Srivastava’s Study Package

CURRENT ELECTRICITY
1. Electrical conduction
a) Current
instantaneous
dq
i
dt
average
q
i  
t
it is scalar
b) Current density
ˆ  i A
J ˆ
A
c) Drift velocity
i eV
vd  
neA ml
mean free path
  v d
d) Ohm's law (in vector form)
 
J  E ,
e) resistance, resistivity and conductivity
ml l 1
R   
ne A
2
A A
f) temperature coefficient of resistance
dR
R 
R d
 R  R 0 1   R 
g) temperature coefficient of resistivity
d
 
d
    0 1    
h) Relation between   and  R
   R  
i) equivalent temperature coefficient
series
Req  eq   R
parallel

 eq 

Req R
j) Mobility of charge carrier
v
 d
E
k) effect of temperature on conductivity
MARATHON-10
73
Current Electricity & Electrical Conduction


for conductor
for semiconductor


2. Resistance combination
a) Series (current remains same in all elements)
Req   R
b) Parallel (potential difference is same across all elements)
1 1

R eq R
c) Delta to star conversion : Multiply the neighbors and divide it with the sum
of delta.
C C

Rc
RCA RBC 
RA RB
A B A B
RAB
R AB RCA
RA where   R AB  R BC  RCA

d) Wheatstone bridge :
a
P Q
W

R S
b
if P R then bridge is balanced and then Va = Vb. In this situation
Q S

Req 
P  Q R  S 
P Q  R S
e) Cube solution :
C

A
3
i) Req AB   r (across the face diagonal)
4

Srivastava’s SCO 18, 2nd Floor, Sec. 20 D, CHANDIGARH.

Ph : 0172-6543210
 MARATHON-10
74
Current Electricity & Electrical Conduction

5
ii) Req AC   r (across the body diagonal)
6
7
iii) Req AD   r (across the edge)
12
f) Symmetry consideration
i) If line of symmetry is line joining terminals corresponding points in
both halves are equipotential hence fold one half over the other.
ii) If line of symmetry is perpendicular to line joining terminals all the
points on the line of symmetry are equipotential.

3. Cell and cell combination

a) Cell
E
r

deal cell Real cell

i) V  E  ir  iR
 E V 
ii)  R  r
 V 
b) Cells in series
E eq   E and req   r
for identical cells
nE
i
nr  R
if r << R then connecting cells in series is not advisable.
c) Cells in parallel
 E r and 1  1
req  r
E eq 
 1r
for identical cells
E nE
i 
r  R r  nR
n
if r >> R then connecting cells in parallel is not advisable.
d) Mixed combination of identical cells (battery) with m rows in parallel, each
containing n cells in series.
nr
E eq   nE and req  
m
NE
i where N = mn
mR  nr
i is maximum if nr  mR and
mE
i max 
2r

4. Effects of current
a) Thermal effect
V2
i) P  Vi  i 2R 
R
ii) time taken by two coils to produce same amount of heat
in series
t s  t1  t 2

Srivastava’s SCO 18, 2nd Floor, Sec. 20 D, CHANDIGARH.

Ph : 0172-6543210
MARATHON-10
75
Current Electricity & Electrical Conduction

in parallel
t1t 2
tp 
t1  t 2
iii) A battery produces maximum power in external resistance if internal
resistance of battery is same as external resistance
E2
Pmax 
4r
iv) Fuse wire : Low melting point & low resistance wire melts if current
goes beyond its rated limit. Its current rating
3
i  r 2,
i T2

b) Chemical effect
i) Farad's 1st law :
m  q  m  zq
ii) Farad's 2nd law :
m Eq
E
iii) F  = 96500 C = Ne (one mole of charge)
z

5. Thermoelectricity
a) Seebeck effect
i) Thermo emf
E   T   1  T 
2
2

Tn

Ti
Thot
Tc

ii) Thermoelectric power

dE
S      T 
dT
T  Tc
iii) Tn  i
2
b) Peltier effect
peltier coefficient
dH
  J C1
dq
c) Thomson effect
thomson's coefficient
1 dH
 
T dq
thomson's coefficient for led (Pb) is zero
d) Relation between thermoelectric coefficients
  TS

Srivastava’s SCO 18, 2nd Floor, Sec. 20 D, CHANDIGARH.

Ph : 0172-6543210
 MARATHON-10
76
Current Electricity & Electrical Conduction

dS
  T
dT
6. Solutions of simple circuits :
a) At a junction (node) in a circuit, the incoming current equals the outgoing
current. In other words, the algebraic sum of the currents entering any
junction point in a circuit is zero.
b) The algebraic sum of the changes in potential around any closed path is zero.
c) In an electrical circuit the sum of the effects of individual cells is same as the
effect when all of them present simultaneously.
7. Growth and decay of current in RC circuit (transient behavior)
a) Charging circuit
C R

A
i
K
E
i) time constant of circuit   RC .
E t
ii) i  e RC
R
 
t

iii) Vc  E 1  e RC 
 
 
t

iv) q  q max 1  e RC 
 
2
 
t

v) U  1 CE 2 1  e RC 
2
 
E  RC
2

t

2t

vi) P   e  e RC 
R  
V2
vii) P is maximum at t  RC ln 2 and Pmax 
4R
8. b) Discharging circuit
C R
+ 
A
i
K
t
V0 
i) i e RC

R
t

ii) Vc  V0e RC

t

iv) q  CV0e RC

2t

v) U  1 CV0 2e RC
2

Srivastava’s SCO 18, 2nd Floor, Sec. 20 D, CHANDIGARH.

Ph : 0172-6543210