Current Flow and Ohm's Law

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Eddy Current Testing

Introduction Basic Principles History of ET Present State of ET

Current Flow and Ohm's Law

Ohm's law is the most important, basic law of electricity. It defines the relationship between the three fundamental electrical quantities: current, voltage, and resistance. When a voltage is applied to a circuit containing only The Physics resistive elements (i.e. no coils), current flows according to Ohm's Law, which is Properties of Electricity Current Flow & Ohm's Law shown below.
Induction & Inductance Self Inductance Mutual Inductance Circuits & Phase Impedance Depth & Current Density Phase Lag

I=V/R

Where: I = Electrical Current (Amperes) V = Voltage (Voltage) R = Resistance (Ohms)

Instrumentation Eddy Current Instruments Resonant Circuits Bridges Impedance Plane Display - Analog Meter Probes (Coils) Probes - Mode of Operation Probes - Configuration Probes - Shielding Coil Design Impedance Matching

Procedures Issues Ohm's law states that the electrical current (I) flowing in an circuit is proportional to the voltage (V ) and inversely proportional to the resistance (R) . Reference Standards Signal Filtering Therefore, if the voltage is increased, the current will increase provided the resistance of the circuit does not change. Similarly, increasing the resistance of Applications the circuit will lower the current flow if the voltage is not changed. The formula Surface Breaking Cracks SBC using Sliding Probes can be reorganized so that the relationship can easily be seen for all of the Tube Inspection three variables. Conductivity

The Java applet below allows the user to vary each of these three parameters Thickness of Thin Mat'ls in Ohm's Law and see the effect on the other two parameters. Values may be Thickness of Coatings input into the dialog boxes, or the resistance and voltage may also be varied by Advanced Techniques moving the arrows in the applet. Current and voltage are shown as they would Scanning be displayed on an oscilloscope with the X-axis being time and the Y-axis being Multi-Frequency Tech. Swept Frequency Tech. the amplitude of the current or voltage. Ohm's Law is valid for both direct Pulsed ET Tech. current (DC) and alternating current (AC). Note that in AC circuits consisting of Background Pulsed ET purely resistive elements, the current and voltage are always in phase with each Remote Field Tech. other.
Quizzes

Heat Treat Verification

Exercise: Use the interactive applet below to investigate the relationship of the Formulae& Tables variables in Ohm's law. Vary the voltage in the circuit by clicking and dragging EC Standards & Methods the head of the arrow, which is marked with the V. The resistance in the circuit EC Material Properties can be increased by dragging the arrow head under the variable resister, which is marked R. Please note that the vertical scale of the oscilloscope screen

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/EddyCurrents/Physics/currentflow.htm[7/2/2012 1:37:35 PM]

Current Flow and Ohm's Law

automatically adjusts to reflect the value of the current. See what happens to the voltage and current as the resistance in the circuit is increased. What happens if there is not enough resistance in a circuit? If the resistance is increased, what must happen in order to maintain the same level of current flow?

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/EddyCurrents/Physics/currentflow.htm[7/2/2012 1:37:35 PM]