Electricity

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.

Each electron has only a very small amount of electric charge, and it is more convenient to use a
larger unit when measuring practical units of charge. This unit is the coulomb.
The charge on one electron is -1.6x10-19 C.
Usually written as e. You would need about 5x1018 electrons to have a charge of one coulomb!
The electrical charge passing any one point in a circuit in one second is called the electric
current, and it is measured in Amperes (A).
The Amp can be defined in the following way:

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 !

An alternative definition of the ampere (amp) based on fundamental quantities is:

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.

Velocity of free electrons in a wire

The free electrons in a metal have three distinct velocities associated with them:
(a) a random velocity ( about 105 ms-1)
(b) a velocity with which electrical energy is transferred along the wire (about 10 8ms-1)
(c) a drift velocity of the electrons as a whole when a current flows through the wire (this
depends on the applied voltage but is usually a few mms-1 for currents of a few amps in normal
connecting leads).

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.

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:

The table below shows some free electron concentrations

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.

Conventional current and charge

flow
QUESTION: Which one of the following situations results in
a conventional electric current that flows westward?

a
a
a
a
a

beam of protons moves eastward

electric dipole moves westward
beam of electrons moves westward
beam of electrons moves eastward
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

Potential and Potential Difference

As a charge moves round a circuit from the positive to the negative it loses energy. There is a
problem here. As you know an electric current is a flow of negatively charged electrons and these
flow away from the negative terminal of a supply, round the circuit and back to the positive
terminal. However the 'traditional' view of current flow is from positive to negative and we will
take that view when looking at the energy of electrical charge.

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

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.

center>

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:

Electrical energy = ItV

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

Volts, amps and joules

The voltmeter
As you have seen, voltage is a measure of electrical energy; its proper name is potential
difference.

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.

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 = 6 x 4 = 24 J
2. What energy is given to 3C by a 3 V cell. Energy = 3 x 3 = 9 J

We can write these ideas in a formula as:

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).

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

Voltage

Charge

Current

Time

12V

2A

20s

2V

3A

2 min

6V

2A

20V

100 mA

100 mV

200 C

space

20 C

1000V

space

2 kV

120 C

space

150 C

10

Energy

240 J
hour
20s

2A
0.5 kA

60 s

600 J

5s

10 kJ

10 s
2 ms

space

7.5 s

20 kJ

Variation of current with applied voltage

There are several ways in which the current through a device can be altered. Elastic strain,
temperature and light are examples of these. Figure 1 shows examples of current-voltage curves
for a number of different situations.

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 of a 12V light bulb using 2.5 A.
Power = VI = 12x2.5 = 30 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

Two alternative formulae for electrical power

We can combine Ohm's law with the basic formula for electrical power to give two alternative
formulae:
Since V = IR, and power = VI, we can write

Electrical Power = VI = I2R = V2/R

Example problems
1. Calculate the resistance of a 100W light bulb if it takes a current of 0.8 A.
Power = I2R
Therefore R = 100/0.64 = 156.3
2. Calculate the power of a 12V immersion heater with a resistance of 10.
Power = V2/R = 144/10 = 14.4 W
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?

Maximum power transfer theorem

The external resistance will affect the current drawn from a source of e.m.f, and therefore the
energy lost within it since the same current will also flow through the internal resistance. It is
possible to find the value of this external resistance R that will give the greatest power output.
In the circuit in Figure 1, consider the variation of the output power of a supply of internal
resistance with a load resistance R.

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.

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:

Resistance (R) = Potential Difference (V)/ Current (I)

The units of resistance are ohms ().

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
investigation
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

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).

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.)

Electron theory of resistance

We can consider the electrons in a solid to have a random motion similar to a cloud of gas
molecules.
An electric field of intensity F is placed across a length L of the conductor. Let the conductor be of
resistivity and resistance R, and have n conduction electrons per unit volume.
The electric field (E) across the conductor is given by E = V/L and therefore Ee = Ve/L = F
where F is the force on the electron.
Using Newton's second law of motion the acceleration of an electron due to this field is then
given by:
acceleration = Ve/mL
where m is the electron mass.
If the time between electron collisions is t, then (Figure 5) the velocity v' just before a collision is
v' = Vet /Lm

The average velocity between collisions is therefore Vet = v, but since I = nAve we have:
I = e2tnAV/2Lm
and this gives for the resistance:

Resistance (R) = V/I =2Lm /e2tnA

If we consider the thermal velocity of the electrons to be around 10 6 ms-1 then the time between
collisions in copper is 5x10-14 s and the distance travelled is some 5x10-8 m, much greater than
the interatomic spacing which is about 2 x 10-10m.

Ohm's Law and resistance

The current through a certain wire depends on two things:
(a) the voltage (potential difference) between its ends
(b) the resistance of the wire
The way in which the current changes as the voltage is changed was discovered by Ohm. You can
verify his results with the following experiment.
STUDENT
INVESTIGATION
Take a one metre length of constantan wire and connect it to a variable voltage power supply,
voltmeter and ammeter. Vary the voltage applied to the wire and take a set of readings of
current
and
voltage.
Keep
the
current
below
0.5
A
throughout.
Plot a graph of these readings.
The experiment should show you that there is a steady rise in current for a steady rise in applied
voltage. In other words the current through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential
difference between its ends.

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:

Resistance = Voltage (V)/Current(I)

or
R = V/I
Resistance is measured in units called Ohms (). The resistance of a piece of wire is 1 ohm if a
current of 1 A flows through it when a voltage of 1 V is applied between its ends.
If you plot a graph of current through a piece of wire against the voltage applied you should get
a result like the one shown in the diagram. (Remember that the temperature of the wire must
not change. Ohm's Law is often written:

Voltage = Current x Resistance

or:

V = IR

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

The symbol for a resistor in a circuit is:

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.
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.

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:

Voltage

Current

Resistance

6V

2A

1000

1000

0.5A

100

2000V

1000

100

1000

200mA

12V

1000

0.5V

50A

1000

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) 2 V (b) 5 V (c) 10 V (d) 250 V
6. What are the restrictions to Ohms Law?

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 .

Resistivity is defined as follows:

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

Resistivity (m)

Material

Resistivity (m)

Copper

1.69x10-8

Non-metals

104

Nichrome

130x10-8

Insulators

1013 - 1016

Aluminium

3.21x10-8

Germanium

0.65

Eureka

49x10

Silicon

2.3x10-5

Lead

20.8x10-8

Carbon

33-185x10-6

Manganin

44x10-8

Silver

1.6x10-8

-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.
The reciprocal of resistivity is known as the conductivity of the material ()

Conductivity () = 1/ = L/RA (units siemens per metre (Sm-1)

Example problems
(use the 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

The potential divider

The basic circuit is shown in the first circuit diagram. The output
voltage across AB is given by :
Output voltage (V2) = (R2/[R1 + R2])V

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])

Measuring the output

If we now attempt to actually MEASURE the output voltage things may change.
(a) Firstly consider using a digital voltmeter with very high (if not virtually infinite) resistance
(RV). The resistor R2 and the voltmeter are connected in parallel and so their combined resistance
(R) is given by the equation;
1/R = 1/R2 +1/RV
but as we have said, RV is huge almost infinite and so 1/RV is virtually 0 and can be ignored.
This means that 1/R = 1/R2 and so R = R2.
The output voltage (Vo) measured by the meter really is that across R2, in other words V2.
(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.

Replacing R2 with a Light

dependent resistor (LDR)
The LDR is a component that has a resistance that
changes when light falls on it. As the intensity of
the light is increased so the resistance of the LDR
falls.
If the LDR is connected as part of a potential
divider as shown in the diagram then as the light
level is increased its resistance falls and the
proportion of the input voltage dropped across it
will also fall.
So in the light V2 is low and in the dark V2 is high.

Replacing R2 with a thermistor

Something very similar happens if R2 is replaced by a thermistor. As the temperature of the
thermistor rises its resistance falls and so the voltage dropped across it falls.
When the thermistor is hot V2 is low and when the thermistor is cold V2 is high.

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 R 2 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.)

Electromotive force and internal resistance

When current flows round a circuit energy is transformed in both the external resistor but also in
the cell itself. All cells have a resistance of their own and we call this the internal resistance of
the cell. The voltage produced by the cell is called the electromotive force or e.m.f for short
and this produces a p.d across the cell and across the external resistor.

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 problems
A cell of e.m.f 12V and internal resistance 0.1 is used in two circuits. Calculate the p.d between its
terminals when it is connected to:
(a) 10 and (b) 0.2 .
(a) Total resistance = 10 + 0.1 = 10.1
Therefore current = 12/10.1 = 1.19A
Loss of energy per coulomb in the cell = 1.10x0.1 = 0.119V
Potential difference between the terminals = 12 - 0.119 = 11.88V
(b) Total resistance = 0.2 + 0.1 = 0.3
Therefore current = 12/0.3 = 40A
Loss of energy per coulomb in the cell = 40x0.1 = 4V
P.d between terminals = 12 - 4 = 8V

Resistance and temperature

When a material is heated its resistance will change. This is due to the thermal motion of the
atoms within the specimen
The equation for this variation is:

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
- 4 -1
nichrome 0.88x10 K
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).

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.

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)