Lab 6: Testing and Analyzing Circuits Using Superposition Theorem

The superposition principle states that the voltage across (or current through) an element in a linear circuit is the algebraic sum of the voltages across (or currents through) that element due to each independent source acting alone. The principle of superposition helps us to analyze a linear circuit with more than one independent source by calculating the contribution of each independent source separately. However, to apply the superposition principle, we must keep two things in mind: 1. We consider one independent source at a time while all other independent sources are turned off. This implies that we replace every voltage source by 0 V (or a short circuit), and every current source by 0 A (or an open circuit). This way we obtain a simpler and more manageable circuit. 2. Dependent sources are left intact because they are controlled by circuit variables.