PHY 102: ELECTRICITY, MAGNETISM AND MODERN PHYSICS

CHAPTER THREE
Electric Current and Resistance

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ELECTRIC CURRENT
Suppose Q is the amount of charge that flows through an area A in a time interval t and that
the direction of flow is perpendicular to the area. Then the current I defined as the amount of
charge passing through the cross-sectional area per unit time.
ΔQ
I= (28)
Δt
S.I. unit: Coulomb/second (C/s) or Ampere (A). One ampere of current is equivalent to one
coulomb of charge passing through the cross-sectional area in a time interval of 1 s.

Example 10: The amount of charge that passes through the filament of a certain lightbulb in
2.00 s is 1.67 C. Find (a) the current in the bulb and (b) the number of electrons that pass
through the filament in 5.00 s.
Solution:
ΔQ
(a) From I =
Δt
1.67 C
= = 0.835 A
2.00 s
(b) The total number N of electrons times the charge per electron equals the total charge,
Nq = IΔt

IΔt 0.835 × 5.00

N= = = 2.61×1019 electrons
q 1.60 ×10-19

CURRENT DENSITY AND DRIFT SPEED

The current density (J) is defined as the current flowing per unit area.
I
J= (29)
A
J is a vector quantity and its SI unit is expressed as amperes per square metre (Am-2).

Consider identically charged particles moving in a conductor of cross-sectional area A (Figure

14). The volume of an element of length Δx of the conductor is AΔx . If n represents the
number of mobile charge carriers per unit volume, then the number of carriers in the volume
element is nAΔx . The mobile charge ΔQ in this element is therefore
ΔQ = number of carriers × charge per carrier =  nA Δx  q

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where q is the charge on each carrier. If the carriers move with a constant average speed called
the drift speed v d , the distance they move in the time interval ∆t is Δx = vd Δt . We can

therefore write
ΔQ =  nAvd Δt  q (30)

If we divide both sides of this equation 30 by Δt , we see that the current in the conductor is
ΔQ
I= = nqv d A (31)
Δt

Figure 1: A section of a uniform conductor of cross-sectional area A.

Substituting equation (31) into equation (29), the current density is:
J = nqvd (32)

Example 11: A copper wire with a diameter of 3.26 mm carries a steady current of 20 A. If
the number of electrons per unit volume for copper is 8.47 × 1028,
(a) Calculate the average current density J in the wire.
(b) Determine the average drift velocity v d of electrons in the wire.
(c) Calculate the electric field strength E along the wire. Take the resistivity of copper to be
1.56 × 10-8 Ωm .

Solution
The diameter of the copper wire = 3.26 mm
Hence, radius r = 1.63 mm

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 I I 20
(a) The average current density J = = 2 = = 2.40 ×106 A m 2
A πr π 1.63 ×10 
-3 2

(b) J = nqvd

J 2.40 ×106
vd = = = 1.77 ×10-4 m s
nq 8.47 ×10 1.6 ×10 
28 -19

(c) The current density J is also given by

J = σE

where σ is the conductivity of the material. The conductivity is equal to the reciprocal of the
resistivity 
1
σ=
ρ
1
J = σE = E
ρ

E = ρJ = 1.56 ×10-8  2.40 ×106  = 0.036 V m

RESISTANCE AND OHM’S LAW

When a potential V is applied across the ends of a metallic conductor, the current I in the
conductor is found to be proportional to the applied voltage;
VαI
V = IR (33)
where the proportionality constant R is called the resistance of the conductor and equation (33)
is called Ohm’s law. In fact, we define the resistance as the ratio of the voltage across the
conductor to the current it carries:
V
R=
I
Resistance has SI units of volts per ampere, called ohms (Ω ). If a potential difference of 1 V
across a conductor produces a current of 1 A, the resistance of the conductor is 1.
A resistor is a conductor that provides a specified resistance in an electric circuit. The symbol
for a resistor in circuit diagrams is a zigzag line

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 Figure 2: Symbol of a resistor

Factors that influence resistance of a conductor

The resistance of a conductor depends on
1. Length of the conductor (more the length, more the resistance)
2. Cross-sectional area of the conductor (more the cross-sectional area, less the resistance)
3. Temperature (more the temperature, more is the resistance)
4. Nature of material of the conductor.

RESISTIVITY AND CONDUCTIVITY

The resistance of a metallic object is directly proportional to its length (L) and is inversely
proportional to its cross-sectional area (A):
L
Rα
A
L RA
R =ρ ρ= (34)
A L
where ρ is the resistivity and its SI unit is ohm meter   m  . The electrical conductivity of a

material σ is the inverse of its resistivity given as

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σ= (35)
ρ

Example 12: How does the resistance of a conductor vary with temperature?
Solution
If a conductor has a resistance R o at a temperature To , then its resistance R at a temperature
T is
R = R o   R o  T  To 

where  is the temperature coefficient of resistance of the material of the conductor and its
unit is K -1 or °C-1 .

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Example 13: The resistance of 50 cm of nichrome wire, whose diameter of cross-section is
0.45 mm, is 2.5 Ω. Find the resistivity of nichrome.
Solution
From equation (34), the resistivity of nichrome is given by
RA
ρ=
L
L = 0.5 m
d 0.45 ×10-3  22 
= 2.25 ×10-4 m , A = πr 2 =    2.25 ×10-4  = 1.59107143×10-7 m2
2
r= =
2 2  7 

 2.5 1.59107143×10-7 
∴ ρ= = 7.96 ×10-7 Ω m
0.50

ELECTRIC POWER
The rate at which energy is delivered to the external circuit called the average electric power is
given by
work done  W  qV
P= =
time  t  t

q
But I =
t
V2
P=
R
= I2 R (36)

RESISTORS IN SERIES AND PARALLEL

Figure 3: Resistors in series

For figure 16, the current in each resistor is the same

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Vad = Vab + Vbc + Vcd

= IR1 + IR 2 + IR 3

= I  R1 + R 2 + R 3 

Vad
= R1 + R 2 + R 3
I
R eqv = R1 + R 2 + R 3 (37)

Figure 4: Resistors in parallel

For the parallel network, the potential across each resistor is the same and the total current I is
given by
I = I1 + I 2 + I3

V V V
= + +
R1 R 2 R 3
But the total current is equal to the total voltage divided by the equivalent resistance. Hence
V
I=
R eqv

V V V V
  
R eqv R1 R 2 R 3

1 1 1 1
   (38)
R eqv R1 R 2 R 3

Example 14: Using the figure below, determine

(a) The total resistance
(b) The currents I1, I2 and I3 for the emf and resistance values

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Solution
(a) R2 and R3 are in parallel. Their equivalent resistance R23 is given by
1 1 1
 
R 23 R 2 R 3
1 1
 
50 100
R 23  33.3 

Since R1 is in series with R23, the total resistance of the circuit is

R  R 23  R1
= 33.3 + 25 = 58.3 Ω
(b) The total current I1 is given by
e.m.f E 12
I1 = = = = 0.206 A
total resistance R 58.3

V1 = I1R1   0.206  25  5.15 V

The voltage drops across R2 and R3 are the same, since they are connected in parallel.
V2  V3  E  V1  12  5.15  6.85 V

V2 6.85
I2 = =  0.137 A
R2 50
V3 6.85
I3 = =  0.0685 A
R 3 100

Assignment 3:
1. Three resistors are connected in parallel as in Figure below. A potential difference of 18 V
is maintained between points a and b. (a) Find the current in each resistor. (b) Calculate the
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 power delivered to each resistor and the total power. (c) Find the equivalent resistance of
the circuit. (d) Find the total power delivered to the equivalent resistance.

2. Write short notes on the following

(a) Ammeters (b) Voltmeters (c) Wheatstone bridge and (iv) Potentiometer

KIRCHHOFF’S RULES
The procedure for analysing more complex circuits can be facilitated using two simple rules
called Kirchhoff’s rules:
1. The sum of the currents entering any junction must equal the sum of the currents leaving
that junction. (This rule is often referred to as the junction rule.)
The junction rule is a statement of conservation of charge. Whatever current enters a given
point in a circuit must leave that point because charge can’t build up or disappear at a point. If
we apply this rule to the junction in Figure 18, we get
I1 = I 2 + I3 (39)

Figure 5: A schematic diagram illustrating Kirchhoff ’s junction rule.

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 .

2. The sum of the potential differences across all the elements around any closed-circuit loop
must be zero. (This rule is usually called the loop rule.)
The loop rule is equivalent to the principle of conservation of energy. Any charge that moves
around any closed loop in a circuit (starting and ending at the same point) must gain as much
energy as it loses. It gains energy as it is pumped through a source of emf. Its energy may
decrease in the form of a potential drop IR across a resistor or because of flowing backward
through a source of emf, from the positive to the negative terminal inside the battery.

 emf =  IR (40)

Example 15: determine the currents I1, I2, and I3 in the circuit shown in the figure below for
the emf and resistance values shown.

Solution
At the junction b, Kirchhoff’s current law gives
I 2 = I1 + I3 (I)

Applying the second rule to the loop abefa we have

 emf =  IR
10 = 2I1 + 4I1  10I3

10 = 6I1  10I3 (II)

Also, for the loop bcdeb we have

 emf =  IR
8 = 6I 2 + I 2  10I3

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8 = 7I 2  10I3 (III)
Solving equations (I), (II) and (III) simultaneously, we have
I1 = 1.45 A, I 2 = 1.32 A and I3 = - 0.13 A

Assignment 4: Find the currents in the circuit shown below using Kirchhoff’s rules

Conductors
All the metals are good conductors of electricity and their resistivity is of the order of 10-8 Ωm.
In case of conductors, there is no forbidden energy gap between the valance and the conduction
band. The valance band and conduction band are partially filled at room temperature. So the
electrons can easily jump from valance band to the conduction band. Due to this reason, the
current can easily pass through conductors.
The temperature coefficient resistivity is positive. It means that the resistance of conductors
increases by increasing the temperature.

Insulators
The insulators have the very large value of resistivity which is of the order of 1010 Ωm. In case
of insulators, the valance band is completely filled and the conduction band is empty. The
energy gap between the valance and conduction band is very large. Thus, no electron can jump
from valence band to conduction band. As there are no free electrons in insulator, hence no
current can pass through insulators.

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Semiconductors
The materials which have intermediate values of resistivity (of the order of 102 Ωm) called
semiconductor materials. The energy gap between the valance and conduction band is very
small. The two most important are germanium and silicon.
The semiconducting materials have negative temperature coefficient of resistivity. At low
temperatures, the valence band is completely filled and conduction band is completely empty.
Thus the semiconducting materials behave like insulator at low temperatures.
At comparatively higher temperature, the electrons in valance band acquire sufficient energy
to jump in conduction band. As the temperature increases, the probability of the electrons to
jump from valance to conduction band increases. Therefore, the conductivity of
semiconductors increases with increase in temperature.

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