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    - Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for physics students and researchers to ask questions about physics. No registration is required to use the site. - A user asked why electrical resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of a conductor. They hypothesized that a larger area would produce greater eddy currents opposing the main current, thus increasing resistance. - Several responders explained that the user's hypothesis was incorrect. The inverse relationship between resistance and area is due to the fact that increasing area decreases current density for a fixed current, according to Ohm's law. Magnetic fields and eddy currents are not involved except at very high frequencies.

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    - Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for physics students and researchers to ask questions about physics. No registration is required to use the site. - A user asked why electrical resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of a conductor. They hypothesized that a larger area would produce greater eddy currents opposing the main current, thus increasing resistance. - Several responders explained that the user's hypothesis was incorrect. The inverse relationship between resistance and area is due to the fact that increasing area decreases current density for a fixed current, according to Ohm's law. Magnetic fields and eddy currents are not involved except at very high frequencies.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    14 views2 pages

    Inverse relation of resistance and cross-sectional area

    Uploaded by

    TapasRout
    - Physics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for physics students and researchers to ask questions about physics. No registration is required to use the site. - A user asked why electrical resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of a conductor. They hypothesized that a larger area would produce greater eddy currents opposing the main current, thus increasing resistance. - Several responders explained that the user's hypothesis was incorrect. The inverse relationship between resistance and area is due to the fact that increasing area decreases current density for a fixed current, according to Ohm's law. Magnetic fields and eddy currents are not involved except at very high frequencies.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    electromagnetismQuestionregardinginverserelationofresistancewithareaofcrosssectionPhysicsStackExchange

    4/4/2015

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    Questionregardinginverserelationofresistancewithareaofcrosssection
    Itissaidthatresistanceisinverselyproportionaltoareaofcrosssection.Butgreaterareawillhavegreaterelectricflux,andgreaterelectricflux
    willhavegreatermagneticflux,andgreaterthemagneticfluxwillhavegreatereddycurrent,whichisoppositetothecurrentflowing.Sothiswill
    opposethecurrenthenceresistanceincreases.AmIright?
    electromagnetism

    electrostatics resistance

    editedJun10'13at18:51
    Qmechanic
    44.1k
    6 61

    askedJun10'13at17:22
    kuldeepsingh
    11
    1

    138

    3Answers
    Eveniftheclaimwerecorrect,youwouldnotbetrueyouwouldberightwhilethestatementyou
    aremakingwouldbetrue.)
    Buttheexplanationyouareofferingisn'tright.Thereasonwhytheresistancegoeslike1/Ais
    simplythatforaconstantcurrentI ,thecurrentperunitareacurrentdensityisj = I /A and
    accordingtothemicroscopicOhm'slawJ = E ,it'sthecurrentdensitythatdictatesthevoltage
    perunitlengthofthewire(alsoknownastheelectricfield):
    V

    |E | =

    ComparingthisequationwiththeusualOhm'slawV

    = RI

    ,weseethat

    R =
    A

    Becauseyou'reonlychangingA while, arekeptfixed,youseethatV 1/A .Magneticfields


    don'tplayanyrolehereatallwhileelectricfieldsdoplayrolebutwenevercalculateany"electric
    flux"toconstructtherightjustification.
    answeredJun10'13at17:39
    LuboMotl
    110k
    7 162 323

    welltheresistanceyouaretalkingaboutistheresistancewhichtheflowofcurrentexperiences
    becauseofcollisionofelectronswithfixedkernels.thevalueofthisresistanceisinversely
    proportionaltoareaofconductor
    answeredJun13'13at19:22
    manuja
    1
    1

    Let'sanalyseeachsegmentofyourpost:
    Itissaidthatresistanceisinverselyproportionaltoareaofcrosssection.
    Yes,thatistrueforanconductorwhenotherphysicalparametersarefixed(length,resistivity,
    temperature)

    Butgreaterareawillhavegreaterelectricflux...
    Yes.

    ...andgreaterelectricfluxwillhavegreatermagneticflux...
    TheElectriccurrentintheconductorwillcauseamagneticfieldthatwrapsaroundtheconductor,
    thefield(orfluxdensity)willbeproportionaltothecurrent.

    http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/67608/questionregardinginverserelationofresistancewithareaofcrosssection

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    4/4/2015

    electromagnetismQuestionregardinginverserelationofresistancewithareaofcrosssectionPhysicsStackExchange

    ...andgreaterthemagneticfluxwillhavegreatereddycurrent,whichisoppositetothecurrent
    flowing.
    Thatwouldbethecaseonlyifthemagneticfluxchanges,whichinturnmeansthatthecurrentand
    voltagehastochangewithtime.Inotherwords:itdoesnotmatterforDC.Iwillignorethevarious
    formsoffluctuatingcurrentandonlyfocusonsinusoidalAC.
    TheeddycurrentsinhighfrequencyACcauseavarietyofeffects,themostrelevantofwhich,in
    thiscaseofasingleconductoris'Skineffect'.Buteveninthatcase,theresistanceisinversely
    proportionaltodiameter(decreaseswithincreaseinarea):

    whereiscalledtheskindepth.Theskindepthisthusdefinedasthedepthbelowthesurfaceof
    theconductoratwhichthecurrentdensityhasfallento1/e(about0.37)ofcurrentdensityat
    surface.
    Sothiswillopposethecurrenthenceresistanceincreases.AmIright?
    Yes,resistancedoesincreasewhenyoutakeintoaccounttheeffectofeddycurrentincertain
    situations(fluctuatingvoltagelikehighfreqAC)comparedto justDCwithouteddycurrents.Butif
    youimpliedthatlargerareadoesnotdecreaseresistance,youarewronginthiscase.
    answeredJul13'13at22:44
    mehfoos
    923
    1

    15

    http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/67608/questionregardinginverserelationofresistancewithareaofcrosssection

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