TITLE: CURRENT, RESISTIVITY, RESISTANCE AND OHM’S LAW Figure 1.

The same current can be produced by (a)

OBJECTIVE: Solve problems involving current, positive charges moving in the direction of the electric field E or
resistivity, resistance, and Ohm’s law in (b) the same number of negative charges moving at the same
contexts such as, but not limited to, speed in the direction opposite to E.
batteries and bulbs, household wiring, Figure 1 shows segments of two different current-carrying
and selection of fuses. materials. In Fig. 1a the moving charges are positive, the
STEM_GP12EM - IIIe -44 electric force is in the same direction as E and the drift velocity
v is from left to right. In Fig. 1b the charges are negative, the
INTRODUCTION electric force is opposite to E and the drift velocity v is from
In the past four chapters we studied the interactions of right to left. In both cases there is a net flow of positive charge
electric charges at rest; now we’re ready to study charges in from left to right, and positive charges end up to the right of
motion. An electric current consists of charges in motion from negative ones.
one region to another. If the charges follow a conducting path We define the current, denoted by I, to be in the
that forms a closed loop, the path is called an electric circuit. direction in which there is a flow of positive charge. Thus, we
Fundamentally, electric circuits are a means for describe currents as though they consisted entirely of positive
conveying energy from one place to another. As charged charge flow, even in cases in which we know that the actual
particles move within a circuit, electric potential energy is current is due to electrons. Hence the current is to the right in
transferred from a source (such as a battery or generator) to a both Figs. 1a and 1b. This choice or convention for the direction
device in which that energy is either stored or converted to of current flow is called conventional current. While the
another form: into sound in a stereo system or into heat and direction of the conventional current is not necessarily the
light in a toaster or light bulb. same as the direction in which charged particles are actually
Key Concepts moving, we’ll find that the sign of the moving charges is of little
 Current & ampere importance in analyzing electric circuits.
 Current density Figure 2 below shows a segment of a conductor in which
 Resistivity and Ohm’s Law a current is flowing. We consider the moving charges to be
 Resistance positive, so they are moving in the same direction as the
DISCUSSION current. We define the current through the cross-sectional
 Current area to be the net charge flowing through the area per unit
A current is any motion of charge from one region to time. Thus, if a net charge dQ flows through an area in a time,
another. In electrostatic situations the electric field is zero the current I through the area is,
everywhere within the conductor, and there is no current.
However, this does not mean that all charges within the
conductor are at rest. These free electrons move randomly in all
directions, somewhat like the molecules of a gas but with much or
∆q
I =¿ ∆ t ¿
greater speeds, of the order of 106 m/s. The electrons
nonetheless do not escape from the conducting material, The SI unit of current is the ampere; one ampere is
because they are attracted to the positive ions of the material. defined to be one coulomb per second (1 A = 1 C/s). This unit is
The motion of the electrons is random, so there is no net flow named in honor of the French scientist André Marie Ampère
of charge in any direction and hence no current. (1775–1836). When an ordinary flashlight (D-cell size) is turned
A good analogy is a group of soldiers standing at attention on, the current in the flashlight is about 0.5 to 1 A; the current
when the sergeant orders them to start marching; the order in the wires of a car engine’s starter motor is around 200 A.
reaches the soldiers’ ears at the speed of sound, which is much Currents in radio and television circuits are usually expressed in
faster than their marching speed, so all the soldiers start to milliamperes (1mA = 10−3 A ) or microamperes (1μA = 10−6 A )
march essentially in unison. and currents in computer circuits are expressed in
 The Direction of Current Flow
nanoamperes (1nA = 10−9 A ) or picoamperes (1pA = 10−12 A ).

 Current, Drift Velocity, and Current Density

The current per unit cross-sectional area is called the
current density J.
The units of current density are amperes per square meter (A/
2
m ).  Resistivity
If the moving charges are negative rather than positive, as The current density in a conductor depends on the
in Fig. 1b, the drift velocity is opposite to E. But the current is electric field and on the properties of the material. In general,
still in the same direction as E at each point in the conductor. this dependence can be quite complex. But for some materials,
Hence the current I and current density J don’t depend on the especially metals, at a given temperature, is nearly directly
sign of the charge, and so in the above expressions for I and J proportional to and the ratio of the magnitudes of and is
we replace the charge q by its absolute value |q|. constant. This relationship, called Ohm’s law, was discovered in
1826 by the German physicist Georg Simon Ohm (1787–1854).
We define the resistivity p of a material as the ratio of the
magnitudes of electric field and current density:

The current in a conductor is the product of the

***The greater the resistivity, the greater the field
concentration of moving charged particles, the magnitude of
needed to cause a given current density, or the smaller the
charge of each such particle, the magnitude of the drift velocity,
current density caused by a given field.
and the cross-sectional area of the conductor.
The units of p are (V/m) / (A/m 2) = V∙m / A. 1 V/A is
We can also define a vector current density J that includes
called one ohm (1 Ω ; we use the Greek letter Ω or omega),
the direction of the drift velocity:
which is alliterative with “ohm”). So, the SI units for p is (ohm-
meters). Table 1.1 below lists some representative values of
resistivity. A perfect conductor would have zero resistivity, and
 Sample problem 1 a perfect insulator would have an infinite resistivity. Metals and
Current density and drift velocity in a wire alloys have the smallest resistivities and are the best
Problem: An 18-gauge copper wire (the size usually used for conductors. The resistivities of insulators are greater than those
lamp cords), with a diameter of 1.02mm, carries a constant of the metals by an enormous factor, on the order of 22
10
current of 1.67 A to a 200-W lamp. The free-electron density in
the wire is 8.5 x 1028 per cubic meter.
Find (a) the current density and (b) the drift speed.

Solution: This problem uses the relationships among current I,

current density J, and drift speed v d. We are given I and the
wire diameter d, so we use current density to find J. We use
current density again to find from and the known electron
density n.
Execute:
(a) The cross-sectional area is

The magnitude of the current density is then,

(b) From current density for the drift velocity magnitude, we

find

The reciprocal of resistivity is conductivity. Its units are (

−1
Evaluate: At this speed an electron would require 6700 s Ω ∙ m¿ . Good conductors of electricity have larger
(almost 2 h) to travel 1 m along this wire. The speeds of random conductivity than insulators. Conductivity is the direct electrical
motion of the electrons are roughly 106 m/s around 1010 times analog of thermal conductivity.
the drift speed. Picture the electrons as bouncing around  Resistivity and Temperature
frantically, with a very slow drift! The resistivity of a metallic conductor nearly always
increases with increasing temperature, as shown in Fig. 3a
 Activity # 1 below. As temperature increases, the ions of the conductor
Problem: Suppose we replaced the wire in Sample Problem vibrate with greater amplitude, making it more likely that a
above with 12-gauge copper wire, which has twice the diameter moving electron will collide with an ion as in table 1.1; this
of 18-gauge wire. If the current remains the same, what effect impedes the drift of electrons through the conductor and hence
would this have on the magnitude of the drift velocity? reduces the current. Over a small temperature range (up to
(i) none— would be unchanged; 100C° or so), the resistivity of a metal can be represented
(ii) would be twice as great; approximately by the equation,
(iii) would be four times greater;
(iv) would be half as great;
(v) would be one-fourth as great.
 Where p0 is the resistivity at a reference temperature T 0 current in a conductor flows in the direction of E no matter
(often taken as 0C° or 20C° and p(T) is the resistivity at what the sign of the moving charges, and because points in the
temperature T, which may be higher or lower than T 0. The direction of decreasing electric potential.
factor α is called the temperature coefficient of resistivity. We can also relate the value of the current to the
Some representative values are given in Table 2.2. The potential difference between the ends of the conductor. If the
resistivity of the alloy manganin is practically independent of magnitudes of the current density and the electric field are
temperature. uniform throughout the conductor, the total current is given by
I = JA and the potential difference between the ends is V = EL.
When we solve these equations for and, respectively, and
substitute the results figure below, we obtain,

This shows that when p is constant, the total current I is

proportional to the potential difference V.
The ratio of V to I for a particular conductor is called its
resistance R.

Comparing this definition of R to equation above, we see

that the resistance of a particular conductor is related to the
resistivity of its material by,

If p is constant, as is the case for ohmic materials, then so

is R.

The equation is often called Ohm’s law, but it is

important to understand that the real content of Ohm’s law is
Figure 3: Variation of resistivity with absolute
the direct proportionality (for some materials) of V to I or J to E.
temperature for (a) a normal metal, (b) a semiconductor, and
The SI unit of resistance is the ohm, equal to one volt per
(c) a superconductor. In (a) the linear approximation to as a
ampere (1Ω=1V / A . The kilohm (1kΩ=103 Ω and the
function of is shown as a green line; the approximation agrees
megohm (1MΩ=106 Ω are also in common use. A length of
exactly at T = T 0, where p = p0.
12-gauge copper wire, the size usually used in household
Table 2.2
wiring, has a resistance at room temperature of about 0.5 Ω . A
100-W, 120-V light bulb has a resistance (at operating
temperature) of 140Ω . If the same current flows in both the
copper wire and the light bulb, the potential difference V = IR is
much greater across the light bulb, and much more potential
energy is lost per charge in the light bulb. This lost energy is
converted by the light bulb filament into light and heat. You
don’t want your household wiring to glow white-hot, so its
resistance is kept low by using wire of low resistivity and large
cross-sectional area.
Because the resistivity of a material varies with
temperature, the resistance of a specific conductor also varies
with temperature. For temperature ranges that are not too
great, this variation is approximately a linear relationship,
 Resistance
For a conductor with resistivity the current density at a
point where the electric field is given by,
In this equation, R(T) is the resistance at temperature T
E = pJ and R0 is the resistance at temperature T 0 often taken to be 0C°
or 20C°. The temperature coefficient of resistance α is the
When Ohm’s law is obeyed, p is constant and same constant if the dimensions L and A do not change
independent of the magnitude of the electric field, so E is appreciably with temperature; this is indeed the case for most
directly proportional to J. Often, however, we are more conducting materials. Within the limits of validity, the change in
interested in the total current in a conductor than in J and more resistance resulting from a temperature change T - T 0 is given
interested in the potential difference between the ends of the by R0 α (T −T 0).
conductor than in E. This is so largely because current and
potential difference are much easier to measure than are J and  Sample Problem 2
E. Electric field, potential difference, and resistance in a wire
The direction of the current is always from the higher-
potential end to the lower potential end. That’s because
Problem: The 18-gauge copper wire of Sample problem 1 has a at 20.0C° and (b) the temperature coefficient of resistivity at
cross-sectional area of 8.20 x 10−7 m2. It carries a current of 20C° for the material of the rod.
1.67 A. Find
(a) the electric-field magnitude in the wire;
(b) the potential difference between two points in the wire References
apart; (c) the resistance of a 50.0 m length of this wire
Shipman, J. Wilson J., & Higgins, C. (2013). An Introduction to
Solution: We are given the cross-sectional area and current. Physical Science (13th ed). 20 Channel Center Street,
Our target variables are the electric-field magnitude, potential Boston, MA 02210 USA.
difference, and resistance. The current density is J = IA. We find
th
E from p = E/J (Table 1.1 gives the resistivity for copper). The Tillery, B. W. (2009). Physical Sciences (9 ed.) Arizona State
potential difference is then the product of E and the length of University. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of
the wire. We can use either Eq R = pL/A or Eq. V = IR to find R. the Americas, New York, NY 100020.
Execute
(a) From Table 1.1, p = 1.72 x 10−8 Ω∙ m Hence, using Eq.
p = E/J.

Freedom Wall 😊

Alternatively, we can find R using Eq. V = IR:

 Activity # 1
Read and Analyze the problem carefully.

Problem: Suppose the resistance of a copper wire is 1.05 Ω at

20C°. Find the resistance at 0C° and 100C°

 Activity # 2
Read and Analyze the problem carefully.

Problem: Lightning Strikes. During lightning strikes from a

cloud to the ground, currents as high as 25,000 A can occur and
last for about 40μs. How much charge is transferred from the
cloud to the earth during such a strike?

 Assessment
Solve the following problems carefully.

1. A silver wire 2.6 mm in diameter transfers a charge of 420 C

in 80 min. Silver contains 5.8 x 1028 free electrons per cubic
meter. (a) What is the current in the wire?
(b) What is the magnitude of the drift velocity of the electrons
in the wire?

2. (a) At room temperature what is the strength of the electric

field in a 12-gauge copper wire (diameter 2.05 mm) that is
needed to cause a 2.75-A current to flow? (b) What field would
be needed if the wire were made of silver instead?

3. A 1.50-m cylindrical rod of diameter 0.500 cm is connected to

a power supply that maintains a constant potential difference of
15.0 V across its ends, while an ammeter measures the current
through it. You observe that at room temperature 20.0°C the
ammeter reads 18.5 A, while at 92.0°C it reads 17.2 A. You can
ignore any thermal expansion of the rod. Find (a) the resistivity