Kirchoff's Law and Critical Points

JJBladester
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1. Homework Statement [/b]

What is/are the critical points of Kirchoff's Law:

L\left(\frac{di}{dt}\right) + Ri = E

The Attempt at a Solution



I solved the differential equation above and got the following solution (which I verified to be correct):

i = \left(\frac{E}{R}\right) + Ce^{-\left(\frac{R}{L}\right)t}

If I remember correctly, the critical points would be when \left(\frac{di}{dt}\right) = 0.

\left(\frac{di}{dt}\right) = \left(\frac{E}{L}\right) - \left(\frac{R}{L}\right)i so you have a critical point when

\left(\frac{E}{L}\right) = \left(\frac{R}{L}\right)i

Is this correct or am I on the wrong path?
 
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Sorry, what is the definition of a critical point in this context? Do they mean critical damping of this series RL circuit, or something else?
 
berkeman said:
Sorry, what is the definition of a critical point in this context? Do they mean critical damping of this series RL circuit, or something else?

I asked my professor about the definition of a critical point in this context. She wrote back:

The critical point of a first order DEQ is the value of the dependent variable found by setting its derivative to zero.

So, my crack at an answer is:

L(di/dt) + Ri = E

di/dt + (R/L)i = E/L

0 + (R/L)i = E/L

i = E/R <----- since "i" is the dependent variable, by setting di/dt = 0, we have a critical point at E/R, or voltage/resistance.

How does this sound?
 
Seems like you did the math right, I'm just not able to intuit what it means physically.
 
Current equals voltage over resistance. This is Ohm's law, if I'm not mistaken. If di/dt = 0 then the change in current with respect to time is zero, which means if you have a circuit running at constant current, that current can be measured as voltage/resistance.
 
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