Current electricity notes

Symbols

Electricity Page 1
Conventional current and electron flow
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• In a metal, there are free e l e c t r o n s which act as negative charge

carriers. They flow from negative to positive terminal.
• However, in circuit diagrams, we represent current flowing from positive to
negative terminal. This is called conventional current.

Electricity Page 2
Current
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• Definition:
○ "Electric current is the rate of flow of electric charge past a point."

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒
𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 =
• 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑄
•

• Unit of current is Ampere (A).

• One coulomb is the charge which flows past a point in a circuit in a time of 1 s when the current is 1 A.

• The charge is carried by charge carriers. These are charged particles that move when the current is flowing.
• In case of a metal, these charge carriers are free electrons.
• 1 electron has a charge of ‐1.6 x 10‐19 C. This is called elementary charge (e).
• 1 proton has a charge of +1.6 x 10‐19 C.
• Electron cannot be divided into parts, so the smallest amount of charge that can exist anywhere is 1e = 1.6 x 10‐19 C.
• Values of charges on anything will always be in integer multiples of e.
○ 1e, 2e, 3e, 15e, 1000e, (these are possible)
○ 0.5e, 1.4e, 5.6e (these are not possible)
• For the above reasons we say charge is "quantised".

Electricity Page 3
Drift velocity
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• Red arrows show convectional current, and blue dots are charge carriers
drifting in the opposite direction (electron flow)
• Suppose you start the time when first charge carrier emerges from the right,
and you stop the time when the last one emerges. This is time t.
• Number density (n) : this is the number of available charge carriers per unit
volume in a material. Better conductors have a larger value of n.

• 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑠 = 𝑛 × 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒

• 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑠 = 𝑛 × 𝐴 × 𝑙

• Charge on each charge carrier is q

• 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 = 𝑛 × 𝐴 × 𝑙 × 𝑞

• Dividing both sides by time:

𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛× 𝐴 × 𝑙 × 𝑞

• =
𝑡 𝑡

Note: in metals drift velocity is very slow because • L is the length and t is time, so L divided by t gives the average drift velocity
electrons bump into lattice of atoms and therefore do not of the charge carriers.
travel in straight lines. • Charge divided by t gives current.

• 𝐼 = 𝑛𝐴𝑣𝑞

Electricity Page 4
...
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• If the current increases, the drift velocity v must

increase.
○ That is: v ∝ I
• If the wire is thinner, the electrons move more quickly
for a given current.
○ That is: v ∝ 1/A
• In a material with a lower density of electrons (smaller
n), the mean drift velocity must be greater for a given
current.
○ That is: v ∝ 1/n

Electricity Page 5
Voltage
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• With the switch open, the voltmeter placed across the supply measures 12 V.
• With the switch closed, the voltmeter across the power supply still measures
12 V and the voltmeters placed across the resistors measure 8 V and 4 V.
• The voltage across the power supply is equal to the sum of the voltages across
the resistors.

• we saw that electric current is the rate of flow of electric charge.

• here we are looking at the movement of one coulomb (1 C) of charge round
the circuit.
• Electrical energy is transferred to the charge by the power supply. The charge
flows round the circuit, transferring some of its electrical energy to heat in
the first resistor, and the rest to heat in the second resistor.
• The voltmeter placed across the power supply measures the e.m.f. of the
supply, whereas the voltmeters placed across the resistors measure the
potential difference (p.d.) across these components. The terms e.m.f. and
potential difference have different meanings – so you have to be very
vigilant.

Electricity Page 6
...
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• Difference:
○ The term potential difference is used when charges lose energy by transferring electrical energy to other forms of energy in a
component.
○ The term emf is used when a power supply or a battery transfers energy to electrical charges in a circuit.

• Similarity:
○ both are energy per unit charge

• Definitions:
○ "The potential difference between two points, A and B, is the energy per unit charge as charge moves from point A to point B."
○ "e.m.f. is defined as the total work done per unit charge when charge flows round a complete circuit."

• Formula for both is the same, both can be referred to as voltage:

𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 =
○ 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒

• Unit of voltage is Volt (V).

• 1 Volt is the voltage when 1 Joule of work is done on 1 Coulomb of charge.

Electricity Page 7
Resistance
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

If you connect a lamp to a battery, a current in the lamp causes it to glow. But what
determines the size of the current? This depends on two factors:
• the potential difference or voltage V across the lamp – the greater the potential
difference, the greater the current for a given lamp
• the resistance R of the lamp – the greater the resistance, the smaller the current for
a given potential difference.

Definition: "The resistance of any component is defined as the ratio of the potential
difference to the current."

𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡

𝑉
𝑅

The unit of resistance is ohm (Ω)

"The is the resistance of a component when a potential difference of 1 volt drives a

current of 1 ampere through it."

1
1Ω=1VA

Electricity Page 8
I‐V characteristic graphs
30 May 2025 09:31 AM

• we are going to investigate the variation of the current, and hence resistance, as the
potential difference across a conductor changes.
• The potential difference across a metal conductor can be altered using a variable
power supply or by placing a variable resistor in series with the conductor.
• A graph of p.d and current is plotted. This is called and I‐V characteristic graph of a
conductor.
• A line of best fit is drawn, it is a straight line that passes through origin. This means
that current and p.d are directly proportional to each other.
• If you double the p.d, current is also doubled.
• The ratio of p.d and current remains constant. Remember that this ratio is called the
resistance of the conductor (R = V/I). So in other words, the resistance remains
constant.
• It is better to find resistance using the gradient rather than taking a point on the
graph and using R = V/I. 1
𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 =
𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡
• Different metallic conductors have different resistances, so gradients of their graphs
will be different, but they will all be straight lines passing through origin.

Ohm’s law: A conductor obeys Ohm’s law if the current in it is directly

proportional to the potential difference across its ends.

To check if a conductor obeys Ohm's law, just find the ratio V/I (its resistance) for
different values of V and I, if it is constant, then it obeys the law.

Electricity Page 9
…
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• A conductor that does not obey Ohm’s law is described as non‐ohmic. An example is a
filament lamp.
• The I‐V characteristic of a filament lamp is shown.
○ The line passes through the origin (as for an ohmic component).
○ For very small currents and voltages, the graph is roughly a straight line.
○ At higher voltages, the line starts to curve. The current is a bit less than we would
have expected from a straight line. This suggests that the lamp’s resistance has
increased. You can also tell that the resistance has increased because the ratio V/I
is larger for higher voltages than for low voltages.
• The last point shows that resistance of a filament lamp depends on temperature. As the
voltages get higher and more current flows, the lamp gets hot. As temperature
increases, the resistance also increases.

• there are two factors which affect the resistance of a metal:

○ the temperature
○ the presence of impurities.

Electricity Page 10
…
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

• The semiconductor diode is another example of a non‐ohmic conductor.

• A diode is any component that allows electric current in only one direction.
Nowadays, most diodes are made of semiconductor materials.
• One type, the light‐ emitting diode or LED, gives out light when it conducts.
• The I‐V characteristic for a diode is shown.
○ We have included positive and negative values of current and voltage. This is
because, when connected one way round (positively biased), the diode
conducts and has a fairly low resistance. Connected the other way round
(negatively biased), it allows only a tiny current and has almost infinite
resistance.
○ For positive voltages less than about 0.6 V, the current is almost zero and
hence the diode has almost infinite resistance. It starts to conduct suddenly at
its threshold voltage. The resistance of the diode decreases dramatically
for voltages greater than 0.6 V.
• The resistance of a diode depends on the potential difference across it. From this
we can conclude that it does not obey Ohm’s law; it is a non‐ohmic component.

Electricity Page 11
Resistivity
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

For a metal in the shape of a wire, R depends on the following factors:

• length L
• cross‐sectional area A
• the material the wire is made from
• the temperature of the wire.

At a constant temperature:
• 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 ∝ 𝐿
1
• 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑒 ∝
𝐴

But the resistance of a wire also depends on the material it is made of. For example
copper is a better conductor than nichrome. This is represented by a constant and it
is called the resistivity (ρ) of the material.

The equation that describes the above relationships is:

The unit of resistivity is Ωm.

Resistivity, like resistance, depends on temperature. For a metal, resistivity increases

with temperature. As we saw above, this is because there are more frequent
collisions between the conduction electrons and the vibrating ions of the metal.

Electricity Page 12
Power and Energy
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

•
Work done (W) = Energy transferred
•
The rate at which energy is transferred is known as power.
•
Energy is measured in Joules (J).
•
Power P is measured in watts (W).
𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒
𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒
𝑊
𝑃=
𝑡

• We can derive an equation for electrical power from the equations we have met so far.
• We know that potential difference is work done on per unit charge

𝑊
𝑉=
𝑄

So 𝑊 = 𝑉𝑄

𝑊 𝑉𝑄
𝑃= =
𝑡 𝑡
• We also know that current is charge flowing per unit time.
𝑄
𝐼=
𝑡
• So the equation of power becomes:

𝑃 = 𝑉𝐼

• By substituting 𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅 into the power equation, we can get two more equations in terms of
resistance.

2
𝑃 = 𝐼2𝑅 and 𝑃 = V
R

Electricity Page 13
Thermistor and LDR
28 January 2021 09:31 AM

Thermistor: it’s a device whose resistance increases as temperature decreases.

Light dependant resistor (LDR): it’s a device whose resistance increases as light intensity decreases.

Electricity Page 14