Task 1.

A
In your groups assigned by the facilitator, Study and discuss the following information
about electrical resistance.

Electrical Resistance
Introduction

The electrical resistance of a wire or circuit is a way of measuring the opposition to the
flow of an electrical current. A good electrical conductor, such as a copper wire, will have
a very low resistance. Good insulators, such as rubber or glass insulators, have a very
high resistance.

The resistance of a given piece of wire depends of three factors: the length of the wire,
the cross-sectional area of the wire, and the resistivity of the material composing the
wire.
Length of the Conductor

It is harder for water to flow through a very long hose simply because it has to travel
farther. Analogously, it is harder for current to travel through a longer wire. A longer
wire will have a greater resistance.
Simply said, resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to the length of the wire
i.e., longer the wire the greater will be the resistance and the shorter the wire smaller
will be the resistance. If L represents the length of the uniform wire, then
 Task 1.B

In your groups assigned by the facilitator, Study and discuss the following information
about electrical resistance.

Electrical Resistance
Introduction

The electrical resistance of a wire or circuit is a way of measuring the opposition to the
flow of an electrical current. A good electrical conductor, such as a copper wire, will have
a very low resistance. Good insulators, such as rubber or glass insulators, have a very
high resistance.

The resistance of a given piece of wire depends of three factors: the length of the wire,
the cross-sectional area of the wire, and the resistivity of the material composing the
wire.

Area of the Cross-Section of the Conductor

To understand how this works, think of water flowing through a hose. The amount of
water flowing through the hose is analogous to the current in the wire. Just as more
water can pass through a fat fire hose than a skinny garden hose, a fat wire can carry
more current than a skinny wire. For a given piece of wire with constant cross –
sectional area, the larger the cross-sectional area, the lower the resistance and the
smaller the cross-sectional area, the higher the resistance.

In other words, Resistance of a conductor is inversely proportional to the area of the

cross-section of the uniform wire. If A is the area of cross-section of the uniform wire,
then
 Task 1.C

In your groups assigned by the facilitator, Study and discuss the following information
about electrical resistance.

Electrical Resistance
Introduction

The electrical resistance of a wire or circuit is a way of measuring the opposition to the
flow of an electrical current. A good electrical conductor, such as a copper wire, will have
a very low resistance. Good insulators, such as rubber or glass insulators, have a very
high resistance.

The resistance of a given piece of wire depends of three factors: the length of the wire,
the cross-sectional area of the wire, and the resistivity of the material composing the
wire.

Resistivity of the material composing the wire

The resistivity is a property of the material in the wire that depends on the chemical
composition of the material but not on the amount of material or the shape (length,
cross-sectional area) of the material. Copper has a low resistivity, but the resistance of a
given copper wire depends on the length and area of that wire. Replacing a copper wire
with a wire of the same length and area but a higher resistivity will produce a higher
resistance. In the hose analogy, it is like filling the hose with sand. Less water will flow
through the hose filled with sand than through an identical unobstructed hose. The sand
in effect has a higher resistivity to water flow. The resistivity of any given material is a
constant represented by the Greek letter pronounced ‘row’. Resistivity of a
material is the resistance between the ends of a conductor of length one metre
and area of cross-section of one square - metre. Unit of (resistivity) is Ohm-metre
By combining both the factors,

where is the constant of proportionality called the resistivity of the material of the
wire.

In other words, resistivity of a material is the resistance between the opposite faces of a
unit cube of that material.
Electricity Resistivity of Some Substances at 20O C is listed in the
table given below.

Resistivity (W
Material
m)
ConductorsSilver 1.60 x 10-8
Copper 1.62 x 10-8
Aluminium 2.63 x 10-8
Tungsten 5.20 x 10-8
Nickel 6.84 x 10-8
Iron 10.0 x 10-8
Chromium 12.9 x 10-8
Mercury 94.0 x 10-8
Manganese 1.84 x 10-6
Alloys Constantan (alloy of Cu and Ni) 49 x 10-6
Manganin (alloy of Cu, Mn and
44 x 10-6
Ni)
Nichrome (alloy of Ni, Cr, Mn
100 x 10-6
and Fe)
Insulators Glass 1010 - 1014
Hard rubber 1013 - 1016
Ebonite 1015 - 1017
Diamond 1012 - 1013
Paper (dry) 1012
Note
Good conductors possess low resistivity.

Effect of Temperature
The effect of temperature has already been discussed earlier under limitations of ohm's
law. In general for metallic conductors higher the temperature larger is the resistance.