As you learn about electricity there are some basic concepts that you will need to understand.  Voltage, current, resistance and power and not impenetrable mysteries.  They are concepts that you will need to know about.

• What will we cover and what will you be able to do at the end of this segment?
• Concepts - The concepts you will cover are:
• What are charge, voltage and current?
• How do you measure voltage and current?
• AC measurements, including waveshape and frequency.
• Outcomes - At the end of this segment you should:
• Be able to explain charge, voltage and current using basic physics concepts.
• Given a need to measure a voltage or a voltage signal,
• Be able to connect a voltmeter properly.
• Be able to predict situations where the voltmeter disturbs the circuit in a minimal way, or where the voltmeter produces an undesirable change in circuit operation when attached.
• Be able to determine correct range(s) for the voltmeter as necessary.
• Be able to use an oscilloscope to display a signal and calculate signal parameters - frequency and voltage.  (See also objectives for Signals.)
• Why learn about basic concepts?
• Mechanical, civil, chemical and bio engineers encounter voltage when they make measurements (temperature and other quantities).  Gone is the day when people sit with a clipboard in their hand and record readings from pressure gages and things like that.  Today, sensors that measure pressure (and other physical variables, like temperature, pH, rotational rate, etc.) produce electrical outputs that are changed into a digital representation that can be imported into a computer so that the data can be graphed, analyzed and otherwise beaten to death.  So, it's not just electrical engineers that need to know about these things.  It's anybody who takes measurements of many different sorts of physical variables.  You may not want to learn this material, but it will help keep you from putting too much voltage on your strain gages and having to replace them when you burn them up.
• What basic concepts do you need to know about.?
• The first thing you need to do is to learn about charge.  That's a basic concept that is at the root of voltage and current.
• After you learn about charge, you will need to learn about charge flow - and that's what current is.
• Besides current flow, you need to learn about the driving force behind current flow - voltage.
• It helps you if you have some analogies that you can work with.  There are analogies for voltage and urrent.
• What do you need to get out of this unit?
• When you are finished with this unit you should be able to do the following.
• Explain what charge, current and voltage are,
• Be able to use those concepts in simple circuit problems.
• What are you going to learn about?
• Charge
• Current
• Voltage
• Kirchoff's Current Law (KCL)
• Kirchoff's Voltage Law (KVL).
• Where do you go from here?
• You will need to be able to measure voltage and use basic instruments.
• Voltmeters and DVMs
• Oscilloscopes
• A/D boards
• You will need to be able to use voltage to analyze circuits.
• What if?
• If the voltage is not constant, you will need to learn about voltage signals.
• If you are measuring voltage signals, you need to know about parameters of periodic signals.
• Problems
• Problem Basic1P01 - Charge Problem #1
• Problem Basic2P01 - Charge Problem #2
• Problem Basic3P01 - Voltage Problem #1
• Problem Basic3P02 - Voltage Problem #2
• Problem Basic3P03 - Voltage Problem #3 (In-class problem, Meeting 1/Basic Concepts)
• Problem Basic3P04 - Voltage Problem #4 (In-class problem, Meeting 2/Basic Concepts)
• Problem Basic3P05 - Voltage Problem #5

• BasicConcepts- Basic Electrical Quantities - Voltage and Current

        Here are some links to experiments you can do that will help you learn about measuring voltage in different situations.  You should simultaneously go through the unit on basic instrumentation for these labs.

• Measuring Battery Voltage(s)
• Measuring Sensor Voltages
• Measuring Power Supply Voltage
• Measuring Voltage with an Oscilloscope