Lecture 08

Current & Resistance

October 3 or 5, 2005

New Topic

Current and
Resistance

Commercial Resistors

Color Coded

Conductors

In the past we decided that in a

conductor

The Electric Field is ZERO because we

postulated that no charges were to move.
Static Situation
Any electric field must be at the surface
That field must be normal to the surface

Lets look at another situation.

Consider a conductor
V1

V2
Electric Field

Walla .. a CIRCUIT

The mobile electrons can move under the

influence of an electric field.
We then have a current (to be defined) flowing in
the wire.
But WAIT how can we?????
Only if

Symbol

From the Past

Q Flows and then stops.

Vo

+
-

A Different Situation
Vo
circuit

Charge will begin to flow through the short.

Charge can flow back into the battery and discharge
it.
Wire can get warm, emit light or even burn our (fuse).
The FLOW of charge is defined as a current.

Current is
a good thing

Or a

BAD thing

Franklins Impact on
Physics!!!
ELECTRONS

CURRENT

Positive charge will leave

the battery from the positive
terminal and flow through
an external circuit to the
negative terminal.
Electrons will go the other
way.
Current is defined as the
flow of POSITIVE CHARGE.
+ charge does not normally
flow in a wire.

Definition

Current is the total amount of

charge that flows through a wire
in one second.
Current is measured in Coulombs
per second.
A current of one coulomb per
second is defined as an AMPERE.
(Amp.)

CONCISE DEFINITION:
dq
CURRENT
i

dt
dq idt
t2

q i (t )dt
t1

Current will flow throughout the cross-section of the wire (usually).

Current through aa is the same as the current through bb and cc.
What is DIFFERENT between aa and bb with respect to current?

Whats Different??
i=5 amps

A=.1 m2

A=0.05 m2

CURRENT DENSITY

current
j
unit area

J=5 amps/.05 m2 = 100 amps/m2

J=5 amps / .1 m2 = 50 amps/m2

Question:
The current density in a wire of radius R is given by I 0r.
What is the total current flowing through the wire?

Overhead Sol.

Current
Current cant pile up at a point n a circuit.

Example

For BOTH
i0 i1 i2
First introduction to Kirchoffs Node Equation

Consider
3A ^
5A 2A v
6A

8A

Question:
A 5 Amp current is set up in a circuit for 6
minutes by a 6 Volt Battery. How much
chemical energy is provided by the battery?
Vo

+
CIRCUIT OF SOME SORT

WORK (Energy) per unit

Charge = qV

coul
60 sec
5amps 6 min 5
6 min
sec
min
30 60coul 1800coulombs
qV 1800coul 6Volts 10 KJ

Definition
wire

i
V
High

Low

Current increases
with Potential
Difference (V)

V
R
i

Ohms Law

Volt
UNIT 1
1 OHM
Ampere
SYMBOL

Observations

Wires and Resistors are made from conducting

materials.
These materials have some fundamental
properties associated with them.
Electrons are attached to atoms.

Outer electrons weakly bound

Small Force (Applied Electric Field) can easily push
them.
They bump into things which retard their motion.
The more things that retard their motion, the more
difficult it is to push a current via an applied
potential difference.
Thus, the resistance goes up.

What kinds of things cause

resistance?

Sudden Constrictions in the

conductor including bends!
Underlying structure

Amorphous
Crystalline

Defects

Impurities
Thermal Collisions

Temperature

Fundamental Property
RESISTANCE vs. RESISTIVITY

Consider a wire made of some

material.
Resistance is a property of the wire
itself the material and the shape.
New Quantity:

RESISTIVITY is a property of the

material itself regardless of its shape.

Consider our wire:

L
A
V

What would happen to the current if we

Increased the voltage?

Increased the Area?
Increased the length?

Summary

VA
i
L
or

L
V
i iR
A

is the resistivity
R is called the RESISTANCE
and is measured in
OHMS ()

Define CONDUCTIVITY

1
1
m

Resistivity Ohm-Meters
Silver
Copper
Aluminum
Tungsten
Platinum
Silicon-Pure
Glass
Fused Quartz

1.62 x 10-8
1.69
2.65
5.25
10.6
2.5 x 103
1010 to 1014
~1016

WIRES
American Wire Gauge Diameter - mm
30 gauge

0.255

24

0.511

18 (typical
household)

1.024

14

1.628

12

2.05

BACK TO OHM
V=iR
i=V/R

Not EVERYTHING is a
resistor

The Semiconductor Diode

Effect of Temperature

Temperature
( 0 ) 0 (T T0 )

0 0 (T T0 ) 0 (1 T )
Linear over a limited temperature range.

QuestionFor an 18 gauge wire of length L to have a

resistance of 1 ohm what must L be if the
material is copper?

L
R
A
R 1.0
A
d 2 / 4
L
8
1.69 10
6

d 1mm 10 m
2

(d for 18 gauge is about 1 mm)

A current of 6.5 Amps exists in a 9 Ohm resistor

for 5 minutes. How many coulombs and how
many electrons pass through the resistor in this
time?
Coulombs: 6.5 COULOMBS per Second for 5 minutes
6.5C x 5 min X 60 sec/min = 1950 coulombs
Number of electrons = # coulombs / electron charge =
1950 / 1.6 x 10-19 = 1.22 x 10 +22

Microscopic Theory

J and E
i JA
i
V
V
1V
J

A RA
L
L
A

A
V
J E
L
let A 0 and
J E

Consider a wire

N n d tA
Ne
current
ne d A
t
J ne d

Micro-View Resistivity
depends on the material and is
the mean time between collisions
ease of motion mobility
resistance to motion - scattering

eE
a a
m
eE
d a
m

ne 2
1
J nevd
E E E
m

ne 2

Power
Battery supplies energy to the resistor
which, in turn, dissipates it in the form of
heat.

E
L
E
C
T
R
O
N
s

Work done on charge Q = Q x V

Work / time POWER P

QV Q
P
V iV i iR i 2 R
t
t

REMEMBER: P=iV and P=i2R

The Spectrum of
Conductors

ENGINEERED MATERIALS!!!
Semiconductors

When 105 volts are applied across a wire that is 12

meters long and has a 0.30 mm radius, the current
density us 1.7 x 10 4 A/m2. What is the resistivity of
the wire??

L
R
A
so that
RA

From the current density we can find the CURRENT.

i=JA = 1.7 x 104 amp/m2 X ( X 0.32) mm2 X (1m/1000mm)2
I = 4.8 ma

R= V/i = 105 volts / (4.8 x 10-3) amps = 2.18 x 104 ohms

= 2.18 x 104 ohms x 3 x 10-7 m2 / 12m = 0.005 ohm-meters

The figure below gives the electrical potential V(x) along a

copper wire carrying a uniform current, from a point at
higher potential (x=0m) to a point at a lower potential
(x=3m). The wire has a radius of 2.45 mm. What is the
current in the wire?
What does the graph tell us??
*The length of the wire is 3 meters.
*The potential difference across the
wire is 12 volts.
*The wire is uniform.

Lets get rid of the mm radius and

convert it to area in square meters:
A=r2 = 3.14159 x 2.452 x 10-6 m2
or
A=1.9 x 10-5 m 2

copper
12 volts

0 volts

Material is Copper so resistivity is (from table) = 1.69 x 10-8 ohm meters

We have all we need.

8

L 1.69 x10 ohm - m 3.0 m

R
2.67 m
5
A
1.9 x10
From Ohm' s Law :
6

V
12 10 volts
i
4.49 ma
3
R 2.67 10 ohms

Series Combinations
R1
R2
V1

V2
V

V1 iR1
V2 iR2
and
V V1 V2 iR iR1 iR2
R R1 R2
general :
R( series ) Ri
i

Parallel Combination??
R1, I1

R2, I2

V iR
V V V
i i1 i2

R1 R2 R
so..
1
1
1

R1 R2 R
general
1
1

R
i Ri

In Fig. 28-39, find the

equivalent resistance
between points
(a) F and H and [2.5]
(b) F and G. [3.13]

Whats This???

The current density across a cylindrical conductor of radius R varies according to

the equation
J = J0(1 - (r/R)),
where r is the distance from the central axis. Thus the current density is a
maximum J0 at the axis (r = 0) and decreases linearly to zero at the surface (r =
R). Calculate the current in terms of J0 and the conductor's cross-sectional area A
= R2.

Thats it for Resistance

Next Time Electric Circuits