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Physics - 1

Electric current
Electric current
• Electric current is a flow of electric charge (a phenomenon) or the
rate of flow of electric charge (a quantity).

• This flowing electric charge is typically carried by moving electrons,


in a conductor such as wire; in an electrolyte, it is instead carried by
ions, and, in a plasma, by both.

• The SI unit for measuring the rate of flow of electric charge is the
ampere, which is charge flowing through some surface at the rate
of one coulomb per second. Electric current is measured using an
ammeter.

• In order for the charge to flow there has to be a potential


difference. V.
Electric current
• To produce a current the charge needs to flow in a conductor. In
metals this charge is carried by electrons.
• The current is the rate of change of charge with time:
dq
I=
dt
– where dq is the electric charge transferred
through the surface over some time dt
– DC- direct current
– AC- alternative current
• Current density is a measure of the density of an electric current. It is
defined as a vector whose magnitude is the electric current per cross-
sectional area. In SI units, the current density is measured in amperes
per square meter.
r r r r r r
dI = j ⋅ dS , I = ∫ j ⋅ dS j E
S
Microscopic electric current
• Electric current is the movement of multiple microscopic charge
carriers with a drift velocity in a conductor.
• Consider a section of wire cross-section S, in which there is a
potential difference. Electrons flow from the higher potential to the
lower potential.

dq = dVnq0 = dSvd dtnq0 ,


dI dq dSvd dtnq0
j= = = = q0 nvd
dS dtdS dtS
r r r r
j = q0 nvd j = q0 n v d
• Drift mobility (For ordinary currents, this drift velocity is on the order
of millimeters per second in contrast to the speeds of the electrons
themselves which are on the order of a million meters per second!)
vd
µ= j = q0 nµE j = ∑ qi ni µi E
E i
Ohm’s law
• Classical view of conductivity have described the movements of electrons in a
metallic solid.
• The free electron gas that is present in metallic solids is the reason for an
important property of all metals: conductivity.
r r
j = q0 n v d q0 ≡ e
0 + vd vd eE eE
vd = = = τ , vd = a τ = τ,
2 2 2m m
l vd << vth ,
τ = ,
vd + vth Drude Model electrons (shown here
in blue) constantly bounce between
2
enl e2n l heavier, stationary crystal ions
j= E, σ= , (shown in red).
2m vth 2m v r r
j = σE , j = σE
Ohm’s law
• The conductivity σ and resistivity ρ

j = σE ,
• [σ]=Ohm-1m-1
el
j = enµE µ= Drift mobility
2m vth
1
• ρ= [ρ]=Ohm.m
σ

• The classical theory shows that according to Ohm’s law,


since j is proportional to E
Ohm’s law
• Flaws in classical conductivity
– equation for resistivity will give a value that is about seven times the
measured value of resistivity at a temperature of 300 K;
– by experiment that resistivity has a linear relationship with temperature,
while the temperature in accordance to the classical theory is reliant on
the value <vth>, which is related to the square root of temperature

• A quantum theory solves these flaws, number number of


concepts that need to be understood:
– uncertainty principle, which states that since it is already known that the
electrons are present in the space of the metal (i.e., something about its
position is known), then there can not be zero kinetic energy (it must
have some speed).
– the exclusion principle prevents more than two electrons from being
present in the lowest energy level. This means that there are two
electrons in each energy level
Ohm’s law
• Electromotive force (emf) is the external work expended
per unit of charge to produce an electric potential
difference across two open-circuited terminal

A
ε = , [V ]
q

• It maintains a potential difference between the terminals


• A set of electromotive force:
– Battery that transforms chemical into electrical energy
– Generators
– Solar cells
– Biological cells
Ohm’s law
• Field of external forces r*
r* F
E =
q0
• Electromotive force:
r* r
ε = ∫ E ⋅ dl
l

• Ohm’s law for the circuit with emf:

r r 2 r* r 2 1 r r
( )
2
r r r*
j =σ E + E , ∫ E ⋅ dl + ∫ E ⋅ dl = ∫ j ⋅ dl ,
1 1 1
σ
2
I
ϕ1 − ϕ 2 + ε 12 = ∫ ρ dl , IR = ϕ1 − ϕ 2 + ε 12 Macroscopic approach

1
S
Ohm’s law
• Voltage

U = ϕ1 − ϕ 2 = IR
• If the current in a conductor is
proportional the potential difference
(or voltage) driving the current through
the conductor we say that Ohm's Law
is obeyed.
• R, the resistance of the conductor, is
the constant of proportionality or the
slope of the voltage vs. current graph.

ρ l l
R = ∫ dl = ρ , ρ=R S
S l S S
• A conductor such as a metal has high conductivity and a low resistivity.
• An insulator like glass has low conductivity and a high resistivity.
• The conductivity of a semiconductor is generally intermediate,
Resistance
• Electrical resistivity of metals increases with temperature, while the
resistivity of semiconductors decreases with increasing temperature. In
both cases, electron–phonon interactions can play a key role. At high
temperatures, the resistance of a metal increases linearly with
temperature.
ρ
1
ρ~ ~ A2 ~ T
l

∆R R − R0
= α∆T , = α (T − T0 )
R0 - resistance at
R0 standard temperature
R0 (200C)
α - temperature
coefficient of
resistance
Superconductivity
• Some materials lose all electrical resistivity at sufficiently low
temperatures, due to an effect known as superconductivity.

A high-temperature superconductor
levitating above a magnet

• H. Kamerlingh Onnes, investigated the low temperature resistivity of


mercury in 1911.
• The critical temperature for superconductors is the temperature at
which the electrical resistivity of a metal drops to zero.
• The disappearance of electrical resistivity was modeled in terms of
electron pairing in the crystal lattice by John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and
Robert Schrieffer in what is commonly called the BCS theory.
Current-Voltage relations
• Basic parameters of a device and its behavior in an electrical circuit.
These characteristics are also known as I-V curves, referring to the
standard symbols for current and voltage.

(a) A resistor that obeys


Ohm's Law,

(b) A vacuum tube diode

(c) A semiconductor diode.


Electric power
• Electric power is the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an
electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.

• When electric current flows in a circuit, it can transfer energy to do


mechanical or thermodynamic work.

• Devices convert electrical energy into many useful forms, such as heat
(electric heaters), light (light bulbs), motion (electric motors), sound
(loudspeaker), information technological processes (computers), or even
chemical changes

• In direct current resistive circuits, electrical power is calculated using Joule's


law:
P = UI
– where P is the electric power, U the potential difference, and I the electric
current.
• In the case of resistive (Ohmic, or linear) loads, Joule's law can be
combined with Ohm's law (I = U/R) to produce alternative expressions for
the dissipated power (or amount of energy Q):

P = I2 R = U2/R, Q= I2 R t
– where R is the electrical resistance.
Thermoelectric effect
• The thermoelectric effect is the direct conversion of temperature
differences to electric voltage and vice versa.

• A thermoelectric device creates a voltage when there is a different


temperature on each side.

• Conversely when a voltage is applied to it, it creates a temperature


difference (known as the Peltier effect).

• This effect can be used to generate electricity, to measure


temperature, to cool objects, or to heat them or cook them.

• Thermoelectric effect or thermoelectricity encompasses three


separately identified effects:
– the Seebeck effect,
– the Peltier effect,
– and the Thomson effect
• The Peltier–Seebeck and Thomson effects can in principle be
thermodynamically reversible, whereas Joule heating is not..
Thermoelectric effect
• The Seebeck effect is the conversion of temperature differences
directly into electricity.
– The effect is that a voltage, the thermoelectric EMF, is created in the
presence of a temperature difference between two different metals or
semiconductors. This causes a continuous current in the conductors if
they form a complete loop. The voltage created is of the order of
several microvolts per kelvin difference.

• An applied temperature difference causes charged


carriers in the material, whether they are electrons or
holes, to diffuse from the hot side to the cold side, similar
to a classical gas that expands when heated. Mobile
charged carriers migrating to the cold side leave behind
their oppositely charged and immobile nuclei at the hot
side thus giving rise to a thermoelectric voltage
• Since a separation of charges also creates an electric
potential, the buildup of charged carriers onto the cold
side eventually ceases at some maximum value since
there exists an equal amount of charged carriers drifting
back to the hot side as a result of the electric field at
equilibrium.
Thermoelectric effect
• The Peltier effect is the phenomenon that a potential difference
applied across a thermocouple causes a temperature difference
between the junctions of the different materials in the
thermocouple.
• This effect is the opposite of the Seebeck effect (named after the
scientist who discovered it in 1821). The Seebeck effect is that if
different metals are connected in two separate places, and the
intersections are kept at different temperatures, then a potential
difference between the "junctions" (the intersections) will result.
Thermoelectric effect
• The Peltier device is a heat pump: when direct current runs through
it, heat is moved from one side to the other. Therefore it can be used
either for heating or for cooling (refrigeration), although in practice
the main application is cooling. It can also be used as a temperature
controller that either heats or cools
Electric discharge
• Electric discharge describes any flow of electric charge through a gas,
liquid or solid.
• Electric discharge in gases occurs when electric current flows through a
gaseous medium. Depending on several factors, the discharge may
radiate visible light.
Electric discharge
• Voltage-current characteristics of electrical discharge in neon at 10-2
Pa, with two planar electrodes separated by 50 cm.

A: random pulses by cosmic radiation, B: saturation current, C: avalanche Townsend


discharge, D: self-sustained Townsend discharge, E: unstable region: corona
discharge, F: sub-normal glow discharge, G: normal glow discharge, H: abnormal
glow discharge, I: unstable region: glow-arc transition, J: electric arc, K: electric arc
Electric discharge in gases
• I The A-D region is called a dark discharge; there is some
ionization, but the current is below 10 microamperes and there is no
significant amount of radiation produced.

• II The F-H region is a region of glow discharge; the plasma emits a


faint glow that occupies almost all the volume of the tube; most of
the light is emitted by excited neutral atoms.

• III The I-K region is a region of arc discharge; the plasma is


concentrated in a narrow channel along the center of the tube; a
great amount of radiation is produced.

Low pressure discharges!


Electric discharge in gases
• I The Townsend discharge is a gas ionization process where an initially
very small amount of free electrons, accelerated by a sufficiently strong
electric field, give rise to electrical conduction through a gas by avalanche
multiplication: when the number of free charges drops or the electric field
weakens, the phenomena ceases.
• It is a process characterized by very low current densities: in common gas
filled tubes, typical magnitude of currents flowing during this process range
from about 10−18 A to about 10−5 A, while applied voltages are almost
constant.

For low E:

j=e
g
(µ ++ µ − )E Avalanche
r effect
l between
For high E: two
j = gel electrodes

Townsend avalanche discharges are exploited in devices such as Geiger counters


and Proportional counters to detect and measure the energy of an ionizing
radiation
Electric discharge in gases
• II: glow discharge, which occurs once the breakdown voltage is
reached. The voltage across the electrodes suddenly drops and the current
increases to milliampere range.
• At lower currents, the voltage across the tube is almost current-
independent; this is used in glow discharge voltage stabilizers.
L At lower currents, the area of the electrodes covered by the glow
discharge is proportional to the current.
L At higher currents the normal glow turns into abnormal glow, the
voltage across the tube gradually increases, and the glow discharge
covers more and more of the surface of the electrodes.

It is found in products
such as neon lamps
and plasma-screen
televisions, and is used
in plasma physics and
analytical chemistry.
Electric discharge in gases
• The breakdown voltage for the glow discharge depends nonlinearly
on the product of gas pressure and electrode distance according to
Paschen's law.
• For a certain pressure × distance value, there is a lowest
breakdown voltage. The increase of strike voltage for shorter
electrode distances is related to too long mean free path of the
electrons in comparison with the electrode distance.
On the left side of the
Paschen minimum, the pd
product is small. The
electron mean free path
can become long
compared to the gap
between the electrodes.
A greater voltage is
therefore required to
assure ionization of
enough gas molecules to
start an avalanche.
Electric discharge in gases
• III arc discharge, which occurs in the ampere range of the
current; the voltage across the tube drops with increasing current.
• An arc discharge is characterized by a lower voltage than a glow
discharge, and relies on thermionic emission of electrons from the
electrodes supporting the arc.

An electric arc between


two nails

Industrially, electric arcs are used for welding, plasma cutting, for electrical
discharge machining, as an arc lamp in movie projectors and followspots in
stage lighting.
Corona discharge
• In electricity, a corona discharge is an electrical discharge brought
on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor, which occurs
when the potential gradient (the change in the strength of the
electric field) exceeds a certain value, but conditions are insufficient
to cause complete electrical breakdown or arcing.
• Corona discharge usually involves two asymmetric electrodes; one
highly curved (such as the tip of a needle, or a small diameter wire)
and one of low curvature (such as a plate, or the ground). The high
curvature ensures a high potential gradient around one electrode, for
the generation of a plasma.
• Manufacture of ozone
• Sanitization of pool water
• Improvement of wetability or 'surface tension
energy' of polymer films to improve compatibility
with adhesives or printing inks
• Photocopying
• Air ionisers
Atmospheric pressure discharge!
Spark discharge
• When a gas is subjected to high voltage stress, the electric field is often
quite non-uniform near one, or both, of the high voltage electrodes
making up a spark gap. Breakdown initially begins with the formation of
corona discharges near the electrode with the highest electrical stress.
• If the electrical field is further increased, longer length cold discharges
(called streamers or burst corona) sporadically form near the stressed
electrode.
• Streamers are actually electron avalanches, each one typically lasting
only a few nanoseconds. Streamers redistribute charge within the
surrounding gas, temporarily forming regions of excess charge (space
charges) in the regions surrounding the discharges.

Atmospheric pressure discharge!


Thermionic emission
• Thermionic emission is the heat-induced flow of charge carriers from a
surface or over a potential-energy barrier. This occurs because the
thermal energy given to the carrier overcomes the binding potential, also
known as work function of the metal.
• The thermionic emission of electrons is also known as thermal electron
emission.
Thermionic emission
• When the voltage VP = 0, very few electrons manage to reach the anode.
This gives rise to a very small current OA.
• With increase in voltage the plate current increases from. A to B. This is
because as voltage is increased, the increased positive charge on attracts
more and more electrons from the space charge around the cathode. So the
current in this region AB is called space charge limited current.
3
j = BU 2

• When all the electrons emitted from the cathode are attracted by the anode,
the current reaches its maximum saturation value.
• If the voltage is increased further, the plate current will not increase because
at this stage all the electrons emitted by the cathode are attracted by anode
as rapidly as they are emitted. The maximum current is called saturation
current and it depends upon the temperature of the filament only.
∞ A
js = e ∫ f (w)dw
− 2πmk 2
js = CT 2 e kT C=
0 h3
Richardson's Law: where j is the emission current density [SI unit: A/m2], T is the
thermodynamic temperature of the metal [kelvin (K)], A is the work function of the
metal, k is the Boltzmann constant, and C is a parameter.
Plasma
• Plasma is a gas consisting of charged ions and electrons (Irving
Langmuir introduced the word plasma in 1928 to describe an ionized
gas).
• Over a large volume the plasma is quasi-neutral, meaning that the
number of free negative charges is equal to the number of free
positive charges.
•The figure illustrates plasma of
free ions and electrons formed by
fully ionizing the hydrogen gas.

• Ionization takes place and is maintained because the gas:


– is very hot, so that collisions between atoms are sufficiently strong to
remove electrons,
– is very rarefied, so that electrons, once removed, will hardly encounter
an ion with which to recombine,
– is subjected to an external source of energy, such as strong electric fields
or radiation capable to tear away the electrons.
Plasma
• Plasma is also called the "fourth state of matter", complementing
solids, liquids and gases (this description was first used by William
Crookes in 1879). The illustration shows how matter changes its
state by the addition of thermal energy.

– Plasmas possess all the dynamical properties of fluids, like turbulence.


– Since they are formed of free charged particles, plasmas conduct
electricity. They both generate and respond to electromagnetic fields,
which leads to collective effects.
– This means that the motions of all other particles influence the motion of
each charged particle. Collective behavior is a key concept in the
definition of plasma.
Plasma
• Plasma properties and parameters

• 1. The plasma approximation: Charged particles must be close enough


together that each particle influences many nearby charged particles, rather
than just interacting with the closest particle (these collective effects are a
distinguishing feature of a plasma). The plasma approximation is valid when
the number of charge carriers within the sphere of influence (called the
Debye sphere whose radius is the Debye screening length) of a particular
particle is higher than unity to provide collective behavior of the charged
particles. The average number of particles in the Debye sphere is given by
the plasma parameter, "Λ" (the Greek letter Lambda).

r
q0 −
ϕ= e λD
, Λ = 4πλ D ne 3
4πε 0
ne is the number density of electrons,
λD is the Debye length.
Plasma
• 2. Bulk interactions: The Debye screening length (defined above) is
short compared to the physical size of the plasma. This criterion means
that interactions in the bulk of the plasma are more important than
those at its edges, where boundary effects may take place. When this
criterion is satisfied, the plasma is quasineutral.
• 3. Plasma frequency: The electron plasma frequency (measuring plasma
oscillations of the electrons) is large compared to the electron-neutral
collision frequency (measuring frequency of collisions between electrons
and neutral particles). When this condition is valid, electrostatic
interactions dominate over the processes of ordinary gas kinetics.
Plasma
Plasma
• Artificial plasmas
• Plasma generated in a laboratory setting and for industrial use can be generally
categorized by:
• The type of power source used to generate the plasma;
– DC, RF and microwave.
• The pressure at which they operate; vacuum pressure
– (< 10 mTorr or 1 Pa),
– moderate pressure (~ 1 Torr or 100 Pa),
– atmospheric pressure (760 Torr or 100 kPa).
• The degree of ionization within the plasma;
– fully ionized,
– partially ionized,
– weakly ionized.
The temperature relationships within the plasma:
– thermal plasma (Te = Tion = Tgas),
– non-thermal or "cold" plasma (Te >> Tion = Tgas)
• The electrode configuration used to generate the plasma.
• The magnetization of the particles within the plasma;
– Magnetized (both ion and electrons are trapped in Larmor orbits by the magnetic
field),
– partially magnetized (the electrons but not the ions are trapped by the magnetic field),
– non-magnetized (the magnetic field is too weak to trap the particles in orbits but may
generate Lorentz forces).
Plasma globe
• Plasma lamp is usually a clear glass orb filled with a mixture of
various gases (most commonly helium and neon, sometimes with
other noble gases such as xenon and krypton) at low pressure
(below 0.01 atmosphere) and driven by high-frequency alternating
current at approximately 35 kHz, 2–5 kV, generated by a high-
voltage transformer

• Placing a hand near the glass alters the high-frequency electric field,
causing a single beam to migrate from the inner ball to the point of
contact. The glass acts as a dielectric in a capacitor formed between
the ionized gas and the hand.

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