Physics

Lect. No. 11
“Electric Current, and AC Circuits”

Dr. Fadhil A. Umran

Department of Radiology Tech.
Al-Nisour University College

2019-2020
ELECTRIC CURRENT  
When charges move in a direction perpendicular to a
surface of area A (The area could be the cross-sectional
area of a wire, for example).
The current is the rate at which charge flows through
this surface.
Suppose Q is the amount of charge that flows through an
area A in a time interval t and that the direction of
flow is perpendicular to the area. Then the average
current Iav is equal to the amount of charge divided by
the time interval:
Current is composed of individual moving charges, so
for an extremely low current, it is conceivable that a
single charge could pass through area A in one instant
and no charge in the next instant. All currents, then, are
essentially averages over time.
The instantaneous current I is the limit of the average
current as the time interval goes to zero:

Note that one ampere of current is equivalent to one

coulomb of charge passing through the cross-sectional
area in a time interval of 1 s.
RESISTANCE, RESISTIVITY,   AND OHM’S LAW
Resistance and Ohm’s Law:
When a voltage (potential difference) V is applied across
the ends of a metallic conductor as in Figure below the
current in the conductor is found to be proportional to the
applied voltage; I V.
∆V = IR
where the proportionality constant R is called the
resistance of the conductor.

Resistance has SI units of volts per ampere, called ohms .

 Figure. A uniform conductor of length L and cross-sectional
area A.
Resistivity
The resistance of an conductor increases with length,
which makes sense because the electrons going through
it must undergo more collisions in a longer conductor.
A smaller cross-sectional area also increases the
resistance of a conductor, just as a smaller pipe slows
the fluid moving through it.
The resistance, then, is proportional
  to the conductor’s
length l and inversely proportional to its cross-sectional
area A,

where the constant of proportionality, , is called the

resistivity of the material.
Every material has a characteristic resistivity that
depends on its electronic structure, and on temperature.
Good electric conductor has very low resistivity, and
good insulator has very high resistivity.
Problem (a) Calculate the resistance
  per unit length of a
Nichrome wire of radius 0.321 mm. (b) If a potential
difference of 10.0 V is maintained across a 1.00-m length
of the Nichrome wire, what is the current in the wire?
Where resistivity of the material is
Calculate the resistance per unit length., and find the
cross-sectional area of the wire:
SOURCES OF EMF
A current is maintained in a closed circuit by a source of emf.1
Among such sources are any devices (for example, batteries
and generators) that increase the potential energy of the
circulating charges. A source of emf can be thought of as a
“charge pump” that forces electrons to move in a direction
opposite the electrostatic field inside the source.
The emf e of a source is the work done per unit charge; hence,
the SI unit of emf is the volt.
Consider the circuit in Figure .1 consisting of a battery
connected to a resistor. If the internal resistance of the battery
is neglected, then the potential drop across the battery (the
terminal voltage) equals the emf of the battery. Because a real
battery always has some internal resistance r, however, the
terminal voltage is not equal to the emf.
As the charge passes from the negative
  to the positive terminal of
the battery, the potential of the charge increases by . As the charge
moves through the resistance r,
however, its potential decreases by the amount Ir, where I is the
current in the circuit.

(a) (b)

Figure.1. circuit consisting of a resistor connected to the terminals of a battery.

(b) A circuit diagram of a source of emf 𝜀 having internal resistance r connected to an
external resistor R.
The terminal voltage of the battery,
  - , is therefore given by

𝜀 is equal to the terminal voltage when the current is zero,

called the open-circuit voltage.
But, the terminal voltage ∆𝑉 must also equal the potential
difference across the external resistance R, often called the
load resistance, ∆𝑉= IR

The above equation shows that the current in this simple

circuit depends on both the resistance external to the battery
and the internal resistance of the battery.
RESISTORS IN SERIES
When two or more resistors such as R1 and R2 are
connected end to end to a battery as in it R2.as it is
shown in Figure.2, they are said to be in series. The
current will be the same in the two resistors because any
charge that flows through R1 must also flow through R2.

Figure 2. A series connection of two resistors, R1 and R2. The currents in the
resistors are the same, and the equivalent resistance of the combination is given
by Req = R1+R2.
Because the potential difference
  between a and b equals IR1
and the potential difference between b and c equals IR2, the
potential difference between a and c is

the sum of the potential differences across the resistors is

equal to the total potential difference across the combination.
Applying Ohm’s law to the equivalent resistor, Req
V = IReq
IReq = I(R1 + R2)
Req = R1 + R2 (series combination)
The equivalent resistance of three or more resistors
connected in series is
Req = R1 + R2 + R3 + ---------
RESISTORS IN PARALLEL
consider two resistors connected in parallel, as it is shown
in Figure 3. In this case the potential differences across
the resistors are the same because each is connected
directly across the battery terminals.
The currents are generally not the same.
the current splits into two parts: I1, flowing through R1;
and I2, flowing through R2. If R1 is greater than R2, then I1
is less than I2
the current I that enters point a must equal the total
current I1 + I2 leaving that point
I = I1 + I 2
 (a) (b) (C )

Figure 3. (a) A parallel connection of two light bulbs with resistances R1

and R2. (b) Circuit diagram for the two resistor circuit. The potential
differences across R1 and R2 are the same. (c) The equivalent resistance
of the combination is given by the reciprocal relationship
1/Req = 1/R1 1/R2.
Problem. Three resistors are connected in parallel as in
Figure below. A potential difference of 18 V is maintained
between points a and b. (a) Find the current in each
resistor. (b) Calculate the power delivered to each resistor
and the total power.
(c) Find the equivalent resistance of the circuit. (d) Find
the total power delivered to the equivalent resistance.
(a) Apply Ohm’s law, solved   for the current I delivered
by the battery to find the current in each resistor:

Apply Ƥ = R to each resistor, substituting the results

from part (a):
( c)