, electric power and energy, and Kirchhoff’s laws.
Learning, without thought, is a snare; thought, without learning, is a danger.
Confucius
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Notes
- 1.
William of Ockham (1287–1347) was an outstanding English theologian and scholastic philosopher.
- 2.
The most popular version of Ockham’s principle – “Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity,” translated from Latin Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate – was actually formulated by the Irish Franciscan philosopher John Punch in his 1639 commentary on the works of Duns Scotus.
- 3.
This is the so-called Hooke’s law, named after the seventeenth-century British physicist Robert Hooke. He first stated the law in 1660 as a Latin anagram and published the solution of his anagram in 1678 as “ut tensio, sic vis,” that is, “as the extension, so the force” or “the extension is proportional to the force.”
- 4.
The ampere is named after André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), a French mathematician and physicist.
- 5.
The volt is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), who invented the voltaic pile, possibly the first chemical battery.
- 6.
For a one-terminal element no voltage can be defined, because we need at least two nodes. A one-terminal electric structure makes sense only when propagation phenomena are present (e.g., an antenna).
- 7.
The watt is named after the Scottish scientist James Watt for his contributions to the development of the steam engine.
- 8.
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824–1887) was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects.
Reference
Levi P (1989) The drowned and the saved. Vintage Books, New York
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Parodi, M., Storace, M. (2018). Basic Concepts. In: Linear and Nonlinear Circuits: Basic & Advanced Concepts. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 441. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61234-8_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61234-8_1
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