8.

022 (E&M) Lecture 7

Topics:
Electrical currents
Conductivity and resistivity
Ohms law in microscopic and macroscopic form

Electric current I
Consider a region in which there is a flow of charges:
E.g. cylindrical conductor

We define a current:
the charge/unit time flowing through a certain surface

I=

dQ
dt

Units:
cgs: esu/s
SI: C/s=ampere (A)
Conversion: 1 A = 2.998 x 109 esu/s
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8.022 Lecture 7

Current density J
Number density: n = #charges / unit volume
Velocity of each charge: u

ut

A
Current flowing through area A: I = Q / t
where Q= q x number of charges in the prism

I=

Q qN qnV prism qnA cos ut

=
=
=
= qnu i A = J i A
t
t
t
t

Where we defined the current density J as: J qnu

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8.022 Lecture 7

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: =volume charge densi
ty

More realistic case

We made a number of unrealistic assumptions:
only 1 kind of charge carriers: we could have several, e.g.: + and ions
u assumed to be the same for all particles: unrealistic!
regular surface with J constant on it

Multiple charge carriers:

J qk nk uk k uk
k

E.g.: solution with different kind of ions

NB: + ion with velocity uk is equivalent to ion with velocity -uk

Velocity:
Not all charges have the same velocity

average velocity

J qk nk uk k uk
k

uk =

1
Nk

(u )

k i

Arbitrary surface S, arbitrary J: I =

J idA
S

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8.022 Lecture 7

Non standard currents

We usually think of currents as electrons moving inside a conductor
This is only one of the many examples!

Other kinds of currents

Ions in solution such as Salt (NaCl) in water (Demo F5)

+
+
+
+

Cl-

Na+

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8.022 Lecture 7

The continuity equation

A current I flows through the closed surface S:
Some charge enters
Some charge exits

What happens to the charge after it enters?

Piles up inside
Leaves the surface

J i dA =

Qinside
t

J
J

NB: - because dA points outside the surface

Apply Gausss theorem and obtain continuity equation:

J i dA = i JdV

S
V

Q inside =

dV
t V
t
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i J + t dV

8.022 Lecture 7

= 0 iJ +

=0
t
6

Thoughts on continuity equation

Continuity equation:

=0
t

What does it teach us?

i J +

J
S

J
J

Conservation of electric charges in presence of currents

For steady currents:
no accumulation of charges inside the surface: d/dt=0

i J = 0
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8.022 Lecture 7

Microscopic Ohms law

Electric fields cause charges to move
Experimentally, it was observed by Ohm that

J =E
Microscopic version of Ohms law:
It reflects the proportionality between E and J in each point
Proportionality constant: conductivity

More stuff here please

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8.022 Lecture 7

Macroscopic Ohms law

Current is flowing in a uniform material of length L in
uniform electric field E // L
J

L
Potential difference between two ends: V=EL
Ohms law J=E holds in every point:

J =E

I
V
=
A
L

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V = IR

where

L
A

8.022 Lecture 7

Resistance R
Proportionality constant between V and R in Ohms law
L
L
R

A
A
Units: [V]=[R][I]
SI: Ohm () = V/A
cgs: s/cm

Dependence on the geometry:

Inversely proportional to A and proportional to L

Dependence on the property of the material:

Inversely proportional to conductivity
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8.022 Lecture 7

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Resistivity
Resistivity = 1/
Describes how fast electrons can travel in the material
Units: in SI: m; in cgs: s

Depends on chemistry of material, temperature,

Demos F1 and F4
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Resistivity vs. Temperature

Does resistivity depend on T?
Demos F1 and F4

Why?
Room temperature:
depends upon collisional processes
when T increases
more collisions

T
increases

Very low temperature:

Mean free path dominated by impurities or defects in the
~ constant with temperature.
material
With sufficient purity, some metals become superconductors
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8.022 Lecture 7

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Application:

Resistance of a spherical shell

2 concentric spheres; material in between has resistivity

Difference in potential V
current
inner=V; outer=0

Q: what is the resistance R?

Microscopic Ohm will hold: J=E

spherical potential: ( r ) = A + B
Spherical symmetry
r
Boundary conditions: (a)=V and (b)=0

V
a

V=0

a
ab 1

b
a
r
b
a

ab 1
ab 1
E=-grad(): E ( r ) = V
r J = V
b a r2
b a r2
ba
ab
V
V
I = J i dA = J i A = 4 V
R= =
=
ab
b
a
I

4
ab
Sphere
4 V
b
a

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8.022 Lecture 7

(r ) = V

13

What if is not constant?

Cylindrical wire made of 2 conductors with conductivity 1 and 2
I

What is the consequence?

Current flowing must be the same in the whole cylinder

I = A 1 E1 = A 2 E2
Electric fields are different in the 2 regions
E discontinuous
surface layer q at the boundary

q =

Esurface
4

E2 E1 I ( 2 1 )
=
4
4 A

When conductivity changes there is the possibility that some charge accumulates
somewhere. This is necessary to maintain steady flow.
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Thoughts on Ohms law

Ohms law in microscopic formulation: J = E
In plain English:
A constant electric field creates a steady current:
Does this make sense? F = ma E a

Ev

Charges are moving in an effectively viscous medium

As sky diver in free fall: first accelerate, then reach constant v
Why? Charges are accelerated by E but then bump into nuclei
and are scattered
the average behavior is a uniform drift

E
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Motion of electrons in conductor

N electrons are moving in a material immersed in E
Two components contribute to the momentum:
Random collision velocity u0:
Impulse due to electric field:

pRandom = mu0

pE = qEt

The average momentum is:

1 N
1 N
1 N
p = m u = (mui + qEti ) = m ui + qE ti
N i =1
N i =1
N i =1
N

For large N:

i =1

m u =

qE N
ti qE
N i =1

ti is the average time between 2 collisions

Where
i =1
Property of the material
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Conductivity
From this derivation we can read off the conductivity
J = nq u

m u = qE

J = nq

qE
= E
m

nq 2
m

For multiple carriers:

N

=
i =1

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nk qk 2 k
mk

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