EE103: Electrical Engineering

Atomic Model, Charge, Current, Voltage & Resistance

ChE15 A&B, Spring 2024

By Arooj Nawaz,
Lecturer

arooj.nawaz.@seecs.edu.pk

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 Today’s Lecture
▪ Bohr’s Atomic Model.
▪ Charge.
▪ Current.
▪ Voltage.
▪ Resistance, Resistivity.

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 Bohr’s Atomic Model

The Bohr’s atomic Model is a tool for visualizing atomic structure.

•The nucleus is positively charged

and has the protons and neutrons.
•Electrons are negatively
charged and in discrete shells.

•The atomic number is the number of

protons and determines the particular
element.

•In the neutral atom, the

number of electrons is equal to
the number of protons.

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 Valence Electron
The outer shell is called the valence shell. Electrons
in this shell are
involved in chemical reactions and in metals they
account for electrical conductivity.

By definition, electrical conductivity is

a measure of how well electrical
current (charge in motion) can pass
through a material under the
influence of an applied
voltage/electric field.

The copper atom is shown here

Is copper a conductor, insulator,
Conductor
or semiconductor?............ Why 4
 Electrical Conductors
▪ Metals are good conductors of electricity, because they
have free electrons.
▪ These free electrons act as charge carriers in the metallic
structure, allowing electric current to flow through the
metal.
▪ Metals are good conductors of electricity, because they
allow electric charge to flow freely through them.

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 Electrical Insulators
▪ An electrical insulator is a material in which the electron does not
flow freely or the atom of the insulator have tightly bound
electrons whose internal electric charges do not flow freely; very
little electric current will flow through it under the influence of an
electric field.
▪ This contrasts with other materials, semiconductors and
conductors, which conduct an electric current more easily.
▪ The property that distinguishes an insulator is its resistivity;
insulators have higher resistivity than semiconductors or
conductors. The most common examples are non-metals.

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 Si Atom
A neutral Si atom is shown.
There are 4 electrons in
the valence shell.

Is Si a conductor, insulator,
or semiconductor?
Semiconductor

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 Ge Atom

The atomic number of

germanium is 32 i.e. 32 protons.

Germanium has 32
electrons (2 electrons in first
orbit, 8 electrons in second
orbit, 18 electrons in third
orbit and 4 electrons in the
outermost orbit.

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 Semi-conductor
• A semiconductor is a material with
electrical conductivity intermediate in
magnitude between that of a conductor
and an insulator.
o Semiconductor materials are the
foundation of modern electronics,
including radio, computers,
telephones, and many other devices.

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 Semi-conductor
▪ A semiconductor material has an electrical conductivity value falling
between that of a conductor, such as metallic copper, and an
insulator, such as glass.
▪ Its resistivity falls as its temperature rises; metals behave the opposite.
▪ Its conducting properties may be altered in useful ways by introducing
impurities ("doping") into the crystal structure.
▪ When two differently-doped regions exist in the same crystal, a
semiconductor junction is created. The behavior of charge carriers,
which include electrons, ions and electron holes, at these junctions is
the basis of diodes, transistors and all modern electronics.
▪ Some examples of semiconductors are silicon, germanium, gallium
arsenide.
▪ Silicon is a critical element for fabricating most electronic circuits.
▪ After silicon, gallium arsenide is the second most common
semiconductor and is used in laser diodes, solar cells, microwave-
frequency integrated circuits, and others. 10
EE-103 Lecture 1 11
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 Categories of Materials
• A conductor has one to three valence electrons in their atomic structure

• A semiconductor has four valence electrons in their atomic structure

• The insulators are characterized by more than four valence electrons in

their atomic structures

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 Charge
• Electron and Proton in atom have equal and opposite charge.
• Electrical Charge is electrical property of metal which exist because of
excess or deficiency of free electrons.
• Charge is symbolized by Q.
• Electrical charge is measured in coulombs
– One coulomb is the total charge possessed by 6.25 X 1018
electrons.
– Single electron has 1.6X 10−19 C of charge.

– Q=It
• Where:
• Q is charge in coulombs (C)
• I is current in amperes (A)
• t is time in seconds (s) 14
 Charge
The total charge Q, expressed in Coulombs, for a given number of
electrons is stated in the following formula:

Charge of 1 Coulomb = Charge of 6.25 x 1018 electrons, so the charge on 1 electron = 1.6 x 10-19 C
We can say that one elementary charge = 1.6 x 10-19 C and one coulomb = 6.25 x 1018 elementary
charges.

Example : How much charge is represented by 93.8 x 1016 electrons ?

Q= 93.8 x 1016 / 6.25 x 1018

Q=15 x 102 C
Q=0.15 C
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Forces between Charged Particles
There is a force (F) between charges, called electric field,
consists of invisible lines of force
Like charges repel;
unlike charges attract.

•The force is directly proportional to charge.

•The force is inversely proportional to square of distance.

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 Coulomb’s Law
• A force (F) exist between two point-source charges (Q1, Q2) that is directly proportional to the
product of charges and inversely proportion to the square of distance (d) between them
• 𝐹 ∝ 𝑄1 𝑄2
1
• 𝐹∝
𝑑2
• 𝐹∝ 𝑄1 𝑄2 /𝑑 2
𝑄1 𝑄2
• 𝐹= 𝑘( 2 )
𝑑

1
The constant of proportionality (K= ) in the equation is called the Dielectric Constant.
4𝜋𝜀0 𝜀𝑟
ε0 is the permittivity of free space or absolute permittivity or electric constant and 𝜀𝑟 is the
relative permittivity. Permittivity is the ability of the material to store energy under the
influence of electric field
1 𝑄1 𝑄2
𝐹= ( 2 )
4𝜋𝜀0 𝜀𝑟 𝑑

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 Electromotive Force (emf)
• The energy needed to run a CD player, for instance,
comes from batteries.
• Within a battery, a chemical reaction occurs that
transfers electrons from one terminal (leaving it
positively charged) to another terminal (leaving it
negatively charged).
• Because of the positive and negative charges on the
battery terminals, an electric potential difference exists
between them. The maximum potential difference is
called the electromotive force (emf) of the battery.
• The electric potential difference is also known as the
voltage, V.

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 Emf’s or Voltages of Common Batteries
•Car battery = 12 V
•AAA, AA, C, D = 1.5 V
•9-volt battery =9V

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 Voltage
Voltage (V) is the work (W) per charge (Q). It is responsible
for establishing current.

Work is done as a charge is moved in the electric

field from one potential to another.

Voltage is the work per charge done against the

electric field.
The SI unit for voltage is the volt, after Alessandro
Volta (1745-1827) who invented the electric battery.
1 volt = 1 J/C.
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 Voltage
Definition of voltage

One volt is the potential difference (voltage) between two

points when one joule of work is done to move one coulomb
of charge from one point to the other.
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 Voltage
With sufficient energy, a force causes an electron to leave an atom.

When this force (called a voltage) occurs across many atoms, multiple electrons will create a
flow, called a current. Electrons may move between atoms, forcing the next electron to leave
the atom, continuing the process of electron flow. In the process, electrons may bump into
atoms, which is called resistance.

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 Electric Current
The electric current is the amount of charge per unit time that passes through a surface that is
perpendicular to the motion of the charges.

The SI unit of electric current is the ampere (A), after the French mathematician André Ampére
(1775-1836). 1 A = 1 C/s. Ampere is a large unit for current. In practice milliampere (mA) and
microampere (μA) are used.
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 Direction of Current Flow
Electric current is a flow of electrons. In a circuit, electrons actually flow through the
metal wires.
Conventional electric current is defined using the flow of positive charges.
It is customary to use a conventional current I in the opposite direction to the
electron flow.
Conventional Current assumes that current flows out of the positive terminal, through the
circuit and into the negative terminal of the source. This was the convention chosen during
the discovery of electricity. ... In fact, it makes no difference which way current is flowing as
long as it is used consistently.

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 AC and DC
•If the charges move around a circuit in the same direction at all times,
the current is said to be direct current (dc), which is the kind produced
by batteries.
•In contrast, the current is said to be alternating current (ac) when the
charges move first one way and then the opposite way, changing the
direction of flow of electrons back and forth at regular intervals or cycles
per unit time, called frequency .Our household outlets give us ac
voltage.

Graphical Representation of ac and dc 27

 Electrical Resistance
• When electric current flows through a metal wire there exists a hindrance to the
flow, known as electrical resistance.
• This is because, as the electrons move through, they collide with the atoms of the
conductor.
• The SI unit of resistance is the ohm (Ω), after Georg Simon Ohm (1787-1854), a
German physicist, who discovered Ohm’s law.
• Resistance is a measure of the opposition to current flow in an electrical
circuit. The larger resistance, the greater the barrier against the flow of current.
• A resistor is a component that provides a specified resistance in an electric circuit.

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 Electrical Resistance

One ohm (1 W) is the resistance of the material, if one ampere (1 A) current is flowing
through it when one volt (1 V) is the voltage applied across it.
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*Image Courtesy: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/161650/could-someone-intuitively-explain-to-me-ohms-law
 Reciprocal of Electrical Resistance
Resistance is the opposition to current.
Conductance is the reciprocal of resistance, it is an ease with
which current flows through conductors. Its unit is Siemen (S)

Components designed to have a specific amount of

resistance are called resistors.

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 Electrical Resistors
Resistor is a passive component, it offers a specific resistance to the
electric current that is, it limits the flow of electric current in a circuit.
There are many uses for resistors: to drop voltage, limit current,
attenuate signals, etc.
Conductance is the reciprocal of resistance.

Components designed to have a specific amount of resistance are called

resistors. They have color markings for their resistance.

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 Electrical Resistors
▪ Resistors are generally made of those materials which has the
property to oppose the flow of current (electrons).
▪ Materials such as Carbon, nickel chromium are generally preferred.
But for special applications other alloys are also used
such as tin and antimony, gold with platinum and tantalum nitride.
▪ A thin film (or wire) of conductive (though still resistive) material is
wrapped around an insulator in a helix form and covered by an
insulating material.

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 Resistor Markings
Three methods of resistor markings are predominant - color coding,
numerical value coding and three-digit symbol coding. MIL-PRF-55342
assigns part numbers using alpha-numeric coding. Tolerance, temperature,
package style and failure rate are integrated into some numbering schemes.

* For resistance values less than 10 Ω, the third band is either gold or silver.
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Gold is for a multiplier of 0.1 and silver is for a multiplier of 0.01
 Color Bands of Resistor
What is the resistance and tolerance of each of the four-band resistors?

5.1 kW ± 5%

820 kW ± 10%

47 W ± 10%

1.0 W ± 5%

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 Color Bands of Resistors
A resistor's Temperature
Coefficient of Resistance
(TCR) tells how much its
value changes as its
temperature changes.

It is usually expressed in
ppm/°C (parts per million
per degree Centigrade)
units.
(1 ppm = 0.0001%)
It is usually used for high-
precision resistors

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