CIRCUIT THEORY-Reciprocity Theorem

Reciprocity Theorem

In many electrical network it is found that if positions of voltage source and ammeter are interchanged, the reading of ammeter remains same. It is not clear to you. Let's explain in details. Suppose a voltage source is connected to a passive network and an ammeter is connected to other part of the network to indicate the response. Now any one interchanges the positions of ammeter and voltage source that means he or she connects the voltage source at the part of the network where the ammeter was connected and connects ammeter to that part of the network where the voltage source was connected. The response of the ammeter means electric current through the ammeter would be same in both cases. This is where the property of reciprocity comes in circuit. The particular circuit which has this reciprocal property is called reciprocal circuit. This type of circuit perfectly obeys reciprocity theorem.

The voltage source and the ammeter used in this theorem must be ideal. That means the internal electrical resistance of both voltage source and ammeter must be zero. The reciprocal circuit may be a simple or complex network. But every complex reciprocal passive network can be simplified to a simple network. As per reciprocity theorem in a linear passive network, supply voltage V and output current I are mutually transferable. The ratio of V and I is called the transfer resistance. The theorem can easily be understood by this following example.