Different voltages on the same node?

  • Thread starter Thread starter yosimba2000
  • Start date Start date
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
3 replies · 3K views
yosimba2000
Messages
206
Reaction score
9
In this picture: http://imgur.com/lfNiDjL

I see that at node A, the voltage is 10V since it is connected to the independent voltage source. But node A is also connected to the dependent voltage source 10Io.

If I do KVL on the left loop, Io comes out to be 0.2A. Plugging this into the dependent source, the dependent source is at 2V. How is this possible?

The dependent source says Node A is at 10V. But the dependent source says Node A is at 2V. Since both sourcers are connected at the same point, they should be at the same voltages, right?

Which voltage is correct? How am I analyzing this incorrectly?
 
Engineering news on Phys.org
10V at node A, period. That fixes the current through R1, which determines the voltage across the dependent source, which is referenced to node A. The dependent source is 10V on the left side and 12V on the right since there is 2V across it.
 
yosimba2000 said:
In this picture: http://imgur.com/lfNiDjL

I see that at node A, the voltage is 10V

A single node cannot have a "voltage".
A voltage always is the potential DIFFERENCE between two nodes.
Only in case one node is grounded we speak about a "node voltage" - without mentioning that this automatically means: Referenced to the grounded node.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: meBigGuy
yosimba2000 said:
I see that at node A, the voltage is 10V...

That is 10V wrt the bottom end of R1.

If I do KVL on the left loop, Io comes out to be 0.2A. Plugging this into the dependent source, the dependent source is at 2V.

That is 2V wrt the node between the dependent source and R2.

So they need not be inconsistent.

Mark these voltages on the drawing and apply KVL to the right hand loop.