Lesson 3: Current and Resistance

4.11 Electric Current

 Whenever there is a net flow of charge through some region, an electric
current is said to exist.
 The current is the rate at which charge flows through this surface.
 The average current is
𝚫𝑸
𝑰𝒂𝒗
𝚫𝒕

 If the rate at which charge flows varies in time, then the current varies in
time; we define the instantaneous current I as the differential limit of
average current:
𝒅𝑸
𝑰≡
𝒅𝒕
 The SI unit of current is the ampere (A):
𝟏𝑪
𝟏𝑨
𝟏𝒔
 That is, 1 A of current is equivalent to 1 C of charge passing through the
surface area in 1 s.
 It is conventional to assign to the current the same direction as the flow of
positive charge. Therefore, when we speak of current in an ordinary
conductor, the direction of the current is opposite the direction of flow of
electrons. This known as the conventional flow.

 The opposite of the conventional flow is the electron flow.

  If the ends of a conducting wire are connected to form a loop, all points on
the loop are at the same electric potential, and hence the electric field is
zero within and at the surface of the conductor. Because the electric field
is zero, there is no net transport of charge through the wire, and therefore
there is no current.
 However, if the ends of the conducting wire are connected to a battery, all
points on the loop are not at the same potential. The battery sets up a
potential difference between the ends of the loop, creating an electric field
within the wire. The electric field exerts forces on the conduction electrons
in the wire, causing them to move in the wire, thus creating a current.
 It is common to refer to a moving charge (positive or negative) as a mobile
charge carrier. For example, the mobile charge carriers in a metal are
electrons.

4.12 Microscopic Model of Current

Figure 4.26 A section of a uniform conductor of cross-sectional area A.

 Consider the current in a conductor of cross-sectional area A (Fig. 4.26).
 The volume of a section of the conductor of length Δx (the gray region) is A
Δx. If n represents the number of mobile charge carriers per unit volume
(in other words, the charge carrier density), the number of carriers in the
gray section is nA Δx. Therefore, the total charge ΔQ in this section is

ΔQ = number of carriers in section x charge per carrier = (nA Δx)q

where q is the charge on each carrier.

 If the carriers move with a speed vd, the displacement they experience in
the x direction in a time interval Δt is Δx = vd Δt.
∆𝑄 𝑛𝐴𝑣 ∆𝑡 𝑞

 If we divide both sides of this equation by Δt, we see that the average
current in the conductor is
∆𝑸
𝑰𝒂𝒗 𝒏𝒒𝒗𝒅 𝑨
∆𝒕
 The speed of the charge carriers is an average speed called the drift speed.
  To understand the meaning of drift speed, consider a conductor in which
the charge carriers are free electrons. If the conductor is isolated—that is,
the potential difference across it is zero—then these electrons undergo
random motion that is analogous to the motion of gas molecules. When a
potential difference is applied across the conductor (for example, by means
of a battery), an electric field is set up in the conductor; this field exerts
an electric force on the electrons, producing a current.
 However, the electrons do not move in straight lines along the conductor.
Instead, they collide repeatedly with the metal atoms, and their resultant
motion is complicated and zigzag (Fig. 2.27). Despite the collisions, the
electrons move slowly along the conductor (in a direction opposite that of
E) at the drift velocity vd.

Figure 4.27 A schematic representation of the zigzag motion of an electron in a

conductor.

Example 4.20
The 12-gauge copper wire in a typical residential building has a cross-sectional
area of 3.31 x 10-6 m2. If it carries a current of 10.0 A, what is the drift speed of
the electrons? Assume that each copper atom contributes one free electron to
the current. The density of copper is 8.95 g/cm3.

Solution 4.20
From the periodic table of elements, the molar mass of copper is 63.5 g/mol.
Recall that 1 mol of any substance contains Avogadro’s number of atoms (6.02
x 1023). Knowing the density of copper, we can calculate the volume occupied by
63.5 g (=1 mol) of copper:
𝒎 𝟔𝟑. 𝟓 𝒈
𝑽 𝟕. 𝟎𝟗 𝒈
𝝆 𝟖. 𝟗𝟓 𝒈
𝒄𝒎𝟑

𝟔. 𝟎𝟐𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟑 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝟏𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟔 𝒄𝒎𝟑

𝒏 𝟖. 𝟒𝟗𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟖 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒔/𝒎𝟑
𝟕. 𝟎𝟗𝒄𝒎𝟑 𝟏𝒎𝟑
𝑰 𝟏𝟎𝑨
𝒗𝒅 𝟐. 𝟐𝟐𝒙𝟏𝟎 𝟒 𝒎/𝒔
𝒏𝒒𝑨 𝟖. 𝟒𝟗𝒙𝟏𝟎𝟐𝟖 𝒎 𝟑 𝟏. 𝟔𝒙𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟗 𝑪 𝟑. 𝟑𝟏𝒙𝟏𝟎 𝟔 𝒎𝟐
4.13 Resistance
 Consider a conductor of cross-sectional area A carrying a current I.
 The current density J in the conductor is defined as the current per unit
area. Because the current I = nqvdA, the current density is
𝑰
𝑱≡ 𝒏𝒒𝒗𝒅
𝑨
where J has SI units of A/m2.
 A current density J and an electric field E are established in a conductor
 whenever a potential difference is maintained across the conductor.
 In some materials, the current density is proportional to the electric field:
𝑱 𝝈𝑬
where σ is called the conductivity of the conductor
 For many materials (including most metals), the ratio of the current
density to the electric field is a constant & that is independent of the
electric field producing the current.
 Materials that obey Ohm’s law and hence demonstrate this simple
relationship between E and J are said to be ohmic.
 Experimentally, however, it is found that not all materials have this
property. Materials and devices that do not obey Ohm’s law are said to be
nonohmic.
 Ohm’s law is not a fundamental law of nature but rather an empirical
relationship valid only for certain materials.

Figure 4.28 A uniform conductor of length ℓ, and cross-sectional area A.

 A potential difference ΔV = Vb - Va is maintained across the wire, creating

in the wire an electric field and a current. If the field is assumed to be
uniform, the magnitude of the potential difference across the wire is
related to the field within the wire
∆𝑽 𝑬𝓵
 Thus, the current density in the wire is
𝚫𝑽
𝑱 𝝈
𝓵
 The potential difference across the wire is
𝓵 𝓵
𝚫𝑽 𝑱 𝑰 𝑹𝑰
𝝈 𝝈𝑨
 The quantity R = ℓ/σA is called the resistance of the conductor. We define
the resistance as the ratio of the potential difference across a conductor to
the current in the conductor:
∆𝑽
𝑹≡
𝑰
 This result shows that resistance has SI units of volts per ampere. One
volt per ampere is defined to be one ohm (V):
𝟏𝛀 ≡ 𝟏 𝑽/𝑨
 Most electric circuits use circuit elements called resistors to control the
current in the various parts of the circuit. As with capacitors, many
resistors are built into integrated circuit chips, but stand-alone resistors
are still available and widely used.
 Two common types are the composition resistor, which contains carbon,
and the wire-wound resistor, which consists of a coil of wire. Values of
resistors in ohms are normally indicated by color coding.
 The first two colors on a resistor give the first two digits in the resistance
value, with the decimal place to the right of the second digit. The third
color represents the power of 10 for the multiplier of the resistance value.
The last color is the tolerance of the resistance value

 As an example, the four colors on the resistor at the bottom of Figure 4.29
are yellow (=4), violet (=7), black (=100), and gold (=5%), and so the
resistance value is 47 x 100 = 47 Ω with a tolerance value of 5% = 2 Ω.
Figure 4.29 A close-up view of a circuit board shows the color coding on a
resistor.

 The inverse of conductivity is resistivity ρ:

𝟏
𝝆
𝝈
Where ρ has the unit ohm · meter (Ω·M)
 The resistance of a uniform block of material along the length ℓ is
𝓵
𝑹 𝝆
𝑨
 Every ohmic material has a characteristic resistivity that depends on the
properties of the material and on temperature.
Example 4.21
The radius of 22-gauge Nichrome wire is 0.32 mm. (a) Calculate the resistance
per unit length of this wire. (b) If a potential difference of 10 V is maintained
across a 1.0-m length of the Nichrome wire, what is the current in
the wire?

Solution 4.21
(a)
𝑹 𝝆 𝟏𝒙𝟏𝟎 𝟔 𝛀 ∙ 𝒎
𝟑. 𝟏 𝛀/𝒎
𝓵 𝑨 𝝅 𝟎. 𝟑𝟐 𝒙𝟏𝟎 𝟑 𝟐
(b)
𝚫𝑽 𝟏𝟎 𝑽
𝑰 𝟑. 𝟐 𝑨
𝑹 𝛀
𝟑. 𝟏 𝟏𝒎
𝒎

4.14 Resistance and Temperature

 For good conductors, an increase in temperature will result in an increase
in the resistance level
o conductors have a positive temperature coefficient
 For semiconductor and insulator materials, an increase in temperature
will result in a decrease in the resistance level
o semiconductors and insulators have negative temperature

 Over a limited temperature range, the resistivity of a conductor varies

approximately linearly with temperature according to the expression
𝝆 𝝆𝟎 𝟏 𝜶 𝑻 𝑻𝟎

where ρ is the resistivity at some temperature T (in degrees Celsius), ρ0 is

the resistivity at some reference temperature T0 and α is the temperature
coefficient of resistivity.
𝟏 𝚫𝝆
𝜶
𝝆𝟎 𝚫𝑻

where Δρ = ρ – ρ0 is the change in resistivity in the temperature interval

ΔT = T - T0.
  The temperature coefficients of resistivity for various materials are given
in Table 27.2. Notice that the unit for a is degrees Celsius-1 [(°C)-1]. Because
resistance is proportional to resistivity, the variation of resistance of a
sample is
𝑹 𝑹𝟎 𝟏 𝜶 𝑻 𝑻𝟎

where R0 is the resistance at temperature T0.

4.15 Superconductors
 There is a class of metals and compounds whose resistance decreases to
zero when they are below a certain temperature Tc, known as the critical
temperature. These materials are known as superconductors.
 This phenomenon was discovered in 1911 by Dutch physicist Heike
Kamerlingh-Onnes (1853–1926) as he worked with mercury, which is a
superconductor below 4.2 K.

 One truly remarkable feature of superconductors is that once a current is

set up in them, it persists without any applied potential difference
(because R = 0).
 Steady currents have been observed to persist in superconducting loops
for several years with no apparent decay!
 An important and useful application of superconductivity is in the
development of superconducting magnets, in which the magnitudes of the
magnetic field are approximately ten times greater than those produced by
the best normal electromagnets.
4.16 Electrical Power
 In typical electric circuits, energy TET is transferred by electrical
transmission from a source such as a battery to some device such as a
lightbulb or a radio receiver.
 Because the connecting wires also have resistance, some energy is
delivered to the wires and some to the resistor.
 Unless noted otherwise, we shall assume the resistance of the wires is
small compared with the resistance of the circuit element so that the
energy delivered to the wires is negligible.

Figure 4.30 A circuit consisting of a resistor of resistance R and a battery

having a potential difference ΔV across its terminals.

 The power P, representing the rate at which energy is delivered to the

resistor, is
𝑷 𝑰𝚫𝑽
 We can express the power delivered to the resistor in the alternative forms
𝚫𝑽 𝟐
𝑷 𝑰𝟐 𝑹
𝑹
The SI unit of power is the Watt
Example 4.22
An electric heater is constructed by applying a potential difference of 120 V
across a Nichrome wire that has a total resistance of 8.00 V. Find the current
carried by the wire and the power rating of the heater.

Solution 4.22
∆𝑽 𝟏𝟐𝟎 𝑽
𝑰 𝟏𝟓 𝑨
𝑹 𝟖𝛀
𝑷 𝑰𝟐 𝑹 𝟏𝟓𝑨 𝟖𝛀 𝟏. 𝟖 𝒌𝑾

Example 4.23
An immersion heater must increase the temperature of 1.50 kg of water from
10.0°C to 50.0°C in 10.0 min while operating at 110 V. (a) What is the required
resistance of the heater? (b) Estimate the cost of heating the water if energy is
priced at Php 0.11 per kilowatt-hour.

Solution 4.23
(a) Set the rate of energy delivered to the resistor equal to the rate of energy
Q entering the water by heat:
𝚫𝑽 𝟐 𝑸
𝑷
𝑹 𝚫𝒕
𝚫𝑽 𝟐 𝒎𝒄𝚫𝑻
𝑹 𝚫𝒕
𝟔𝟎𝒔
𝚫𝑽 𝟐 𝚫𝒕 𝟏𝟏𝟎𝑽 𝟏𝟎 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝟏 𝒎𝒊𝒏
𝑹 𝟐𝟖. 𝟗𝟏𝛀
𝒎𝒄𝚫𝑻 𝑱 𝒐
𝟏. 𝟓 𝒌𝒈 𝟒𝟏𝟖𝟔 𝟓𝟎 𝟏𝟎 𝑪
𝒌𝒈 ∙𝒐 𝑪

(b) Multiply the power by the time interval to find the amount of energy
transferred to the resistor:
𝚫𝑽 𝟐 𝟏𝟏𝟎𝑽 𝟐 𝟏𝒉
𝑻𝑬𝑻 𝑷𝚫𝒕 𝚫𝐭 𝟏𝟎 𝒎𝒊𝒏 𝟔𝟗. 𝟕𝟔 𝑾𝒉 𝟎. 𝟎𝟔𝟗𝟕𝟔 𝒌𝑾𝒉
𝑹 𝟐𝟖. 𝟗𝟏𝛀 𝟔𝟎 𝒎𝒊𝒏
𝑷𝒉𝒑 𝟎. 𝟏𝟏
𝑪𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝟎. 𝟎𝟔𝟗𝟕𝟔 𝒌𝑾𝒉 𝑷𝒉𝒑 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟕𝟕 𝟎. 𝟕𝟕¢
𝒌𝑾𝒉