7.

Ohm’s law
4
A close relationship exists between the voltage, current and resistance of a circuit. If you increase the
voltage supplied to a circuit, then the current through it will increase. If you increase the resistance of a
circuit, then the current through it will drop. For components that obey Ohm’s law, a line graph of voltage
plotted against current produces a straight line. This is shown in Figure 1.

This close relationship can be summarised by Ohm’s law, which states:

voltage = current  resistance
or
V =IR
where
V is the voltage (measured in volts, V)
I is the current (measured in amperes, A)
R is the resistance (measured in ohms, )

Question 1:

Use words from the box below to complete the following statements.

increases decreases stays the same

(a) For a constant voltage, current ___________________________ as resistance increases.

(b) For a constant resistance, voltage ________________________ as current increases.
(c) For a constant current, voltage __________________________ as resistance increases.

Question 2:

The graphs below were plotted for four different circuit components. Identify which graph represents a
component that obeys Ohm’s law.
Question 3:

Calculate the voltage across the following resistors.

(a) A current of 4 A is flowing through a 5  resistor.

(b) A current of 1.5 A is flowing through a 4  resistor.

Question 4:

Calculate the current flowing through a:

(a) 3  resistor when a voltage of 6 V is applied across it.

(b) 10  resistor when a voltage of 12 V is applied across it.

Question 5:

Calculate the resistance of a wire if it carries:

(a) 2 A when a voltage of 6 V is applied across it.

(b) 1.5 A when a voltage of 12 V applied across it

(c) 50 mA (0.05 A) when a voltage of 6 V is applied across it.