Lumped element model

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The lumped element model of electronic circuits makes the simplifying assumption that each element is an infinitesimal point in space, and that the wires connecting elements are perfect conductors.

The lumped element model is valid whenever $L c < < λ$ , where $L c$ denotes the circuit's characteristic length, and $λ$ denotes the circuit's operating wavelength. Otherwise, we must consider more general models, such as the Distributed element model.

Real-world components exhibit non-ideal characteristics. To account for leakage in capacitors for example, we can visualize the capacitor as having a large resistor connected in-parallel. Similarly to account for inductive reactance, we can visualize component leads as small inductors.