New Era University – Virtual Learning Environment

College of Engineering & Technology

PHYSICS 221
Capacitance, Current,
Resistance and Ohm’s Law

Phy 221-NEU-CET by LDH

 Capacitance, Current,
Resistance and Ohm’s Law
SUB-TOPICS
• Capacitance and Dielectric
• Charge and Current
• Electric Circuit
• Resistance, Resistivity and Resistors

• Calculating Resistance
• Temperature-Resistance Effect
• Ohm’s Law
• Sample Problems
• Assessment
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 Capacitance, Current,
Resistance and Ohm’s Law
Course Objectives:
At the end of the week, the student should be able to
1.Describe dielectric and capacitance
2.Describe electric charge & current relationship with respect
to time;
3. Identify the basic requirement for a complete circuit and
describe how each component behaves in a circuit;
4. Calculate resistance in terms of the geometric properties of
the wire and how it behaves with changes in temperature;
5. Describe the effect of temperature to resistance;
6. Calculate resistance using Ohm’s Law.

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 Capacitors and Dielectrics
A
E

• In general, a capacitor consists of 2 conductors of any shape

placed near one another without touching. It stores electric
charge. Electric field E exists in between plates, E =q/ϵoA.
Also, recall that E = V/d
• Each plate carries a charge on same magnitude one positive and
the other negative
• An electric potential difference exist between plates which is
proportional to the magnitude of charge on each plate. Hence,
q = CV where C = capacitance in Farad (F)
V = electric potential difference in Volts (V)
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 Capacitance of a Parallel-Plate Capacitor
d
A dielectric

• Dielectric is an electrically insulating material placed in between

the conductors or plates.
• Capacitance depends on the geometry of the plates and the
dielectric constant K of the material placed in between plates
• Dielectric constant depends on the nature of the dielectric
material K = Eo / E (the ratio of the field magnitude without
a dielectric to the field magnitude inside a dielectric)
• The magnitude of the electric field inside the dielectric is
given by E = Eo / K = V/d but Eo = q/ϵoA. Therefore,
E = q/ KϵoA = V/d and solving for q = (KϵoA /d) V eqtn 1

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 Capacitance of a Parallel-Plate Capacitor
d
A dielectric

• From q = (KϵoA /d) V , recall also that q = CV, hence for a parallel plate
capacitor filled with dielectric, capacitance is given by,

C = KϵoA /d
The following are values of dielectric constant of some substances,
vacuum 1
Air 1.00054
Teflon 2.1
Paper 3.3
Ruby Mica 5.4
Neoprene Rubber 6.7
Water 80.4
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 Applications of Capacitors
• electronic flash units of photography
• pulsed lasers
• air bag sensors in cars
• radio and tv receivers
• ac circuits

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Sample Problem
1.The plates of a parallel-plate capacitor in vacuum are
5.00 mm apart and 2.00m2 in area. A potential
difference of 10,000 V is applied across the capacitor.
Find (a) capacitance, (b) charge on each plate, (c)
magnitude of the electric field in the space between
them, and (d) energy stored in the capacitor.
Solution:
a. Using the equation C = KϵoA /d, we find C = 3.54 x 10-9 F
b. The charge Q = (KϵoA /d) V is 3.54 x 10-5 C
c. The magnitude of the electric field E=V/d = 2.0 x 106 N/C
d. Energy stored =½ qV = ½ (3.54 x 10-5 C)(10,000V) = 0.18V

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 Unit of Measure for Current
e e
e
e
e

• Current is the movement of charges in a conductor

• It is the measure of the number of electrons
that flow past a given point per second
• One Ampere (A) is the amount of current that
flows when one Coulomb (q) flows past a point
in one second.
• This is expressed by the equation
I = q/t
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Basic requirements of an electric circuit
• Source (emf or power supply)
• Complete path for current to flow
• Load

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Electromotive force (Emf) may be
supplied either by a battery or from
a power supply. Emf force is the
maximum possible voltage that a
battery can provide between its
terminals. It is a difference of
potential that does not decay as
charges are transferred.

Ohm’s Law described current in a

circuit as I = V/R. If there is no emf in
a circuit, the current will be zero. We
can relate voltage, current and resis-
tance in Ohm’s Law.
V=IR, I=V/R or R= V/I

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Complete Path for Current
• A closed loop or path between two terminals for the electrons
to flow
• An open circuit is considered to have infinite resistance resulting to
zero current flow

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 Resistance and Resistors
• Current flowing through a circuit encounters opposition
• This opposition to electron flow is called resistance
• To overcome this opposition, a pressure (push) must be
applied.
• The unit of resistance R is Ohms (Ω)
• The practical range of resistance used in electronics may
range from a kiloohms to a millionohms.
• Resistors may be fixed or varied. They are rated by their
value of resistance and power they can safely dissipate
• Power rating of resistors is generally determined by its
size. Hence, the greater the surface area, the more
power
it can dissipate.
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 Resistance and Resistors
Resistor manufacturers employ a system of “color codes” to identify
the ohmic resistance offered by a resistor to the flow of electricity.
• The lower
Resistors are the tolerance, the
manufactured moreinexpensive
mostly is the
tubular form, resistor
with three or
• Resistors
four colored with
bandslower thanaround
painted 2% (+ or
the-)body.
are called precision
The colors andresistors
the
numerical values are given in the Resistor Color Chart. The color
bands are always read from the end that has the band closest to it.

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 Calculating Resistance

This formula relates the resistance of a conductor with its

specific resistance (the Greek letter "rho" (ρ), which looks
similar to a lower-case letter "p"), its length ("l"), and its
cross-sectional area ("A").

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The Cross-sectional Area
• the wire’s cross-sectional area is generally small, hence, it is
practical to express in smaller units rather than using the SI
unit of meter
• a mil is a unit of length = 0.001 in
• circular mil is a unit of area
• a diameter d in mils has a cross-sectional area of d2 circular mils

ACM = d mils 2
• when area is in circular mil, the unit of
resistivity is in ohm-circular mil per foot

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Calculating Temperature Coef. of Resistance
Resistance of conducting wires increases linearly with temperature.
Hence, to find the resistance given a change in temperature, we
used the equation below;

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Sample Problem 2
A single layer of No. 24 AWG (d=0.0201 in.) commercial iron wire is
wound over a ceramic tube whose diameter is 3.25 in. If the total wire
resistance is 41 ohms, determine the number of turns.
Given:
No. 24 AWG (d=0.0201 in) commercial iron wire
Diameter of ceramic tube = 3.25 in
R = 41 ohms
Req’d: Number of turns
Solution:
Area of wire = (0.0201 in x 1000 mils/in)2 = 404.01 CM
Circumference of ceramic tube = πd = 3.14 (3.25) = 10.21 in

Using the formula

And solving for L, the length of wire is L = RA/ρ = 41Ω [404.01 CM/(75Ω-CM per ft)]
L = 220.86 ft. X 12in/ft = 2650 in
Number of turns = 2650 in/10.21 in = 259.54 or 260 turns (answer)

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Sample Problem 3 & 4
3. A 34.5m length of copper wire (ρ = 1.7x10-8 Ωm,) at 20 °C has a radius of 0.25mm..
i. What is the cross–sectional area of the wire?
ii. Find the resistance of the wire.
iii. If a potential difference of 9.0V is applied across the length of the wire,
calculate the current in the wire.

4. A copper wire 10 m long (α=3.9x10-3/C°) has a resistance of 5 Ω at 20 °C. If the wire is

heated to 50 °C while the 9.0 V potential difference is maintained,
i. Find the new resistance.
ii. Find the resulting current for this new resistance.

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Sample Problem 5
The resistance of a given electric device is 46 ohms at 25°C. If the
temperature coefficient of resistance of the material is 0.00454 at
20°C, determine the temperature of the device when its resistance
is 92 ohms.
Given:
Rref = 46 ohms
α = 0.00454
R = 92 ohms
Req’d: Temperature of the device when its resistance is 92 ohms

Solution:
Using the formula
And solving for T, we have T = (R/Rref) -1 + Tref
α
T = 245.3 ° C (answer)

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•Most conductive materials change specific resistance with changes in
temperature. This is why figures of specific resistance are always
specified at a standard temperature (usually 20o or 25o Celsius).

•The resistance-change factor per degree Celsius of temperature

change is called the temperature coefficient of resistance. This factor
is represented by the Greek lower-case letter "alpha" (α).

•A positive coefficient for a material means that its resistance

increases with an increase in temperature. Pure metals typically
have
positive temperature coefficients of resistance. Coefficients
approaching zero can be obtained by alloying certain metals.

•A negative coefficient for a material means that its resistance

decreases with an increase in temperature. Semiconductor materials
(carbon, silicon, germanium) typically have negative temperature
coefficients of resistance.
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