EMF and Internal

Resistance
Electricity Lesson 8

Learning Objectives

To know why the pd of a cell in use

is less than its emf.

To know how to measure the internal

resistance of a cell.

To know how to calculate how much

power is wasted in a cell.

Question

What is the difference between emf

and potential difference?

Answer

Emf is the total energy supplied to

the circuitper unit charge by the
source.

pd is the energy per unit charge

converted to other energies by the
components.

Electromotive Force

The energy supplied to a circuit by a battery is

given by:

W is the energy in J, Q is the charge in C, is the

emf in volts (NOT Newtons).

No circuit at all is 100 % efficient. Some energy

is dissipated in the wires, or even in the battery
itself.

Internal Resistance

The internal resistance of a source is the

loss of potential difference per unit
current in the source when current
passes through the wire.

It is caused by the opposition to the flow

of charge through the source.

We will use the symbol r to represent

internal resistance.

Terminal pd

The electrical energy per unit charge

delivered by the source when it is in a
circuit.

The terminal pd, V, is less than the emf, ,

whenever current passes through the
source.

The difference is the lost pd, v, due to the

internal resistance of the source.

Circuit Diagram

A simple circuit

In this circuit the

voltmeter reads (very
nearly) the emf.

(A perfect voltmeter
has infinite
resistance. A digital
multimeter has a very
high resistance, so
needs a tiny current;
it is almost perfect. )

Add a resistor

This time we find that

the terminal voltage
goes down to V.
Since V is less than E,
this tells us that not all
of the voltage is being
transferred to the
outside circuit; some is
lost due to the internal
resistance which heats
the battery up.
Emf = Useful volts +
Lost volts

Including internal
resistance

The resistors are

connected in series.

So total resistance
is:R+r

Current through
the cell:-

Rr

Lost pd

So the cell

I ( R r ) IR Ir

In other words:-

cell emf the terminal pd the ' lost' pd

In energy terms the lost pd is the energy

per coulomb dissipated or wasted inside
the cell due to the internal resistance.

Lost pd

The terminal pd
can be calculated
using:-

V IR

The equation
becomes:-

The lost pd can be

calculated using:-

v Ir

IR Ir V v

Worked Example

A battery of emf 12 volts and

internal resistance 0.5 ohms is
connected to a 10 ohm resistor.
What is the current and what is the
terminal voltage of the battery under
load?

Worked Example
Diagram

Step 1

Treat the circuit as a perfect battery in

series with an internal resistor. The
circuit becomes:

Worked Solution
Step 2: Work out the total resistance
R tot = R1 + R2 = 10 ohms + 0.5 ohms =
10.5 ohms
Step 3: Now work out the current:I =
V/R = 12 10.5 = 1.14 A

Step 4: work out the voltage across the

internal resistor (lost voltage): v = Ir =
1.14 amps 0.5 ohms = 0.57 volts

Worked Solution

Step 5: work out the terminal voltage:

Terminal voltage = emf - lost voltage
= 12 - 0.57 = 11.43 volts

We can of course work out the

terminal voltage by working the
voltage across the 10 ohm resistor,
assuming there are no losses.