Current Electricity Notes
Current Electricity Notes
Physics
Chapter 8 – Current Electricity
Exercise (8A)
3. How is the electric potential between two points defined? State its S.I. unit.
Ans: Electric Potential between two points is the amount of work done to bring the
unit positive charge from one point to the other.
Example If VA is the electric potential at point A and VB is the electric potential at
point B then
ΔV = VA -VB =W/q
where W is the work done and q is the charge. The SI unit of potential is Volts.
4. Explain the statement ‘the potential difference between two points is 1volt’.
5. (a) State whether the current is a scalar or vector ? What does the direction of
current convey?
(b) State whether the potential is a scalar or vector? What does the positive and
negative sign of charge convey?
Ans: (a) Electric current is a scalar quantity those physical quantities which only have
magnitude associated with them are termed as Scalars. Although current has direction,
it only follows the algebraic laws of addition.
The direction of current signifies that electrons are flowing in the opposite direction as
that of current through the closed circuit.
(b) Potential is also a scalar quantity. According to the definition itself, it’s the amount
of work done required by a positive charge in bringing from infinity to a particular
point.
The sign of charge signifies the work done by either a positive or negative charge
against the electrostatic forces in bringing the charge from infinity to a particular
point.
7. (a) Name the particles which are responsible for the flow of current in a
metallic wire.
(b) Explain the flow of current in a metallic wire on the basis of movement of the
particles named by you above in part(a)
(c) What is the cause of resistance offered by the metallic wire in the flow of
current through it?
Ans: (a) Electrons especially valence or free are responsible for the current flow in a
metallic wire.
8. State Ohm’s law and draw a neat labelled circuit diagram containing a battery,
a key, a voltmeter, an ammeter, a rheostat and an unknown resistance to verify
it.
Ans: According to Ohm's law if the physical conditions and temperature of a
conductor is kept constant then the current flowing through the conductor is directly
proportional to the potential ends across the ends of conductor.
V=IR
where V is the potential difference, I is the current flowing through the conductor and
R is the constant called resistance.
Diagram used for the verification of Ohm’s law
10. (a) Draw a V-I graph for conductor obeying Ohm’s law.(b) What does the
slope of the V-I graph for a conductor represent?
Ans: (a)
(b)The slope of the V-I graph represents the resistance of the conductor.
Slope= Resistance=ΔV/ΔI
11. Draw an I-V graph for a linear resistor. What does its slope represent?
12. What’s an Ohmic resistor? Give one example of an ohmic resistor. Draw a
graph to show its current -voltage relationship. How is the resistance of the
resistor determined from the graph?
Ans: Those resistors which follow the Ohm’s law are termed as Ohmic Resistors.
These include all conductors like Copper, Aluminium, Nichrome, Tungsten etc.
The resistance for these resistors is calculated with the help of slope. The slope of the
straight line passing through the origin on the V-I graph gives the resistance.
Slope = Resistance =ΔV/ΔI
Ans: (a) is for non-ohmic resistor whereas (b) is the ohmic resistor.
Ohmic resistors are those which follow Ohm's law and the slope of the V-I graph for
these is a straight line passing through the origin.
Non-Ohmic are those resistors which don’t obey Ohm's law .For these the slope of the
V-I graph is a curve line not a straight one passing through the origin.
16. Draw a V-I graph for the conductor at two different temperatures. What
conclusion do you draw from your graph for the variation of resistance of the
conductor with temperature?
Ans: One can observe the nature of curves for both A and B. As T1>T2 the area under
the curve A is more than the area under the curve B. Hence the resistance for A is
more than B. This shows that resistance is directly proportional to temperature.
18. How does the resistance of the wire depend on its length? Give reason for
your answer.
Ans: R ∝ length
Resistance of wire is directly proportional to the length of wire. A long conductor
offers more collisions of free electrons with fixed positive ions leading to more
resistance and less flow of current in the wire.
19. How does the resistance of a metallic wire depend on its temperature?
Explain the reason.
Ans: R ∝ temperature
20. Two wires, one of copper and the other of iron, are of same length and same
radius. Which one will have more resistance? Give a reason.
Ans: The resistivity or specific resistance is the materialistic property of a conductor.
Iron has more value of specific resistance than that of copper hence if the length and
radius of both wires are same the resistance will depend directly on the specific
resistance of the material.
R ∝ resistivity
21. Name three factors on which resistance of a given wire depends and state how
it is affected by the factors stated by you.
Ans: Resistance mainly depends on the length of wire, cross-sectional area of wire
and the nature of material.
1. Resistance is in direct relation to the length of wire. (R ∝ length)
A longer wire will have more resistance than a shorter one of the same material as
more collisions will take place between electrons and the fixed positive ions leading to
more resistance.
2. Resistance is inversely proportional to the cross sectional area of wire.
(R ∝ 1/area)
Which means a thicker wire will offer less resistance as the electrons get a larger area
of cross section to flow as compared to thin wire which will offer more resistance due
to lesser area of cross section.
3. Resistance is directly proportional to the nature of material or R ∝ resistivity.
The resistivity or specific resistance is the materialistic property of a conductor. Iron
has more value of specific resistance than that of copper hence if the length and radius
of both wires are same.
22. Define the term specific resistance and state its S.I. unit.
23. Write an expression connecting the resistance of a wire and specific resistance
of its material. State the meaning of the symbols used.
Ans: Formula connecting the resistance of a wire and specific resistance of its material
is R= ⍴l/a, where ⍴ = resistivity or the specific resistance of the material
l = length of wire and a = cross sectional area.
24. State the order of specific resistance of (i) a metal, (ii) a semiconductor and
(iii) an insulator
Ans: For the metals the order of the specific resistance is approximately equal to 10-8
Ωm.
(ii) For semiconductors order of resistivity is around 10-5 Ωm
(iii) Whereas for insulators it’s 1013 Ωm.
25. (a) Name two factors on which the specific resistance of a wire depends?
(b) Two wires A and B are made of copper. The wire A is long and thin, while the
wire B is short and thick. Which will have more specific resistance?
Ans: (a) The specific resistance is the characteristic property of material hence it is
dependent on the nature of material and also on the temperature of material.
For metals the specific resistance is directly proportional to the temperature whereas
for the semiconductors the specific resistance increases with decrease in temperature.
(b) Both the wires A and B will have the same value of specific resistance as it’s
independent of the length and cross- sectional area of wires.
27. How does the specific resistance of a semiconductor change with the increase
in temperature?
Ans: For the semiconductors the specific resistance decreases with the increase in
temperature which means it’s having a negative coefficient of resistance.
28. How does (a) resistance, and (b) specific resistance of a wire depend on its (i)
length, and (ii) radius?
Ans: (a) Resistance is in direct relation to the length of wire. (R∝length)
and is inversely proportional to the cross sectional area of wire (R∝1/area)
(b) Specific resistance of a wire is independent of both the length and radius as it
depends only on the nature and temperature of material.
29. (a) Name the material used for making connection wires. Give a reason for
your answer.
(b) Why should a connection wire be thick?
Ans: (a) The connection wires are mainly made of Copper or Aluminium as they have
very less value of specific resistance. Because of the low value of specific resistance
the current almost remains constant and hence the dissipation in heat is prevented.
(b) The connection wires should be made thick as a wire will be more will be the area
for electrons to face the collisions with the fixed positive ions, hence the resistance
will be less leading to less heat losses.
(R∝1/area)
30. Name a material which is used for making a standard resistor. Give a reason
for your answer.
31. Name the material used for making a fuse wire. Give a reason.
Ans: Alloys of copper and tin are generally used for making the fuse wire. Because of
the low value of melting point and high value of specific resistance they are more
suitable for the flow of current upto the safe limit.
32. Name the material used for (i) filament of an electric bulb, and (ii) heating
element of a room heater.
Ans: (i) Tungsten is used mainly for the filament of the electric bulb because of the
high value of melting point.
(ii) Nichrome is used as the heating element of a room heater. The specific resistance
of nichrome is high and it also increases with increase in temperature.
34. A substance has zero resistance below 1K. What is such a substance called?
Ans: This substance is called Superconductor. Superconductors are those substances
which have zero resistance at a very low temperature.
Exercise (8B)
1. Explain the meaning of the term e.m.f., terminal voltage, and internal
resistance of a cell.
Ans:
e.m.f.: The electro-motive force (e.m.f.) is defined as the maximum potential
difference that can be applied in the circuit within which no current is flowing in it.
Terminal voltage: The potential difference between the electrodes of the cell when
current is drawn from a cell is called its terminal voltage or in other words the
potential difference across the points through the resistance R is called terminal
voltage.
Internal Resistance: The internal resistance of the cell is defined as the resistance
offered by the electrolyte inside the cell when current passes through it.
2. State two differences between the e.m.f. and terminal voltage of a cell
Ans:
3. Name two factors on which the internal resistance of a cell depends and state
how does it depends on the factors stated by you.
Ans: The factors on which internal resistance of a cell depends are given below:
(i) The surface area of the electrodes: if we take Larger the surface area of the
electrodes of the cell then its internal resistance would be less.
(ii) The distance between the electrodes: if we take a cell which has greater the
between the electrodes of the cell then it has more internal resistance.
6. Explain why the p.d. across the terminals of a cell more in an open circuit and
reduced in a closed circuit.
Ans: When an electric cell is in a closed circuit, the current flows in a circuit. There is
a decrease in potential through all internal cell resistance of the cell. Therefore, p.d.
across the terminals in a closed circuit is less than p.d. across the terminals in an open
circuit. And this decreased potential is equal to the potential drop across the internal
resistance of the cell.
8. How would you connect two resistors in series? Draw a diagram. Calculate the
total equivalent resistance.
Ans: Connections of two resistors in series –
+ -
If current I is drawn from the battery. We know that in series connections, the current
through all resistors will be the same as I.
On applying Ohm's law to the two resistors separately, we further have
V1 = I R1
V2 = I R2
V= V1 + V2
IR = I R1+ I R2
R = R1+ R2
Total Resistance in series R = R1+ R2
That is the sum of all resistances connected in series.
9. Show by diagram how two resistors R1 and R2 are joined in parallel. Obtain an
expression for the total resistance of the combination.
Ans: Two resistors R1 and R2 are joined in parallel shown in figure
10. State how are the two resistors joined with a battery in each of the following
cases when:
(a) same current flows in each resistor.
(b) potential difference is same across each resistor.
(c) equivalent resistance is less than either of the two resistors and
(d) equivalent resistance is more than either of the two resistances.
Ans:
(a) Two resistors joined in series with a battery, then the same current flows in each
resistor.
(b) Two resistors joined in parallel with a battery, then potential difference is same
across each resistor.
(c) Two resistors joined in parallel with a battery then equivalent resistance is less than
either of the two resistors
(d) Two resistors joined in series with a battery then equivalent resistance is more than
either of the two resistances.
11. The V-I graph for a series combination and for a parallel combination of two
resistors is shown in fig. 8.40. Which of the following two, A or B, represent the
parallel combination? Give a reason for your answer.
A
V
X
I
Ans: As we know that the slope of the V-I graph gives resistance. From the diagram
straight line A is less steeper than line B. It means slope of line A is less than line B.
Therefore line A represents small resistance and line B represents more resistance.
And we also know that the equivalent resistance for two resistances in series
connection is more than in parallel connections .So straight line A represents the
parallel combination.
(b)
(c)
Ans:
Option (a) and (d) are correct options.
In fig (a), the resistors are connected in parallel
Between X and Y.
Let R be the equivalent resistance.
the total Resistance in parallel:
1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2
1/R = ½ + ½ = 1
R = 1 Ω ………………….(i)
In fig (d) a series combination of two 1Ω resistors is in parallel with another series
combination of two 1Ω resistors
Series resistance of two 1 Ohm resistors,
R=1+1=2Ω
Thus, we can say that across X and Y, two 2Ω resistors
are connected in parallel
Let R’ be the net resistance across X and Y then
1/R’ = ½ + ½
R’ = 1 Ω …………………… (ii)
From (i) and (ii), it is clear that (a) and (d) have the same equivalent resistance
between X and Y.
Exercise (8C)
1. Write an expression for the electrical energy spent in flow of current through
an electrical appliance in terms of current, resistance and time.
Ans: H = I2 Rt
Where H is the electrical energy produced in the appliance
I is the amount of current flowing through appliance
R is the resistance
And t is the time for which the current flows.
2. Write an expression for the electrical power spent on flow of current through a
conductor in terms of (a) resistance and potential difference (b) current and
resistance.
5. Explain the meaning of the statement that the power of an appliance is 100W.
Ans: Power = Energy produced/time
If the power of the appliance is 100W it means 100J of electrical energy is consumed
by the appliance in 1 secs.
8. Name the physical quantity which is measured in (i) kW, (ii) kWh and (iii)Wh
Ans: (i) Power is usually measured in kW.
(ii) Electrical energy is measured in kWh as kWh is the commercial unit of electricity.
(iii) Electrical energy is the physical quantity that’s measured in Wh.
9. Define the term kilowatt-hour and state its value in S.I. unit.
Ans: kilowatt-hour is the commercial unit of electricity. It’s defined as the energy
consumed by the device of the power 1 kilowatt operated for 1hr.
1kWh = 3.6 × 106 J
12. What do you mean by power rating of an electrical appliance? How do you
use it to calculate (a) the resistance of the appliance and (b) the safe limit of
current in it and while in use?
Ans: The power rating of any electrical appliance means the exact value of voltage
upon which the device actually works. Example if a device is written with the power
rating of 60W-230V it means 230V is the voltage at which the device will operate and
it will consume power of 60W.
(a) The resistance of the appliance is calculated by the formula
R=V2/P
Here V is the voltage rating on the appliance and P is the power rating on the
appliance.
(b) Safe limit of current is calculated by the formula
I=P/V
=Power rating on the appliance/Voltage rating on the appliance.
13. An electric bulb is rated ‘100W, 250V’. What information does this convey?
Ans: This statement means if the bulb is operated at 250V then it will consume
electrical power of 100W or 100J of electrical energy in 1 secs.
14. List the names of three electrical gadgets used in your house. Write their
power, voltage rating and approximate time for which each one is used in a day.
Hence find the electrical energy consumed by each in a month of 30 days.
Ans: Electric heater with the power rating as 1000W, Electric mixer with power rating
as 750W and Refrigerator with the power rating 150W are some of the electrical
gadgets used often in home. All these devices work on the domestic supply of 220V
for 1hour daily.
15. Two lamps, one rated 220V, 50W and the other rated 220V, 100W, are
connected in series with mains of voltage 220V. Explain why the 50W lamp
consumes more power.
Ans: Power = I2/R here I is the current flowing through the lamp and R is the
resistance. Since both the lamps are connected in series, current flowing through both
will be the same, which means P∝1/Resistance
Hence 50W consumes more power than 100W as it’ll be having less resistance than
the other bulb.
16. Name the factors on which the heat produced in a wire depends when current
is passed in it, and state how does it depends on the factors stated by you.
1. When a current flows through a resistance R for time t, the electrical energy
spent is:
(a) IRt
(b) I2Rt
(c) IR2t
(d) I2R/t
Ans: Correct option is (b)I2Rt
This is the formula for Joule’s law of Heating.