Current And Resistance

Current Density and Drift Velocity

Perfect conductors carry charge instantaneously from here to there
Perfect insulators carry no charge from here to there, ever
Real substances always have
some density n of charges q
that can move, however slowly
Usually electrons
When you turn on an electric
field, the charges start to move with average velocity vd
Why did I draw
Called the drift velocity
J to the right?

There is a current density J associated with this motion of charges

Current density represents a flow of charge
J nqv d
Note: J tends to be in the direction of E, even when vd isnt

Ohms Law: Microscopic Version

In general, the stronger the electric field, the faster the charge carriers drift
The relationship is often proportional
E
J
Ohms Law says that it is proportional

Ohms Law doesnt always apply

The proportionality constant, denoted , is called the resistivity
It has nothing to do with charge density, even though it has the same symbol
It depends (strongly) on the substance used and (weakly) on the temperature
Resistivities vary over many orders of magnitude
Silver: = 1.5910-8 m, a nearly perfect conductor
Ignore units
Fused Quartz: = 7.51017 m, a nearly perfect insulator
for now
Silicon: = 640 m, a semi-conductor

The Drude Model

Why do we (often) have a simple relationship
between electric field and current density?
In the absence of electric fields, electrons
are moving randomly at high speeds
Electrons collide with impurities/imperfections/vibrating atoms and
change their direction randomly
When they collide, their velocity changes to a random velocity vi
v vi
Between collisions, the velocity is constant
On average, the velocity at any given time is zero v d v v i 0
a F m eE m
Now turn on an electric field
The electron still scatters in a random direction at each collision
v v i at
But between collisions it accelerates
Let be the average time since the last collision
2
J

nq
v

ne
a

ne
E m
v d v v i a t 0 a
d

Current
It is rare we are interested in the microscopic current density
We want to know about the total flow of charge through some object

n
J

I n JdA
I JA

The total amount of charge flowing out of an object is called the current
2
C

m/s
m

What are the units of I?

I JA qnvd A :
m3
The ampere or amp (A) is 1 C/s
Current represents a change in charge I : C A
s
Almost always, this charge is being
replaced somehow, so there is no
dQ
I
accumulation of charge anywhere
dt

Ohms Law for Resistors

Suppose we have a cylinder of material
with conducting end caps
Length L, cross-sectional
L
area A
The material will be assumed to
I JA
follow Ohms Microscopic Law
L

JL
V EL

I
Apply a voltage V across it
A
L
J E
E V L
R
A
Define the resistance as
V IR
Then we have Ohms Law for devices
Just like microscopic Ohms Law, doesnt always work
Resistance depends on composition, temperature and geometry
We can control it by manufacture
Circuit diagram
Resistance has units of Volts/Amps
for resistor
V
Also called an Ohm ()
R:

A
An Ohm isnt much resistance

Ohms Law and Temperature

Resistivity depends on composition and temperature
If you look up the resistivity for a substance, it would have to give it at some
reference temperature T0
0 T0
E J
Normally 20C
For temperatures not too far from 20 C, we can hope that resistivity will be
approximately linear in temperature
T 0 1 T T0
Look up 0 and in tables
For devices, it follows there will also be temperature dependence
The constants and T0 will be the same for the device

L 0 L
R

1 T T0
A
A
R R0 1 T T0

Non-Ohmic Devices
Some of the most interesting devices
do not follow Ohms Law
Diodes are devices that let current
through one way much more easily
than the other way
Superconductors are cold materials
that have no resistance at all
They can carry
current forever
with no electric
field

E J 0

Power and Resistors

The charges flowing through a resistor are having their potential energy
changed
Q
Where is the energy going?
U QV
The charge carriers are
bumping against atoms
They heat the resistor up
U Q

V
t
t
V
dU dQ

V
P I V
dt
dt
dQ
I
dt
dU
P
dt

V IR
V

2
P I R
R

Uses for Resistors

You can make heating devices using resistors
Toasters, incandescent light bulbs, fuses
You can measure temperature by measuring changes in
resistance
Resistance-temperature devices
Resistors are used whenever you want a linear
relationship between potential and current
They are cheap
They are useful
They appear in virtually every electronic circuit
V2
12V
+V
V1
-1m/1mV

1kHz

R1
15k

C1
R2
0.06uF2.3Meg
R3
300k

Q1
2N3904
R6
80
C2
30uF

R4 C4
R11
25k0.06uF2.3Meg
Q2
2N3904
R5
1k

R10
300k

Q4
2N3904

R9
25k
Q3
2N3904
R8
1k

Q5
2N3904

Q6
2N3904

Q7 C3
2N39041mF
R7
25

RL
50k

Equations for Test 1

Electric Fields:
ke q1q2
F2
r
2
r
ke q
E 2 r
r

Gausss Law:
E AE n
qin
E
0

Potential:
Capacitance:
Q C V
C C1 C2

U qV

V E ds

ke q
V
r

1 1
1

C C1 C2

F Eq
Units:
N V

C m
C
A
s

C
F
V
V

End of material
for Test 1

V
Ex
x
V
Ey
y
V
Ez
z