ELECTRIC CURRENT

Introduction:
 All matter is made up of tiny particles called atoms, each consisting of a positively charged nucleus with
negatively charged electrons moving around it.
 The unit of charge is the coulomb (symbol C). The charge on an electron e is -1.60× 10-19 C.
 Normally atoms have equal numbers of positive and negative charges, so the overall charge is zero.
 But for some atoms it is relatively easy to remove an electron, leaving an atom with an unbalanced
number of positive charges. This is called a positive ion.
 Robert Millikan performed an experiment in 1912 to determine the charge of a single electron using
charged oil droplets.
 The experimental result showed that, no matter what the charge on the droplets, it seemed to occur
only in integer multiples of particular value, which he deduced was the charge on an electron, e.
 1 electron has a charge of -1.6 × 10-19 C. This is called elementary charge (e).
 The conclusion was that charge is not continuous but quantized that is, it exists only in discrete
amounts, integral multiples of the charge of an electron.
 Since the charge is quantized, ions formed by the removal or addition of electrons, from or to atoms,
also have quantized of ±e, ±2e, ±3e,±4e, etc.
 The charge on the proton is +e. 1 proton has a charge of +1.6 × 10-19 C.
 An electron cannot be divided into parts, so the smallest amount of charge that can exist anywhere is
1.6 × 10-19 C.
 Values of charges on anything will always be in integer multiples of e ( i.e. magnitude of charge on
an electron) called QUANTISATION OF CHARGE.
 1e, 2e, 3e, 15e, 1000e (these are possible)
 0.5e, 1.4 e, 5.6e (these are not possible)
 For the above reasons we say the charge is quantised
Conventional current and electron flow:
 Atoms in metal have one or more outer electrons, which are not held tightly to the nucleus. These free (
or mobile) electrons wander at random throughout the metal.
 However, when a battery is connected across the ends of the metal, the free electrons drift towards the
positive terminal of the battery, producing an electric current.
Charge carriers in an electric current can be any charged particles. In a metal the charge carriers are
electrons but in a solution or in a plasma (ionized gas) the charge carriers are positive and negative ions.
When the cell is connected to the wire, it exerts an electrical force on the conduction electrons that
makes them travel along the length of the wire.
Since electrons are negatively charged, they flow away from the negative terminal of the cell and
towards the positive terminal. This is in the opposite direction to the conventional current.
Early studies of the effect of electricity led scientists to believe that current flow in the circuit
should be from the positive terminal of the battery or power supply to the negative. This current is
called the conventional current and is in the direction of the flow of positive charge.
Current:
The SI base unit of current is the ampere (A).
A current is 1A if one coulomb is the charge that flows past a point in a circuit in a time 1s.
A current of 3 amperes means that 3 coulombs pass a point in the circuit every second
Thus, Charge = current × time
Q=I×t
I = Q/ t
 Electric current is the rate of flow of electric charge past a point.

 The charge is carried by charge carriers. These are charged particles that move when the current is
flowing.
Drift velocity:
red arrows show connectional current and blue dots are charge carriers drifting in the opposite direction
(electron flow)
suppose we start the time when the first charge carrier emerges from the right, and we 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:

 l is the length and t is time, so l divided by t gives the average

drift velocity of the charge carriers.
charge divided by t gives current.

I=nAvq
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
Voltage (potential difference), e.m.f.:
 with the switch open, the voltmeter placed across the supply (having negligible internal resistance)
measures 12V.
With the switch closed, the voltmeter across the power supply still measures 12V and the voltmeters
placed across the resistors measure 8V and 4V.
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 (1C) of charge around the circuit. Electrical
energy is transferred to the charge by the power supply. The charge flows around 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 emf 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 the potential difference has different meaning.
Difference:
 The term potential difference is used when 1C charge loses energy by transferring electrical energy to
other forms of energy (like heat and light) in a component.
 The term emf is used when a power supply or a battery transfers electrical energy from chemical
energy to unit charge (i.e. 1C) electrical charges in a circuit.
Similarity:
 both are energy per unit charge
Definition:
The potential difference between any two points in a circuit measures the energy transfer or work done
by each coulomb of charge as it moves from one point to another.
emf is defined as the total work done per unit charge flows around a complete circuit.
The formula for both is the same, both can be referred to as voltage:

unit of voltage is volt(V). 1 volt is the voltage when 1 Joule of work is done on 1 coulomb of charge
Resistance:
If we 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.

The unit of resistance is ohm (Ω)

The ohm is the resistance of a component when a potential difference of 1 volt
drives a current of 1 ampere through it.
1Ω=1V A-1
Power and energy
work done (W)= energy transferred, energy is measured in Joules(J)
 the rate at which energy is transferred is known as power. Power P is measured in watts(W)

we can derive an equation for electrical power from the equations we have met so far.
we know that potential difference is work done per unit charge.
, So W= V Q

we also know that current is charge flowing per unit time
so the equation of power becomes:
P= V I
by substituting V=I R into the power equation, we can get two more equations in terms of resistance.
P=I2 R and P=V2/R
Resistivity:
For a metal in the shape of a wire, R depends on the following factors:
length L, cross-section area A, the material of the wire is made from, the temperature
At a constant temperature:
 resistance ∝ L
resistance ∝ 1/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 relationship 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 vibrating ions of the metal.
I-V characteristic graph for metal conductor :
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 the I-V characteristic graph of a conductor.
A line of best fit is drawn, it is a straight line that passes through the origin. This means that current
and p.d. are directly proportional to each other.
If we double the p.d., the current is also double.
the ratio of p.d. and current remains constant. 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
gradient = ∆I/∆V
resistance=1/gradient
different metallic conductors have different resistances, so the gradients of their graphs will be
different, but they will all be straight lines passing through the 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 V/I is constant, then it obeys the law.
A conductor that does not obey Ohm’s law is described as non-ohmic.
An example is a filament lamp:
the I-V characteristics of a lamp is shown.
the line passes through the origin (as for an ohmic component)
 for very small currents and voltage, 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. We 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 the resistance of a filament 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.
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.
Thermistor and LDR:
The Light-dependent (LDR) resistors made with photosensitive semiconductor materials like
Cadmium Sulphides (CdS), lead sulfide, lead selenide, indium antimonide, or cadmium selenide and
they are placed in a Zig-Zag shape as you can see in the pic below.
Thermistors are made from semiconductor materials, typically metallic oxides, using cobalt,
manganese, or nickel.
Thermistor and LDR:
Thermistor: it is a device whose resistance increases as temperature decreases.
 Light-dependent resistor (LDR): it is a device whose resistance increases as light intensity decreases.