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Electric current
When you turn on an electric light an electric current flows in the wire. Do not think of it like water coming from a tap the electricity current does not flow out from the switch it is already in the wire connecting the lamp to the power supply via the switch simply gives it the energy to flow. This energy can come from a variety of sources kinetic as in a dynamo, a chemical reaction in a cell, light falling on a photoelectric cell, heating the junction of two metals in a thermocouple, sound in a microphone or mechanical stress in a piezo- electric crystal. When an electric current flows electrical energy is converted to other forms of energy such as heat, light, chemical, magnetic and so on. We will now look more closely at the nature of an electric current. Consider a piece of metal wire - a very much enlarged view of which is shown in Figure 1.
A piece of wire is made of millions of atoms and each one of these has its own cloud of electrons. However in a metal there is a large number of electrons that are not held around particular nuclei but are free to move at high speed and in a random way through the metal. These are known are free electrons and in a metal there are always large numbers of these. It is when these free electrons are all made to move in a certain direction by the application of a voltage across the metal that we have an electric current. The difference between a metal (a large and constant number of free electrons), a semiconductor (a few free electrons, the number of which varies with temperature) and an insulator (which has no free electrons) is shown in Figure 2.
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A current of 1A flows in a wire if a charge of 1C passes any point in the wire each second. Current = Charge / Time or Charge = Current x Time
Example-problems 1. Calculate the current in a wire if a charge of 240C passes a given point in 3 minutes. Current = Q/t = 240/180 = 1.33A (NB time in seconds) 2. A current of 25 mA flows for 10 ms. (a) What charge has passed? (b) How many electrons have flowed past that point in the circuit? (a) Charge = Current x time = 0.025 x 0.010 = 0.00025 C = 2.5x10-4 C (b) Number of electrons = 2.5x10-4/1.6x10-19 = 1.56x1015 !
A current of one amp is flowing in two parallel conductors placed one metre apart in a vacuum when there is a force between them of 2x10-7 Nm-1.
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The diagram in Figure 1 shows a simplified and enlarged view of a section of a wire carrying a current. The electrons are in random motion but if a potential difference is applied across the wire with the right hand end positive the free electrons drift slowly towards that end. It is possible to measure the electron drift velocity (v) using the experiment outlined in the following Student Investigation.
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Electron drift velocity You can work out an equation for the electron drift velocity as follows: Consider a wire of cross sectional area A and carrying a current I amps. Let the number of free electrons per unit volume be n and the drift velocity be v. (See Figure 3).
In one second an electron will have moved a distance v down the wire but since there are n electrons per unit volume the total number moving through this distance will be nAv. Therefore since the charge on an electron is e the current I (which is the charge moving past any point in the wire) is:
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The electron steeplechase When a current flows round a series circuit the current at any point in the circuit is the same. The same number of electrons flow past any point in the circuit every second - no electrons are lost. Although the number of electrons is always the same their energy gets less as they move round the circuit. This energy appears as heat, light or magnetism in say an electrical heater, a light bulb or an electromagnet.
You can compare this energy loss with the change in energy of runners in a steeplechase. The energy loss of the athletes when going over the barriers represents the energy that electrons transfer when they pass through a resistor.
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a beam of protons moves eastward a electric dipole moves westward a beam of electrons moves westward a beam of electrons moves eastward a beam of neutral atoms moves westward
Answer
As I am sure you know the conventional the direction of an electric current is the movement of charges from positive to negative in other words a flow of positive charges. We need to look at the options and see if we can find positive charges moving to the west or of course negative charges moving to the east. In your options the only possibility is: a beam of electrons moves eastward The others are no good because: a beam of protons moves eastward - positive charges moving east a electric dipole moves westward - a dipole has no net charge a beam of electrons moves westward - negative charges moving west a beam of neutral atoms moves westward - neutral atoms have no net charge
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The voltage between two points on a circuit is called the potential difference between those two points.
The voltmeter is therefore connected in parallel with the bulb as you see in the circuit diagram (Figure 1), it measures the difference in the energy of the electricity between points A and B, that is before and after it has passed through the bulb. At A the electricity has a lot of energy but at B most of this energy has been changed into heat and light in the bulb.
Current and voltage It is often easy to confuse current with voltage and so it is a good idea to remember the following:
Current is the rate of flow of charge through a wire. Voltage is a measure of the energy of that charge.
It is therefore possible to have two wires carrying the same current but one with much more energy than the other. The two circuits in Figure 2 explain this.
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The low voltage bulb has a current of 1 A flowing through it, it runs on 5 V and gives out energy as heat and light. However the mains bulb runs on 240 V and also has a current of 1 A flowing through it. It gives out a lot more energy and so is much brighter. The amount of electricity passing through each bulb per second (the current) is the same, but the electric charges passing through one bulb have more energy than those passing through the other one.
The volt
Energy is measured in joules and so we need to know the connection between volts and joules.
The potential difference (p.d.) between two points in a circuit is 1 V if 1 joule of electrical energy is changed to other forms of energy when 1 C passes from one point to the other.
In other words if the potential difference between two points is 12 V then every coulomb of electricity passing from one point to the other loses 12 J of energy. If we think about the input of energy, then a 240 V supply will give each coulomb 240 J of energy while a 5 V supply only gives each coulomb 5 J.
Example-problems 1. Find the energy
lost
by
6C
passing
through
4V
Energy
24
Energy = joules = volts x charge = voltage x current x time joules= volts x coulombs volts = joules per coulomb
These mathematical examples clearly explain the results with the two bulbs. Another way of thinking about energy is the length of time that a certain battery will supply a certain amount of current. This is usually written in Ampere hours (Ah).
tallyhotutors Energy capacity of a battery If a battery is labelled 12V 48 Ah it means that it can supply 48A for 1 hour at 12V, or 24 A for 2 hours at 12V or 1 A for 48 hours at 12V and so on. The energy stored in a 12V 48 Ah battery is = 12x48x3600 = 2.074 MJ The energy stored in a 6V 48 Ah battery would be half that = 6x48x3600 = 1.037 MJ A car battery will have a capacity of between 30 and 50 Ah while a AAA torch battery is usually around 700mAh The photograph shows two car batteries, the larger one has a capacity of 32 Ah while the smaller one is 16 Ah.
Problems Copy and complete the following table: 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Voltage 12V 2V 6V 20V 100 mV space space 1000V 2 kV space Charge space space space space 200 C space 20 C space 120 C 150 C Current 2A 3A 2A 100 mA space 2A space 0.5 kA space space Time 20s 2 min space hour 20s 60 s 5s 10 s 2 ms 7.5 s Energy space space 240 J space space 600 J 10 kJ space space 20 kJ
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We define the amount of electrical potential energy that a unit charge has as:
The electrical potential energy of a unit charge at a point in a circuit is called the potential at that point.
The next set of diagrams (Figure 2) show how the potential varies round some basic circuits. To simplify the treatment we are going to assume that the energy lost in the connecting wires is neglibgible and we are going to ignore it. This means that the energy of the charge at one end of a connecting wire is the same as that at the other end. The bigger the energy change the bigger the difference in potential. We call the difference in electrical potential between two points in the circuit the potential difference between those two places. The potential difference between two points is defined as:
Potential difference between two points in a circuit is the work done in moving unit charge (i.e. one coulomb) from one point to the other
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The units for potential difference are Joules per coulomb, or volts. (1 volt = 1 Joule/coulomb). Figure 2(a) shows the variation in the potential around the circuit. We can follow this by considering each section of the circuit in turn. Along the connecting wire from the cell to B there is no resistance and so no loss of electrical energy or drop in potential. In the resistors r and R energy is converted to heat and so the potential drops from B through to E. From E to the cell there is no loss of electrical energy and so the potential at E is the same as that at the negative terminal of the cell zero.
Figures 2(b and c) shows that when no current flows in a circuit there is no change of potential and therefore no potential difference between two parts of that circuit that are connected.
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So if a charge Q moves between two points in a circuit that have a potential difference of V volts between them the energy gained (or lost) by the charge is given by the formula:
Electrical energy = Charge x Potential difference(Voltage) Joules = Coulombs x Volts = Amps x Time x Volts
But since Q = It we have:
tallyhotutors Example problems Calculate the amount of energy supplied by a 4.5 V battery when: (a) a charge of 20 C passes through it (b) a current of 25 mA flows through is for 3 minutes (a) Energy = potential difference x charge = 4.5 x 20 = 90 J (b) Energy = potential difference x charge = potential difference x current x time Therefore: Energy = 4.5 x 25x10-3 x 180 = 20.25 J
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Electrical Power
Power is the rate at which work is done or energy changed from one form to another and so:
Electrical Power = Energy/Time = VQ/t Power = Potential difference (Volts) x Current (Amps) Energy = Power x Time
Example-problems 1. Calculate the Power =
power VI
of =
bulb =
using 30
2.5
A. W
2. Calculate the current used by a 12V immersion heater that is designed to deliver 30000J in 5 minutes. Energy = Power x Time = 30000 Therefore 30000 = Power x 300 Power = 100W. So current = 100/12 = 8.5 A 3. Calculate the energy given out by a 12V car battery that delivers a current of 200A for 3 s. Energy = Power x time = VIt = 12 x 200 x 3 = 72 000 J
Problems 1. Calculate the power loss in an electrical transmission cable, 15 km long, carrying a current of 100A at a potential of 200 kV. The resistance per km of the cable is 0.2 . 2. What power is supplied to the heater of an electric bar fire with a resistance of 50 connected to the mains 240V supply? 3. What is the power loss down a copper connecting lead 50cm long with a resistance of 0.005 per metre when it carries a current of 1.5A?
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E = IR + Ir
and so:
EI = I2R + I2r
Therefore: d(I2R)/dR = EdI/dR 2Ir dI/dr = 0 for a maximum. Therefore E dI/dR = 2IdI/dR and so E = 2IR Therefore: E = 2IR = IR + Ir
This therefore gives r = R for maximum power output and so the resistance of the load should be equal to the internal resistance of the supply. This is the case for an amplifier and loudspeaker; the output impedance of the amplifier should be matched to that of the speaker. In other words if the output impedance of the amplifier is 15 the resistance of the speaker should also be 15. However this condition is not necessarily the most efficient operating state of the system.
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OHM'S LAW
This result was first discovered by a man named Ohm and so it is called Ohm's Law. Ohm's Law states that:
The ratio of the current in a conductor to the potential difference (voltage difference) between it ends is a constant as long as the temperature stays constant. This constant is called the RESISTANCE of the conductor.
You can write this in an equation as:
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Example-problems 1. A 6V battery is connected to a small electromagnet and a current of 1.5 A flows through it. What is the resistance of the electromagnet? Resistance = voltage/current = 6/1.5= 4 2. What current will flow through a circuit with a resistance of 2400 if it is connected to a 2 V battery? Current = Voltage/Resistance = 2/400 = 1/200 A= 5 mA 3. A current of 0.5 mA flows through a resistor of 100 k . What voltage is needed to do this? Voltage = Current x resistance = 0.005 x 100 000 = 100 V
Using an ammeter and a voltmeter to measure resistance To measure the resistance of say a piece of wire or a resistor we must find the voltage (potential difference) between its two ends and the current flowing through it. To do this we use the circuit shown in the diagram.
Remember:
An ammeter is always connected in series with the component and a voltmeter is always connected in parallel with the component.
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STUDENT-INVESTIGATION Resistors used in electronic circuits are colour coded to show their resistance, but this resistance is not always exactly what it should be. Devise and carry out an experiment to measure the accuracy of eight similar resistors. Write up your experiment fully.
tallyhotutors PROBLEMS 1. Which has the bigger resistance - a metre of thick silver wire or a metre of thin silver wire? 2. Copy and complete the following table:
3. A 50 cm length of constantan wire is connected in series with a bulb and a battery. Should the wire be shortened or lengthened to make the bulb glow brighter? 4. A 6 V battery is connected in turn to a set of lengths of wire. If the currents through the wires are: (a) 2 A (B) 1.5 A (c) 0.5 A (d) 24 mA (e) 0.002 A what is the resistance of each piece of wire? 5. A piece of wire with a resistance of 100 is connected in turn to the following batteries. What is the current-flowing-in-each-case? (a) 2V (b) 5V (c) 10V (d) 250V 6. What are the restrictions to Ohms Law?
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Resistance
The free electrons in a metal are in constant random motion. As they move about they collide with each other and with the atoms of the metal. If a potential difference is now applied across the metal the electrons tend to move towards the positive connection. As they do so their progress is interrupted by collisions. These collisions impede their movement and this property of the material is called its resistance. If the temperature of the metal is raised the atoms vibrate more strongly and the electrons make more violent collisions with them and so the resistance of the metal increase (see later). The resistance of any conducting material depends on the following factors: (a) the material itself (actually how many free electrons there are per metre cubed) (b) its length (c) its cross-sectional area and (d) its temperature The resistance of a given piece of material is connected to the current flowing through it and the potential difference between its ends by the equation:
A specimen has a resistance of 1 if a current of 1A flows through it when a potential difference of 1 V is applied between its ends.
Example problem Calculate the resistance of a specimen if a current of 0.5 mA flows in it when a voltage of 6 V is applied across it. Resistance = V/I = 6/0.0005 = 1.2x104 = 12 k Student Use a sample of conducting putty to find out how the resistance of a given volume of the putty depends on: (a) its length (b) its cross-sectional area investigation
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Ohm's Law
If the ratio of p.d to current remains constant for a series of different p.d.s the material is said to obey Ohm's Law. This is true for a metallic conductor at a constant temperature (see Figure 2) This means that although we can always work out the resistance of a specimen knowing the current through it and the p.d across it. However if these quantities are altered we can only PREDICT how it will behave under these new conditions if it obeys Ohm's law. It is also vital to realise that the resistance is simply the ratio of the voltage and current at a particular point and NOT generally the gradient of the VI curve. It is important to realise that Ohm's Law only holds for a metallic conductor if the temperature is constant.
Ohms-Law: The ratio of the potential difference (V) across a metallic conductor to the current (I) flowing through it is constant at a constant temperature.
This means that if the temperature of the metal is held steady at say 15o C the variation of current and voltage will be linear. However if the temperature of the metal changes (as in the filament of a light bulb) then the resistance will also change. The collisions between the electrons and the atoms will occur more often and be more violent.
So if the wire is raised to 75o C a second set of readings can be taken they will still be linear but the resistance of the wire (the ratio of V to I) will be greater (see Figure 3). It is worth having a look at two graphs that show how the resistance of two types of material change when their temperature is changed. The first is a metal wire (Figure 4(a)), and the second is a (negative temperature coefficient) thermistor (Figure 4 (b).
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In the case of the metal wire the resistance increases as the temperature increases, you can see this because the ration of pairs of points on the V-I graph increases at high currents (hot wires). In the case of the thermistor the resistance decreases as the temperature increases, you can see because the ratio of pairs of points on the V-I graph decreases at high currents (high temperatures.). Although the gradients of the graphs suggests a change in resistance do not be tempted to use the gradient to work out the resistance, you must still deal with the voltage/current ratio only. The reason that the thermistor decreases is because the thermistor is a semiconductor and more free electrons are produced as the temperature is raised. (In fact more electrons are raised to the conduction band of the material.)
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The average velocity between collisions is therefore Vet = v, but since I = nAve we have: I = e2tnAV/2Lm and this gives for the resistance:
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Resistivity
There are three factors that affect the resistance of a specimen of material: (a) the temperature (b) the dimensions of the specimen - the smaller the cross sectional area and the longer the specimen the larger the resistance (c) the material from which the specimen is made The property of the material that affects its resistance is called the resistivity of the material and is given the symbol .
The resistivity of a material is defined as the resistance between two opposite faces of a 1 m3 specimen of the material.
The units for resistivity are m. Resistivity is related to resistance of a specimen of length L and cross sectional area A by the formula:
Resistivity () = RA/L
The following table gives the resistivities of a number of common materials. Material Copper Nichrome Aluminium Eureka Lead Manganin Resistivity (m) 1.69x10 130x10 49x10
-8 -8
3.21x10-8
-8
20.8x10-8 44x10-8
The resistivities of solutions cannot be quoted generally because they depend on the concentrations and are therefore variable quantities. However, as an example, the resistivity of pure water is about 2.5x105 m and that of a saturated solution of sodium chloride about 0.04 m at 20oC.
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data
in
the
above
table)
1. Calculate the resistance of a 1.5 m long piece of eureka wire of diameter 0.5 mm Resistance = resistivity x length/area = 49x10-8x1.5/1.96x10-7 = 3.7 2. A piece of wire needed for a heater is to be made of manganin. It is to have a cross sectional area of 1.5x10-7 m2 and a resistance of 5 . How long must it be? Length = Resistance x area/resistivity = 5x1.5x10-7/44x10-8 = 1.7 m
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Note that the input voltage (V) in this case supplied by the battery is constant. The current flowing through both resistors is the same (series circuit) and so the output voltage across one of them depends simply on the two resistance values and the input voltage. (V = IR1 + IR2 and V2 = IR2 and so V2/V = R2/[R1+R2])
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(b) A moving coil meter. These meters have a much lower resistance than a digital meter, usually some tens of k. This means that the combined resistance of R2 and RV is affected by the resistance of the voltmeter and is actually lower than R2. (Connecting two resistors in parallel gives a resulting resistance lower than either resistor). The proportion of the input voltage (V) dropped across R2 therefore falls and so the output voltage (Vo) is less than that measured with a digital meter.
Of course both these examples have considered R2 being replaced by another component. If R1 is replaced then if the voltage across this component rises the output voltage across R2 will fall. (The total voltage across both the resistor and the other component in the circuit must always stay the same and be equal to the supply voltage of the battery.)
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The e.m.f (of the cell can be defined as the maximum p.d that the cell can produce across its terminals, or the open circuit p.d since when no current flows from the cell no electrical energy can be lost within it.
Consider the circuit shown in Figure 1. The shaded area reprsents the internal part of the cell. If the e.m.f of the cell is E and the internal resistance is r and the cell is connected to an external resistance R then:
= V + Ir = IR + Ir
The quantity of useful electrical energy available outside the cell is IR and Ir is the energy transformed to other forms within the cell itself. We usually require the internal resistance of a cell to be small to reduce the energy transformed within the cell; however it is sometimes helpful to have a rather larger internal resistance to prevent large currents from flowing if the cell terminals are shorted.
Example A cell of e.m.f 12V and internal resistance 0.1 terminals when it (a) 10 (a) Total resistance = Therefore current = Loss of energy per coulomb Potential difference between the (b) Total resistance = Therefore current = Loss of energy per coulomb P.d between terminals = 12 - 4 = 8V
problems is used in two circuits. Calculate the p.d between its is connected to: and (b) 0.2 . 10 + 0.1 = 10.1 12/10.1 = 1.19A in the cell = 1.10x0.1 = 0.119V terminals = 12 0.119 = 11.88V 0.2 in + 0.1 12/0.3 the cell = = = 40x0.1 0.3 = 40A 4V
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where R is the resistance of the specimen at some temperature oC and Ro the resistance at 0oC. In this equation is much less than and so we can express the change by the following simplified equation as long as the temperature change is not too great.
Here is called the temperature coefficient of resistance and is defined as the increase in resistance per degree rise divided by the resistance at 0oC
Some values of the temperature coefficient of resistance (a) copper 43 x10- 4K-1 tungsten 60 x10-4K-1 gold 36x10-4K-1 nichrome 0.88x10- 4K-1 carbon -5.1x10-4K-1 steel 33x10-4K-1 For a metal the temperature coefficient of resistance is positive - in other words and increase in the temperature gives an increase in resistance. This can be explained by the motion of the atoms and free electrons within the solid. At low temperatures the thermal vibration is small and electrons can move easily within the lattice but at high temperatures the motion increases giving a much greater chance of collisions between the conduction electrons and the lattice and so impeding their motion. In a light bulb the filament is at about 2700 oC when it is working and its resistance when hot is about ten times that when cold. (For a typical domestic light bulb the resistance measured at room temperature was 32 and this rose to 324 at its working temperature).
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We can also define the change in the resistivity with temperature by an equation similar to that for resistance:
where is the temperature coefficient of resistivity. We require that the variation of resistance should be small so should be as small as possible for thermal stability. The following table gives the temperature coefficients of resistivity for a number of materials:
However in non-metals such as semiconductors an increase in temperature leads to a drop in resistance. This can be explained by electrons gaining energy and moving into the conduction band - in fact changing from being bound to a particular atom to being able to move freely - an increase in the number of free electrons. The temperature coefficient of resistance and also that of the temperature coefficient of resistivity is therefore negative.
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Thermistor
This is a type of resistor is made from a sintered semiconductor material which has a resistance that changes with temperature. There are two types of thermistor: (i) negative temperature coefficient (NTC) the resistance of the thermistor falls with increasing temperature (ii) positive temperature coefficient (PTC) - the resistance of the thermistor rises with increasing temperature The NTC is the type most often used in schools so I will just consider that type in detail. The increasing temperature produces more free electrons and so the resistance falls. These electrons are able to 'jump' from the valence band to the conduction band. This increase in conduction electrons masks the effect due to the increase thermal motion of the atoms and electrons. At low temperature its resistance is large (thousands of ohms), at high temperature its resistance is small (tens of ohms). Very little current will flow through it when it is cold. This means that its resistance increases as the temperature falls. A graph for the thermistor of resistance against its temperature is shown in Figure 1. You can investigate this property practically by doing the experiment described in the 14-16 Experiment guides called Thermistor resistance. Uses of thermistors (NTC) Thermistors are used as temperature sensors in thermostats in ovens and irons, in fire alarms and on the wing of a plane to detect when the temperature falls low enough for ice to form. They are also in use in premature baby units to detect when a baby may have stopped breathing, current limiting devices and thermometers.
(Sintering is a process where particles of the material are heated below their melting point until they stick together)