Electric Current

The electric current is a stream of moving charges In an isolated conducting loop, even though conduction electrons are present, no current is present. All points are at the same potential, no field exists and therefore no electric force is applied on the conduction electrons. When a battery is inserted in the loop, the conducting loop is no longer at a single potential. Electric fields exert forces on the conduction electrons, which begin to move and thus establishing a current. After some time the electron flow reaches a constant value and the current is in its steady state.

Electric Current Definition The electric current is defined as the amount of charge dq passing through a
hypothetical plane across a conductor in time dt .

dq i= dt One can ! calculate the total amount of

charge that passes through a plane in time t as:

q=

" dq = "

idt

Under steady conditions, the current is the same regardless of the size or the orientation of the plane. This is a direct consequence of the conservation of ! charge. The Si unit for current is 1 ampere =1 A = 1 coulomb per second. !"#$%!&"'( ! quantity. Its direction is defined as: The current is a scalar #"$" !" !"#$%!&"'( %"$" !" !Parallel to the velocity of the moving charges if they are positive. !Opposite of the velocity of the moving charges if they are negative.

!"#$%!&"'( #"$" !" !"#$%!&"'( %"$" !" &" &"

Current Density
The current density is defined as the current per unit area. In this case the total current through the surface will be: This is a vector and it has the same direction as the velocity of the moving charges if they are positive, and the opposite direction if they are negative. If the current is uniform through ! the whole surface and ! to the area vector dA , then: parallel

! ! i = # J " dA

! ! i = # J " dA =

i # JdA = J # dA = JA $ J = A

One can define current density lines called the ! streamlines. When the aperture of a conductor narrows down, the current remains the same, but the current density increases. The closer together the streamlines are, the higher the current density is.

Drift Speed
When current flows through a conductor, the conduction electrons drift with a drift speed v d, in the direction opposite that of the applied electric field that causes the current. The drift speed can be related to the current

density in a conductor, e.g. wire. The number of charge carriers in a wire of length L and aperture A is nAL, where n is the number of charge carriers per unit volume. The total charge then will be:

q = ( nAL)e
This total charge will leave the wire length L in L time:

t=

! transfer will be: The equivalent current due to this charge

q ( nAL)e i J i= = = nAev d " v d = = " t L /vd nAe ne ! ! ! J = ( ne)v d
The quantity (ne) is called the carrier charge density and has units of C/m3.

vd

Resistance
The resistance between two points of a conductor is determined by applying a potential difference between those two points and measuring the resulting current: !" )(
R

'"

!"

V R= i

The SI unit for resistance is the ohm: 1 ohm = 1! = 1 volt per ampere = 1 V/A. ! For a given electric potential, the greater the resistance the smaller the current. A conductor whose function in a circuit is to provide a specified resistance is called a resistor. In a circuit diagram it is represented with the symbol:

Resistivity
The resistivity at a point in a resistive material is defined as the ratio of the electric field over the current density at that point:

The SI-system unit of resistivity is the ohm-meter ("#

E "= J

In vector form the resistivity is defined as: One can define the conductivity ! of a material as the inverse of the resistivity:

! ! E = "J

m)

!
! ! J = "E

Using the later, we can rewrite the relation between electric field and current density as: Resistance is a property ! of an object. Resistivity is a property of a material

1 "= ! #

If we know the resistivity " of a substance, then the resistance of a wire of length L and cross-sectional area A , will be:

L R=" A
!

Variation of Resistivity with Temperature

The resistivity, like any other physical property, varies with temperature. As an example for copper the resistivity increases with temperature.

The above variation can be approximated with the empirical formula:

" # " 0 = " 0$ (T # T0 )

where " 0 is the resistivity at some reference temperature T0, usually 293K. The quantity " is called the temperature coefficient of the resistivity and is determined empirically so that the equation above gives good agreement with the measured data. ! Since the temperature appears as a difference, one can employ either the Celsius or the Kelvin scale. !

Ohms Law
Ohms Law is an assertion that the current through a device is always directly proportional to the potential difference applied to the device.

Pictorially the above statement means that when one plots i vs. V, the relation between the two is linear, that is R is independent of V. In the figure above the device of plot (b) follows Ohms law, whereas the device of plot (c) does not. A conducting device obeys Ohms law when the resistance of the device is independent of the magnitude and polarity of the applied potential difference. When focusing on conducting materials, Ohms law can be stated as: A conducting material obeys Ohms law when the resistivity of the material is independent of the magnitude and direction of the applied electric field.

Microscopic View of Ohms Law

In order to understand why some materials obey Ohms law we must look into the conduction process at the atomic level. Assume the free electron model.
!Conduction electrons move freely within the metal !They experience random collisions with the atoms of the metal !After each collisions they move randomly at a completely different direction. !When applying an electric field, the conduction electrons will drift with a speed vd. !For an electron of mass m, its acceleration due to the electric field will be:

eE" v d = a" = m ! the expression J = nev d , we get: !Combining this result with $ m ' J eE" vd = = # E = & 2 )J % e n" ( m ! ne !Comparing with the expression E = "J , we derive for the resistivity: ! m "= 2 e n# ! the conclusion therefore that a material obeys Ohms law if its We can reach ! resistivity is independent of the applied electric field. This means that the time between collisions (mean ! free path) is independent of the applied electric field.

!In the time # between collisions it will therefore acquire a drift speed:

F eE a= = m m

Power in Electric Circuits

In the circuit shown the battery maintains a potential difference V across the terminals a,b of the device attached to it, with a greater potential applied to terminal a. A steady current i is produced in the circuit. The amount of charge dq that moves between the terminal of the device in time dt is then: dq = idt The resulting decrease in potential energy will then be: The lost energy has been transferred to the device. The rate of that transfer is ! and is defined as: called the Power P of the electric circuit

dU = dqV = iVdt

dU P= = iV ! dt # J & #C& # J & The unit of power is V " A = % (" % ( = % ( = W $C' $ s ' $ s' ! R, the expression for power can be written as: For a device with resistance
!
2 V P = i 2R = R