Lumped and distributed circuits

Abstract

In conventional circuit theory, which deals with the electrical performance of ideal circuit elements (e.g. an ideal resistor, etc.) and circuits formed by interconnecting them, ‘cause’ and ‘effect’ are regarded as time-coincident. This fundamental concept is extended to include the world of the real component, i.e. the physical hardware whose electrical performance over its useful range of operation approximates closely to that of the ideal element. Thus, the application of a voltage source to a resistor is assumed to affect, simultaneously, all points within the component. The mechanical dimensions of the resistor affect only the magnitude of a time-independent proportionality factor R, the resistance, relating the potential difference v and the current i: the component is considered ‘lumped’.