A singularity in Kirchhoff's circuit equations

DOI10.1088/0143-0807/37/5/055801zbMATH Open1349.78056arXiv1607.02944OpenAlexW3102071237MaRDI QIDQ2835967FDOQ2835967

Authors: N. R. Sree Harsha 

Publication date: 30 November 2016

Published in: European Journal of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Students often have difficulty in understanding qualitatively the behaviour of simple electric circuits. In particular, as different studies have shown, they find multiple batteries connected in multiple loops difficult to analyse. In a recent paper [Phys. Educ. 50 568 (2015)], we showed such an electric circuit, which consists of ideal batteries connected in parallel, that couldn't be solved by the existing circuit analysis methods. In this paper, we shall introduce a new mathematical method of solving simple electric circuits from the solutions of more general circuits and show that the currents, in this particular circuit, take the indeterminate 0/0 form. We shall also present some of the implications of teaching the method. We believe that the description presented in this paper should help the instructors in teaching the behaviour of multiple batteries connected in parallel.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.02944

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zbMATH Keywords

Kirchhoff's lawscurrent sourcevoltage source

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Technical applications of optics and electromagnetic theory (78A55)

Cited In (4)

• Some didactical suggestions for a deeper embedding of DC circuits into electromagnetism
• On the existence of solutions connecting singularities in nonlinear RLC circuits
• The hyperbolicity problem in electrical circuit theory
• Singularity-induced bifurcations in lumped circuits

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