Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Electric Currents
Electric Currents
W =charge, q x p.d.., V
(joules) (coulombs) (volts)
The Electronvolt
One electron volt (1 eV) is defined as the energy
acquired by an electron as a result of moving
through a potential difference of one volt.
Since W = q x V
And the charge on an electron or proton is 1.6 x
10-19C
Then W = 1.6 x 10-19C x 1V
W = 1.6 x 10-19 J
Therefore 1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 J
Conduction in Metals
A copper wire consists of millions of copper
atoms.
Most of the electrons are held tightly to their
atoms, but each copper atom has one or two
electrons which are loosely held.
Since the electrons are negatively charged,
an atom that loses an electron is left with a
positive charge and is called an ion.
The diagram shows that the copper wire is
made up of a lattice of positive ions,
surrounded by free' electrons:
The ions can only vibrate about their fixed
positions, but the electrons are free to
move randomly from one ion to another
through the lattice.
All metals have a structure like this.
What happens when a battery is
attached to the copper wire?
The free electrons are repelled by the negative
terminal and attracted to the positive one.
They still have a random movement, but in
addition they all now move slowly in the same
direction through the wire with a steady drift
velocity.
We now have a flow of charge ‑ we have electric
current.
Electric Current
Current is measured in amperes (A) using
an ammeter.
The ampere is a fundamental unit.
The ammeter is placed in the circuit so
that the electrons pass through it.
Therefore it is placed in series.
The more electrons that pass through the
ammeter in one second, the higher the
current reading in amps.
1 amp is a flow of about 6 x 1018 electrons
in each second!
The electron is too small to be used as the
basic unit of charge, so instead we use a
much bigger unit called the coulomb (C).
The charge on 1 electron is
Or I = Δq/ Δt
Current is the rate of flow of charge
Which way do the electrons move?
At first, scientists thought that a current was made up of
positive charges moving from positive to negative.
We now know that electrons really flow the opposite way, but
unfortunately the convention has stuck.
Diagrams usually show the direction of `conventional current'
going from positive to negative, but you must remember that
the electrons are really flowing the opposite way.
Resistance
A tungsten filament lamp has a high
resistance, but connecting wires have a
low resistance.
What does this mean?
The greater the resistance of a
component, the more difficult it is for
charge to flow through it.
The electrons make many collisions with
the tungsten ions as they move through
the filament.
But the electrons move more easily
through the copper connecting wires
because they make fewer collisions with
the copper ions.
Resistance is measured in ohms (Ω) and is defined
in the following way:
The resistance of a conductor is the ratio of the p.d.
applied across it, to the current passing through it.
In fact:
Resistors
Resistors are components that are made
to have a certain resistance.
They can be made of a length of nichrome
wire.
Ohm’s Law
The current through a metal wire is
directly proportional to the p.d. across
it (providing the temperature remains
constant).
This is Ohm's law.
Materials
that obey Ohm's law are called
ohmic conductors.
Ohmic and Non-Ohmic
Behaviour
What do the current‑voltage graphs tell
us?
When X is a metal resistance wire the
graph is a straight line passing through the
origin: (if the temperature is constant)
This shows that: I is directly proportional to
V.
If you double the voltage, the current is
doubled and so the value of V/I is always the
same.
Since resistance R =V/I, the wire has a
constant resistance.
The gradient is the resistance on a V against
I graph, and 1/resistance in a I against V
graph.
When X is a filament lamp, the graph is a
curve, as shown:
Doubling the voltage produces less than
double the current.
This means that the value of V/I rises as
the current increases.
As the current increases, the metal
filament gets hotter and the resistance of
the lamp rises.
The graphs for the wire and the lamp are
symmetrical.
The current‑voltage characteristic looks
the same, regardless of the direction of
the current.
Power Dissipation