AC Circuits (EET1021C)

Course Description

EET1021C, published at Daytona State as "Advanced Electrical Circuits and Lab," is an introduction to alternating voltage and current, with emphasis on resistance, capacitance, and inductance as the basic AC circuit components. It is the second half of the introductory circuits sequence, following the DC course.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, EET is the Electronic Engineering Technology prefix and the C suffix marks an integrated lecture-and-laboratory course — the lab is not separable from the lecture. Daytona State publishes this at 3 credits, prerequisite EET1011C, fall and spring, with an $11 lab fee. Its published prerequisite EET1011C carries 75 contact hours at the same credit value, which is the figure used here.

This is the course where electronics stops being arithmetic. DC circuits can be worked with Ohm's law and real numbers; AC circuits require complex numbers, phasors, and the idea that a component's opposition to current depends on frequency. Students who found DC comfortable frequently find this course a genuine step up, and the reason is mathematical rather than electrical.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe alternating voltage and current and the sinusoidal waveform.
• Distinguish peak, peak-to-peak, average, and RMS values and convert among them.
• Describe frequency, period, wavelength, and phase and calculate each.
• Apply complex numbers in rectangular and polar form to circuit quantities.
• Represent voltages and currents as phasors and construct phasor diagrams.
• Describe capacitance, capacitive reactance, and the behaviour of capacitors in AC circuits.
• Describe inductance, inductive reactance, and the behaviour of inductors in AC circuits.
• Describe mutual inductance and transformer action.
• Calculate impedance and admittance for series, parallel, and series-parallel networks.
• Analyze RL, RC, and RLC circuits and determine current, voltage, and phase relationships.
• Apply Kirchhoff's laws, mesh analysis, and nodal analysis to AC circuits.
• Apply Thevenin's, Norton's, superposition, and maximum power transfer theorems to AC circuits.
• Describe series and parallel resonance, resonant frequency, bandwidth, and Q.
• Describe filter action and frequency response for basic passive filters.
• Describe real, reactive, and apparent power and calculate power factor.
• Describe transient response and time constants in RL and RC circuits.
• Use a function generator, oscilloscope, and meters to make AC measurements correctly.
• Measure phase difference and frequency using an oscilloscope.
• Construct AC circuits and verify predicted behaviour experimentally.
• Simulate AC circuits and compare simulated to measured results.
• Apply laboratory safety practices appropriate to energized circuits.
• Document laboratory procedure, data, and analysis in a technical report.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe polyphase and three-phase systems.
• Describe non-sinusoidal waveforms and harmonic content.
• Describe power factor correction and its practical importance.
• Describe practical transformer types and applications.
• Introduce Bode plots and decibel notation.
• Troubleshoot faults in AC networks systematically.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• Alternating voltage and current; the sine wave
• Peak, average, and RMS values
• Frequency, period, and phase
• Complex numbers, rectangular and polar form
• Phasors and phasor diagrams
• Capacitance and capacitive reactance
• Inductance and inductive reactance
• Mutual inductance and transformers
• Impedance and admittance
• RL, RC, and RLC circuit analysis
• Kirchhoff's laws, mesh, and nodal analysis in AC
• Network theorems applied to AC
• Series and parallel resonance; bandwidth and Q
• Passive filters and frequency response
• Real, reactive, and apparent power; power factor
• Transient response and time constants
• AC instrumentation: function generator and oscilloscope
• Phase and frequency measurement
• Laboratory construction and verification
• Circuit simulation
• Laboratory safety
• Technical reporting

Optional Topics

• Polyphase and three-phase systems
• Non-sinusoidal waveforms and harmonics
• Power factor correction
• Practical transformers
• Bode plots and decibels
• Systematic troubleshooting

Resources & Tools

• Introductory Circuit Analysis (Boylestad) — the most widely adopted text in Florida engineering technology programmes; the AC chapters are this course.
• Principles of Electric Circuits (Floyd) — the other standard, and clearer for some students on phasors.
• LTspice — free from Analog Devices, the industry-standard free SPICE simulator, and worth learning properly.
• NI Multisim — used in many Florida programmes; check whether your college provides a student licence before buying one.
• Falstad Circuit Simulator — free, browser-based, and unmatched for building intuition because it animates current flow.
• All About Circuits (allaboutcircuits.com) — free textbook-quality reference from DC fundamentals through AC analysis.
• MIT OpenCourseWare and Khan Academy — free, and the circuit-analysis material is genuinely good.
• A scientific calculator with complex-number support — non-negotiable. Learn its polar/rectangular conversion in week one.
• Your own digital multimeter — an inexpensive one is a reasonable purchase and makes homework practical.
• W2AEW and EEVblog on YouTube — free, and unusually good on oscilloscope technique and real measurement practice.
• Digi-Key and Mouser — free datasheets and component parametric search; learning to read a datasheet starts here.

Career Pathways

• Electronics technician — the direct destination, and AC circuit competence is the dividing line between entry and qualified.
• Electrical engineering technician — SOC 17-3023; test, build, and support engineering work.
• Field service technician — instrumentation, medical equipment, industrial systems; well paid and consistently in demand.
• Avionics and aerospace technician — Florida's Space Coast is a major employer, and the security-cleared roles pay well.
• Defence electronics — L3Harris (Melbourne, Palm Bay), Lockheed Martin (Orlando), Northrop Grumman.
• Power generation and utilities — FPL, Duke Energy Florida, JEA, and TECO all hire technicians; AC power analysis is directly used.
• Industrial maintenance and automation — motors, drives, and controls are AC problems.
• Telecommunications and broadcast.
• Continuation to a B.S. in engineering technology — the standard progression; see the articulation flag below.

Special Information

⚠ The mathematics is the course — do not treat it as background

The single most common reason students struggle in circuits courses, and it is almost never the electronics.

• AC analysis runs on complex numbers, and students who are shaky on rectangular-to-polar conversion, complex arithmetic, and phasor notation experience the whole course as impossible. It is not the circuits; it is the algebra.
• Trigonometry must be fluent, not merely passed. The prerequisite is typically MAC1114 or higher for a reason — sinusoids, phase angles, and phasor diagrams are trigonometry with electrical units attached.
• Simultaneous equations are the working tool. Mesh and nodal analysis produce systems of equations, and solving three or four unknowns by hand — and by calculator matrix functions — must be routine.
• Learn your calculator properly. Complex-number mode, polar/rectangular conversion, and matrix solving on your specific calculator will save hours across the term. Learn them in week one, not the night before the exam.
• Units and prefixes cause more wrong answers than concepts do. Milli, micro, nano, and pico errors are the classic silent failure; carry units through every calculation and check that the answer is physically plausible.
• Sanity-check every result. A resistor dissipating 400 watts in a circuit powered by a 9-volt battery is wrong, and noticing that is a skill worth deliberately building.

⚠ The C suffix means the lab is the course — and the numbering is not consistent statewide

• An integrated course cannot be split. You cannot take the lecture at one institution and the lab at another, and a transfer that brings in only a lecture course will generally not satisfy a C-suffixed requirement.
• The suffix is part of the course number. Under SCNS, EET1021C and EET1021 are different courses, and equivalency does not cross the suffix. Check which one your institution actually requires.
• AC circuits carries at least four numbers in Florida. This repository documents EET1025C ("A/C Circuits", also 3 credits), EET1035C ("AC/DC Circuits", a combined single-semester treatment), and this number. Miami Dade uses EET1025C "Alternating Current Circuits" at 4 credits, while Valencia publishes EET1025C at 3 credits, 2 lecture + 2 lab. Same subject, different numbers, different credit values.
• Practical consequence: do not assume a course you took elsewhere satisfies this requirement because the topics match. Get the articulation evaluated in writing before you enrol in the sequel.
• Some programmes combine DC and AC into one course and some split them across two terms; the sequence you enter determines the number you need.

⚠ Laboratory practice: safety, and the habits that make measurements mean something

• Low voltage is not zero risk. Bench supplies are usually survivable, but line voltage, charged capacitors, and inductive kick are not — a large electrolytic capacitor holds a dangerous charge after the supply is off, and an inductor interrupted under current produces a voltage spike far above the source.
• One hand in the pocket is the old rule for a reason: it keeps current from crossing the chest.
• Power down before rewiring, and verify with a meter rather than with the switch position.
• Meter loading changes the circuit. A voltmeter in parallel and an ammeter in series both perturb what they measure, and an ammeter placed across a source is how meters and fuses die.
• Ground references matter on an oscilloscope. The probe ground clip is tied to earth on most bench scopes — clipping it to a node that is not at ground potential creates a short through the instrument. Differential measurements need a differential probe or a proper technique.
• Component ratings are real. A quarter-watt resistor asked to dissipate a watt will fail, sometimes dramatically, and electrolytic capacitors installed backwards vent.
• Record what you actually measured, not what you expected. A lab notebook whose numbers match theory exactly is usually a notebook that was not kept honestly, and the discrepancies are where the learning is — component tolerance, meter loading, source impedance, and lead resistance all show up in real data.
• Simulate and measure both. LTspice and Multisim predict; the bench tells you what the world did. Where they disagree, something in your model is missing, and finding out what is the entire point.

⚠ Engineering technology is not engineering — the articulation asymmetry

The transfer fact that costs students the most time when they learn it late.

• B.S. and B.A.S. engineering technology degrees are applied degrees, distinct from A.B.E.T.-accredited engineering programmes, and the credit does not flow freely between them.
• Engineering technology mathematics does not substitute for the engineering sequence. EGN2045 / EGN3046 ("Engineering and Technology Calculus") typically does not satisfy MAC2311 / MAC2312 for an engineering major. The asymmetry runs one way: the engineering sequence will satisfy the technology requirement, not the reverse.
• The FE exam pathway differs. Florida's PE licensure route under Chapter 471, F.S. is built around an A.B.E.T.-EAC accredited engineering degree. Graduates of engineering technology programmes face additional experience requirements, and the rules have changed over time. Rule 11 applies — verify with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers and FBPE/NCEES directly, not from a programme brochure.
• This does not make the degree lesser. Engineering technology graduates are hired as engineers in fact if not in title across Florida's aerospace, defence, power, and manufacturing sectors — Space Coast contractors, L3Harris, Lockheed, Siemens Energy, and the utilities all recruit them. The point is only that the two paths are not interchangeable, and switching later is expensive.
• Decide early and confirm in writing. If there is any chance you will pursue an A.B.E.T.-EAC engineering degree, take the engineering mathematics and physics sequence from the start.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement.

EET1021C is 3 credits and approximately 75 contact hours — a high ratio, and correctly so for an integrated lecture-plus-laboratory course; the figure matches the published EET1011C that is its direct prerequisite. Expect a substantial weekly lab in addition to lecture, with formal reports. Plan on real outside-class time: this is a course where working problems is the only method that works, and reading the chapter is not studying.