ELECTRICITY

Class X

BY GOURAV KALIA
DCMI

• CHARGE: Charge is a fundamental

particle in an atom
• Two Types of Charge:
There are two types of electric charge:
positive and negative.
Protons carry a positive charge, while electrons carry a negative charge.
• Like Charges Repel, Unlike Charges Attract:
Objects with the same type of charge (both positive or both negative) exert a
repulsive force on each other.
Objects with opposite charges (one positive and one negative) exert an
attractive force on each other.
• Quantization of Charge:
Charge on a body is always an integral multiple of charge on an electron.
(q=ne), where n is an integer).
• Conservation of Charge:
The total electric charge in an isolated system remains constant.
Charge cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred from one object to
another.
• Additivity of Charge:
The total charge of a system is the algebraic sum of all the individual charges
within the system.
This means that charges can be added together like scalar quantities, taking
into account their positive or negative signs.
• Charge is a Scalar Quantity:
Electric charge has magnitude but no direction, therefore it is a scalar quantity.

• S. I. unit of charge: Coulomb (C)

• 1 coulomb = Charge present on approx. 6 × 1018 electrons
• So, Coulomb (C) is equivalent to the charge contained in nearly 6 × 1018
electrons.
• Charge on 1 electron = -1.6 × 10-19 C
• So, Q = ne
• Q = Charge (total),
• n = No. of electrons,
• e = Charge on 1 electron
 • How many electrons present in 1 coulomb of charge?

• How many electrons present in 10 coulomb of charge?

• Electric Circuit: A continuous and closed path of an electric current is called

an electric circuit.
• Switch: It is a device that helps to make or break the circuit.
• Electric current (I): The rate of flow of charge is called current.
!"#$%&
Current = '()&
*
⇒ I=
+

S. I. unit of Current = Ampere (A)

1 ampere = 1 coulomb/ 1 second
Define unit of Current or 1 Ampere:
When a charge of one coulomb flows in a circuit for one
second then the current is said to be 1 A.

Small quantities of current

are expressed in:
Milli-ampere (1 mA = 10–3 A)
Micro-ampere (1 μA = 10–6 A).
• Current is measured by a device
called Ammeter.
• Ammeter has low resistance and always connected in series.
• Resistance of ideal ammeter is zero.
If 2 coulomb of charge flows through a circuit in 2 minutes, what is the
amount of current produced.?

If current of 3 mA flows through a circuit in 1 minute and 40 seconds .

Calculate amount of charge flows through circuit.

• Conventionally, Direction of current is taken

opposite to flow of electrons.

• Direction of current is positive to negative

• Direction of Flow of electron is negative to
positive
 • ELECTRIC POTENTIAL: It is defined as
the work done in bringing unit positive
charge from infinity to a point in an
electric field.

• ELECTRIC POTENTIAL DIFFERENCE:

It is defined as the work done in bringing
unit positive charge from one point to
another point in an electric field.
• Potential difference (V) between two
points
= Work Done/ Charge
Therefore, V = W/Q

FORMULA SYMBOLS UNITS

POTENTIAL = Work Done/ POTENTIAL= V Potential = Volts (V)
Charge WORK = W Work = joules (J)
CHARGE = Q Charge = coulombs (C)
V= W/Q

POTENTIAL Difference Or One volt When 1 joule of work is done to move a

charge of 1Coulomb from one point to the other in an electric field

Name a device use to

• maintain potential difference_____________________

• measure potential difference_____________________.

• The potential difference is measured by

means of an instrument called the
voltmeter.
• The voltmeter has high resistance.
• It is always connected in parallel across
the points between which the potential
difference is to be measured.
• For an ideal voltmeter, resistance should
is infinite.
•
Draw an electric circuit , consisting of a
bulb, a fan , a key and a battery of four cells.
Redraw an electric circuit , consisting of a bulb, a fan , keys and a battery of
four cells such that one switch key is for one device, but working on same
source of current.

Ohm’s law

• It states that keeping the physical conditions

same , the current flows through a circuit is directly
proportional to potential difference across the two
ends of conductor

So, VαI
V = IR
R = V/I
where R is constant called Resistance of the conductor.
R and I are inversely proportional to each other.

Slope of V-I GRAPH REPRESENTS RESISTANCE.

Which of the three has high resistance ?
If temp t1> t2> t3

Which of the following has

• High resistance _________

• Low resistance _________

• Good conductor _________

• Bad conductor _________

• Insulator _________

• Resistance: It is the property

of a conductor to resist the
flow of charges through it.
Or
• Hindrance to the flow of
current by the conductor is
called Resistance.

• We know, R = V/I
(V=IR)
• SI units of R = V/A = Ω (ohm)

• So, SI unit of Resistance is

ohm, represented by the
Greek letter Ω.

• Define SI units of Resistance

or 1 ohm:
If the potential difference
across the two ends of a conductor
is 1 V and the current through it is 1
A, then the resistance R, of the
conductor is 1 Ω.
 • Resistance depends directly upon the length of the wire:
If the length of wire is increased resistance
also increases and vice versa.
R α L -------- (1)
• Resistance depends inversely over the area of cross section of the wire:
If area is more less will be the resistance and vice versa.
R α 1/A ---------- (2)
Resistance of the conductor is directly proportional to temperature
Nature of material
Combining (1) and (2)
R α l/A
R =ρ l/A
where ρ (rho) is a constant of proportionality called the electrical
resistivity or specific resistance of the material of the conductor.

SI unit of resistivity:
ρ = RA/l
So, SI units of ρ = Ω m2/m = Ω m
SI unit of resistivity is Ω m.
Both the resistance and resistivity of a material vary with temperature.

If L = 1 and A = 1 then ρ = R
Resistivity is numerically equal to resistance of conductor of unit length
and unit area of cross-section.
OR
It is defined as a resistance offered by a cubical conductor of 1 meter
side to flow of current across the opposite face of the conductor.
Resistivity depends upon: Temperature & nature of material of conductor.

How much current will an electric bulb draw from a 220 V source, if the resistance of
the bulb filament is 1200 Ω?
(b) How much current will an electric heater coil draw from a 220 V source, if the
resistance of the heater coil is 100 Ω?

The potential difference between the terminals of an electric heater is 60 V when it

draws a current of 4 A from the source. What current will the heater draw if the
potential difference is increased to 120 V?

An electric lamp of 100 Ω, a toaster of resistance 50 Ω, and a water filter of

resistance 500 Ω are connected in parallel to a 220 V source. What is the resistance
of an electric iron connected to the same source that takes as much current as all
three appliances, and what is the current through it?
Resistance of a metal wire of length 1 m is 26 Ω at 20°C. If the diameter of the wire
is 0.3 mm, what will be the resistivity of the metal at that temperature? ANS: 1.84 × 10 Ω m
–6

A wire of given material having length l and area of cross-section A has a resistance
of 4 Ω. What would be the resistance of another wire of the same material having
length l/2 and area of cross-section 2A?

A wire of given material having length l and area of cross-section A has a resistance of 4 Ω.
What would be the resistance of another wire of the same material having length 2l land
area of cross-section A/2?
A wire of given material having length l and area of cross-section A has a resistance of 10 Ω.
What would be the resistance of another wire of the same material having length l/3 and
area of cross-section 3A?

Resistivity is a characteristic property of the material i.e. it does not depends on length and
area of cross-section but depends on the nature of the substance.
• Conductors have very low resistivity and insulators have very high resistivity.
• Resistivity of an alloy is higher than its constituent metal.
• Alloys are used in electric heating devices like iron and toasters because they do not
oxidize easily at very high temperature and have high resistivity.
• Tungsten is exclusively used in making bulb filaments because it has a very high
melting point and high resistivity.
• Copper and Aluminum are used in electric transmission lines because they are good
conductors of electricity. Silver is the best conductor known but is not used as it is
very costly.
RESISTANCE OF THE SYSTEM OF RESISTORS
• Series combination
• Parallel combination

Derivation for Series combination

When two or more resistances are joined end to end

such that the same current flows through them
and potential difference gets divided.
• Rs = R1 + R2 +R3
Two or more resistors are said to be
connected in parallel if one end of each
resistor is connected at one common point
and another end connected at another
common point such that potential
difference remains same, and current is
divided.
Points to Remember
Resistance in series increases. Thus, to increase the resistance, resistors should be
connected in series.
• Resistance in parallel decreases. Thus, to decrease the resistance, resistors
should be connected in parallel.
• Effective resistance in series is greater than each individual resistance.
• Effective resistance in parallel is less than each individual resistance.

Disadvantages of series circuit

• In series all devices get same amount of current but different devices need
different amount of current to function properly.
• In series circuit, if one component (device) stops working, all other devices will
stop working.

Practice :
 • Draw a schematic diagram of a circuit consisting of a battery of three cells of 2 V
each, a 5 Ω resistor, an 8 Ω resistor, and a 12 Ω resistor, and a plug key, all
connected in series.

2. Redraw the circuit of Question 1, putting in an ammeter to measure the current through
the resistors and a voltmeter to measure the potential difference across the 12 Ω resistor.
What would be the readings in the ammeter and the voltmeter?
HEATING EFFECT OF ELECTRIC CURRENT
If an electric circuit is purely resistive (only resistors are connected to a battery), the energy from
the source continually gets dissipated totally in the form of heat. This effect is called as heating
effect of electric current and it is effectively utilized in heater, electric iron, electric toaster, etc.

Production of heat in a conductor due to flow of electric current through it is called the
Heating effect of electric current.

This is called JOULE’S LAW OF HEATING which states that heat produced in a resistor is directly
proportional to the
(i) square of current for a given resistance and
(ii) directly proportional to resistance for a given current, and
(iii) directly proportional to the time for which the current flows through the resistor.

So, Mathematical expression for joules law if heating, H = I2 R t

Applications
• The electric laundry iron, electric toaster, made of tungsten bulb, electric oven, electric
kettle, electric heater and fuse are some of the familiar devices based on Joule’s heating.

Bulb: The filament of the bulb is made of tungsten as it has very high resistance and high
melting point. When current passes through it, it becomes so hot that it starts emitting light.

Fuse: It is a safety device connected in series when large amount of current passes
through fuse wire, it melts thus saving the other devices. Fuse wire is an alloy of lead and
tin, which has high resistance and low melting point

Practice
Electric power
Rate of doing work is called power.
Power = Work/time
• P = W/t = VQ/t (W = VQ)

P = VI ( I = Q/t)

Or P = VI = I2R = V2/R

The SI unit of electric power is Watt (W).

• Energy = Power X Time
Since electrical energy is the product of power and time.
Therefore, the unit of electric energy is, watt hour (Wh).
One watt hour is the energy consumed when 1 watt of power is used for 1 hour.
The commercial unit of electric energy is kilowatt hour (kW h), commonly known as ‘unit’.

1 kW h = 1000 watt × 3600 second

= 3.6 × 106 watt second
= 3.6 × 106 joule (J)