Key Terms

An electric circuit or electric network is an interconnection of electrical elements linked together in a closed path so that electric current may flow continuously.

A reference point is an arbitrarily chosen point to which all other points in the circuit are compared.

An open circuit is a circuit element whose resistance approaches infinity
R = ) and accordingly no current can flow in the circuit.

A short circuit is a circuit that has very little or no resistance to limit the flow of current.

A grounded circuit is a path of current other than the intended that is established to ground.

A source is a voltage or current generator capable of supplying electrical energy to a circuit.

Independent source is a source in which the voltage is independent of the current, or the current is independent of the voltage. It is termed as active elements.

Dependent source is a source for which either the source voltage or current depends upon a voltage or current elsewhere in the circuit. It is termed as active elements.

An active element is an element that is capable of furnishing an average power greater than zero to some external devices, where the average is taken over an infinite time interval.