Class-10th IIAS

Chapter 11 K.Bpur, Ganjam

Electricity (Class
1 Notes)

Charge (Q)
• Charge is a fundamental particle of matter.
• It may be positive and negative.
• S.I. unit of charge is Coulomb (C).
• 1 C= 6 × 1018 electrons
Charge of one electron= 1.6 × 10–19 C
• Static and Current Electricity: Static electricity deals with the electric
charges at rest while the current electricity deals with the electric charges
in motion.
Electric Current (I): Electric current is defined as the amount of charge
flowing through a particular area in unit time. In other words, it is the rate of flow
of electric charges.
• Electric current = Charge/Time
i.e., I= Q/t
• Electric current is a scalar quantity.
• SI unit of current- Ampere (A)
Definition of Ampere (A)
One ampere is constituted by the flow of one coulomb of charge per second.
1 A = 1 C/1 s 1 milliampere (1 mA = 10–3 A)
1 microampere (1 μA = 10–6 A).

Ammeter: The device that measures electric current in a circuit.

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Electric circuit:
• The closed path along which an electric current flow is called an ‘electric
circuit’.
• the electric current flows in the circuit from the positive terminal of the cell
to the negative terminal of the cell through the bulb and ammeter.
• In an electric circuit, the direction of motion of positive charges through
the conductor is taken as the direction of current. And the direction of
conventional current is opposite to that of the negatively charged electrons.

Electrochemical or voltaic cell: It is a device which converts chemical

energy into electrical energy.
Galvanometer: It is a device to detect current in an electric circuit.
Electric Potential difference (V)
• It is the difference in the amount of electric potential energy between two
points in an electric circuit.
• It carries some current as the work done to move a unit charge from one
point to the other
• The SI unit of potential difference- Volt (V)

Potential difference (V) between two points = Work done (W)/Charge (Q)
V = W/Q
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Or
W=VQ

1 Volt (V) = 1 Joule of work is done in carrying one Coulomb charge then
potential difference is called 1 Volt.
1 V = 1 JC-1
Voltmeter:
• It is a device to measure the potential difference.
• It is always connected in parallel to the component across which the potential
difference is to be measured.
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Ohm’s Law:
It states that “the current through a conductor between two points is directly
proportional to the voltage across the two points provided external conditions
remain constant”.
Mathematically,
I∝V
V = IR
(where, R = Resistance)
(ii) V-I graph for Ohm’s law:

Resistance (R):
• It is the property of a conductor to resist the flow of charges through it.
• S.I. unit of resistance is Ohm (Ω).

1 ohm= When potential difference is 1 V and current through the circuit is 1 A,

then resistance will be 1 ohm.
Rheostat: Rheostat is a variable resistor used to regulate current without
changing the source of voltage.
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Factors on which the resistance of a conductor depends:

Resistance of a uniform metallic conductor is,
i. Directly proportional to the length of the conductor.

ii. Inversely proportional to the area of cross-section.

(rho) is a constant of proportionality and is called the electrical resistivity of

the material of the conductor.

iii. Directly proportional to the temperature.

iv. Depends on nature of the material.

Resistivity ( )
• The resistance offered by a wire of unit length and unit cross-sectional area is
called resistivity.
• S.I. unit of resistivity is Ohm-metre (Ωm).
• Resistivity does not change with change in length or area of cross-section
but it changes with change in temperature.
• Range of resistivity of metals and alloys is 10–8 to 10–6 Ωm.
• Range of resistivity of insulators is 1012 to 1017 Ωm.
• Resistivity of alloy is generally higher than that of its constituent metals.
• Alloys do not oxidize (burn) readily at high temperature, so they are
commonly used in electrical heating devices.
• Copper and aluminium are used for electrical transmission lines as they have
low resistivity.
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Resistances in series:
• When two or more resistances are connected end to end the arrangement is
called series connection.
• Current (I) through each resistor is same or constant.
• Total voltage = Sum of voltage drops
V= V1 + V2 + V3…… eq (1)
Voltage across each resistor
V1= I R1
V2= I R2
V3= I R3
By putting these values in eq (1), it becomes
I R= I R1+ I R2+ I R3
I R= I (R1+ R2+ R3)
R= R1+ R2+ R3
• Thus, in series connection, the total resistance is equal to the sum of the
individual resistances.
Rs = Rl + R2 + R3 + ........

• Equivalent resistance is larger than the all-other individual resistance.

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Resistances in parallel:
• When two or more resistors are connected across two points so that each one
of them provides a separate path for current, they are said to be connected in
parallel.
• Voltage across each resistor is same and equal to the applied voltage.
• Total current is equal to sum of currents through the individual resistances.
I= I1 + I2 + I3……
V/R= = V/R1+ V/R2+ V/R3
V/R= = V (1/R1+ 1/R2+ 1/R3)
1/R= 1/R1+ 1/R2+ 1/R3

Thus, in parallel, the reciprocal of their combined resistance is equal to the

sum of the reciprocals of the individual resistances.

• Equivalent resistance is larger than the all-other individual resistance.

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Advantages of parallel Combination over Series combination

• In series circuit, when one component fails, the circuit is broken and none of the
component works.
• Different appliances have different requirement of current. This cannot be
satisfied in series as current remains same.
• The total resistance in a parallel circuit is decreased.

Heating effect of current:

• To maintain the current, a source has to keep expending energy i.e., only a part
of the source energy in maintaining the current may be consumed in useful work
(like in rotating the blades of an electric fan). Rest of the source energy may be
expended in heat to raise the temperature of gadget.
• If an electric circuit is purely resistive, the source of energy continually gets
dissipated entirely in form of heat. This known as heating effect of electric
current.
• This effect is utilised in devices such as electric heater, electric iron etc.

Joule’s law of heating:

It states that the heat produced in a resistor is
(i) Directly proportional to the square of the current I flowing through it, H α I2
(ii) Directly proportional to its resistance for a given current. H α R
(iii) Directly proportional to the time t, for which current is passed. H α t
Mathematically, it can be expressed as:
H= I2 Rt
The power input to the circuit by the source is

Q
P= V =VI
t
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Practical application of the heating effect of electric current:

i. Heating effect is desirable in devices electric iron, room heaters, water heaters,
electrical fuse etc.
ii. Heating effect is undesirable in devices like computers, TV, refrigerator etc.
iii. The electric bulb also works on the principle of heating effect of electric current.
When electric current passes through a very thin, high resistance tungsten
filament of an electric bulb, the filament becomes white-hot and emits light.
Why the Filament of electric bulb is made up of Tungsten?
The filament of electric bulb must retain as much of the heat generated as is
possible, so that it gets very hot and emits light. Since, tungsten metals have high
melting point ( 3380°C), it is used as filament to ensure that it must not melt at
high temperature.
N.B.- The bulbs are filled with chemically inactive gases like nitrogen and
argon to prolong the life of filament.
iv. Electric Fuse:
• It is a safety device that protects electrical appliances in case of short circuit
or overloading.
• Fuse is made up of pure tin or alloy of copper and tin.
• If a current larger than the specified value flows through the circuit the
temperature of the fuse wire increases. This melts the fuse wire and breaks
the circuit.
• Fuse is always connected in series with live wire.
• Fuse has low melting point.
• Current capacity of fuse is slightly higher than that of the appliance.
N.B. - Let 4.54 A current flows in an iron wire, then in this case, a 5 A fuse
must be used.
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Electric Power:
The rate at which electric energy is consumed or dissipated in an electric circuit:
P = VI

• S.I. unit of power = Watt (W)

• Commercial unit of electric energy = kilo Watt-hour (KWh)

• 1 kWh = 3.6 × 106 J
• 1 kWh = 1 unit of electric energy

Efficiency of an electrical device:

It is the ratio of the output power to the input power.