00

STPM



2013
About Author:

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Email: rtcoolman@live.com [Mr. Josh]
Contact No: +6018 - 397 6808 [Mr. Josh]



By : Josh, LRT

2013 LRT Documents Copyrighted. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 7

Chapter 14 Electric Current

14.1 Conduction of electricity
Consider a simple closed circuit consists of wires, a battery and a light bulb as shown in Figure A.

Figure A
From the Figure A,
Direction of electric field, or current, : Positive to negative terminal
Direction of electron, flows: Negative to positive terminal
The electron accelerates because of the electric force acted on it.
It is defined as the total nett charge, flowing through the flowing through the area per
unit time, .

SI unit for ()


(

)
1 ampere of current is defined as one coulomb of charge passing through the surface area in
one second.

14.2 Current density

It is defined as the current flowing through a conductor per unit cross-sectional area.

It is a vector quantity
Unit =

The direction of is the same with the direction of the .


By : Josh, LRT

2013 LRT Documents Copyrighted. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 7

From,

Electrical conductivity, is the measure of a materials ability to conduct electric current.

SI unit for is

14.3 Drift velocity

The drift velocity is the average velocity that a particle, such as an electron, attains due to an
electric field.
When the electric field is applied to the metal, the freely moving electron experience an
electric force and tend to drift with constant average velocity (called drift velocity) towards
a direction opposite to the direction of the field as shown in Figure B.

Figure B
**1 The magnitude of the drift velocity is smaller than the random velocities of the free
electrons.
**2 The electric current is flowing in the opposite direction of the electron flows.

Drift velocity of charges,

L = length of metal rod
A = cross-sectional area
J = current density
e = electron
E = Electric filed
I = current

By : Josh, LRT

2013 LRT Documents Copyrighted. All rights reserved. Page 3 of 7

Set, number of free electrons per volume in metal rod.
the number of free electron, is given by:

()

The total charge of the free electrons that pass through the area along the rod is

()
Time, required for electron move along the rod is

Then,

()
(

: number of free electron per unit volume [DENSITY of free electron]
: charge of the electron

14.4 Resistivity and Ohms law

Resistance, R
Ratio of the potential difference across an electrical component to the current passing
through it.

# It is a measure of the components opposition to the flow of the electric charge.
# Scalar quantity with unit

or

Resistivity,
The resistance of a unit cross-sectional area per unit length of the material.

# It is a measure of materials ability to oppose the flow of an electric current.
# Scalar quantity with unit
# Known as specific resistance
#
# Good conductors [low resistivity] ; Good insulator [high resistivity]
Q
t

By : Josh, LRT

2013 LRT Documents Copyrighted. All rights reserved. Page 4 of 7

Conductivity,
The reciprocal of the resistivity of a material.

# Scalar quantity with unit

Ohms Law
States that the potential difference across a metallic conductor is proportional to the
current flowing through it if its temperature is constant.



It can be stated in other form,

is maintained across the conductor sets up by an electric field, and this field
produce a current, that is proportional to the potential difference.
If the field is assumed to be uniform,

From ohms law, where and

)
or and

By : Josh, LRT

2013 LRT Documents Copyrighted. All rights reserved. Page 5 of 7

Graphs of potential difference, against current, for various materials.

METAL


SEMICONDUCTOR


CARBON



ELECTROLYTE

14.5 Dependence of resistivity on temperature
Metal
o Temperature (T) = , Number of electrons per unit volume (n) = UNCHANGED.
o Metal atoms in the crystal lattice vibrate with greater amplitude and cause the number of
collisions between the free electrons and metal atoms increases. Hence the resistance in the
metal increases.

Superconductor
o Temperature (T) =

( ) The resistance decreases to 0.

Temperature coefficient of resistivity,
Fractional increase in resistivity of a conductor per unit rise in temperature

By : Josh, LRT

2013 LRT Documents Copyrighted. All rights reserved. Page 6 of 7

Since,

( )
The resistivity of a conductor varies approximately linearly with temperature

# Unit for

or

Thus,

( )

( )


Graphs of resistance, against temperature, for various materials.


METAL



SEMICONDUCTOR



SUPERCONDUCTOR



CARBON





By : Josh, LRT

2013 LRT Documents Copyrighted. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 7

Problems

1. Resistivity of a wire depends on


2. A silver wire carries a current of .
Determine
a) The numbers of electrons per second pass through the wire.
b) The amount of charge flows through a cross-sectional area of the wire in 55 s.
(Given charge of electron,
9
)


3. A high voltage transmission line with a diameter of and a length of carries a
steady current of . If the conductor is copper wire with a free charge density of

8
electrons

, calculate the time taken by one electron to travel the full length of the line.
(
9
)



4. When a potential difference of 240 V is applied across a wire that is long and has a
radius, the current density is
9

.
Calculate
a) The resistivity of the wire.
b) The conductivity of the wire.



5. A copper wire carries a current of . The cross section
of the wire is a square of side and its length is .
The density ofthe free electron in the wire is
8

. Determine
a) The current density
b) The drift velocity of the electrons
c) The electric field intensity between both end of the wire
d) The potential difference across the wire
e) The resistance of the wire
(Given the resistivity of copper is
8
and charge of electron,

9
)
A. Length
B. Material
C. Cross-section area
D. Electrons
Answers:
1. B
2. a)
9

b) 165 C
3.
8
s
4. a)
8

b)
7

5. a)
6
A

b)
4

c)

d)
e)