6 Current of Electricity What You TT Tay SE ea reer vated og BO eae ese Seale aa een FE Bere ee a Deere ALU) temperature? Lighting displays in Singapore are a common sight. This dazzling display of lights will not be possible without electric currents. Ironically, we cannot see electric currents in most instances. We only recog} when it flows through other objects. In our modern lives, as we lear how to harness and control it, electric currents has brought about many conveniences. It enables us to use our smartphones and the Internet. Electric currents also ‘occurs in nature and is all around us. What are electri currents and how can we understand it? 285Chapter Electricity and Magnetism: >) You willlearn more about subatomic partidesin Chapter 22. 286 Learning Outcomes + State that current isthe rate of flow of charge and that itis measured in amperes + Distinguish between conventional current and electron flow. + Recall and apply the relationship charge = current x time to new situations or to solve related problems State that the electromotive force (e.m,f) ofa source is the work done per unit charge by the source in driving charges around a complete circuit and that itis measured in volts, + Calculate the total exm.f where several sources are arranged in series. State that the potential difference (pd) across a component in a circuit isthe work done per Unit charge in driving charges through the component and that itis measured in volts. Electric currents bring about convenience to modern living. Smartphones, room lighting and air conditioners can function through manipulation and control of electric currents. Increasingly, different modes of transport such as trains, trams and automobiles, are operated electrically. Electric currents also occur in nature, such as the lightning in a thunderstorm, the northem lights (Figure 16.1)and synapses in our body. There is just no escape from electric currents in our daily lives. 116.1 Charged particles are generated when acloud of gas ejected from the sun collides with Earth's ic field. These charge particles callide with oxygen and nitrogen inthe atmosphere and produce the rmajesticaurora borealis ornrthem lights To understand electric current, we need to know what an electric charge is. An electric charge is a property that many subatomic particles and ions possess. A subatomic particle such as an election possesses a negative charge while an ion may possess a positive or negative charge. When these charges move, an electric current is produced.Current of Electricity © Chapter 16 > Electric current isthe rate of flow of electric charge. ‘Mathematically, we write: bine where I= current (A) ‘The Sl unitfor current is ampere (A) 0 coulomb (C) per second (s).One ampere is the electric current produced when one coulomb of charge nt in one second (Figure 16.2). Figure 16.2 An ampereis the flow of one coulomb through an area in one second. ‘Note that coulomb is a derived unit. Ampere is an SI base unit. One coulomb is equal to the amount of charge when one ampere of current flows for one second. One coulomb Is approximately equal to the charge 0f625 x 10" protons. The charge on each proton is about 1.60 x 10°C. Conventional Current and Electron Flow Electric current is the rate of flow of charge and not charged particles. Charged particles may have difierent amounts of charges. Calcium ions, for instance, have two positive charges per particle. Before electrons were discovered, it was thought that electricity was 2 flow of positive charges only. This was proven wrong with the discovery of electrons. Nevertheless, the convention Is to consider the flow of current ‘as the flow of positive charges. The direction of flow of posttive charges isdescribed as the conventional currant, which assumes that positive charges flow out of the positive terminal of a battery to the negative terminal (Figure 16.3). — =. Lm conventional curent Figure 16.3 Conventional current versus election flow Disciplinary Idea ‘charge, that is the amount of charge transfor per unit time. 287Chapter 16 # Electricity and Magnetism An electric clreult isa closed path connected with metal wires usually made from coppet. It ‘comprises a source, such as a battery, and a network of electrical components, such a5 a light bulb. In the electric circuit in Figure 16.3, electric current is caused by the flow of electrons. Helpful Note ‘The flow of electrons from the negative terminal of the battery to the positive terminalis a ‘opposite to the conventional current. This movement of electrons in the electrical circuit is Adguimitmtrs hen setcron tow instrument that can measure maltple ‘The direction of the current in a circuit is that of the conventional current and not the electron {uunttic suchas wllge, ‘flow. The “direction” here's not a vector direction. Infact, electric current is a scalar quantity Surreal and resistance The numercal measured —_ElectrIc current can be measured by an ammeter of a digital mult-meter (Figure 16.4). ‘values are shown ona dial dspay. (rE lagu oy a a © Figure 16.4Beth the a) analogue ammeter and (b) adiital multimeter ‘are used in measuring electric current. >) ‘Te anmete connected it satay nan lari ccu to measure the magnitude of elect ‘current flowing in the circuit. An ideal ammeter is one that has zero resistance. Figure 16.5 shows how an ammeter is used to measure the current flowing an electric circuit. Figure 16.5 An ammeter is used te measure the current flowing through a ight bulb. Worked Example 168 In Figure 165, if the switch has been closed for 0.5 hours and the current flowing in the The resistance f of a component isthe ratio of the potential difference tectrons of the ‘across ito the current lowing through It component. which intur resists ‘Mathematically, we write: low acrozthe > ad component. There are mony electrons Where g = resistance of the component (0) taking diferent V=pad across the component (V) Laan current flowing through the component (A) time Resistance is a scalar quantity. The SI unit of resistance is ohm (@). which is ‘named after the German scientist Georg Simon Ohm. From this equation, we can see that for 2 fixed voltage, the higher the resistance g, the smaller the electric current J This is intuitive, given that resistance would impede the flow of electric charge. 293Chapter16 # Figure 16.14 These resistors called 294 Electricity and Magnetism - Worked Example 16¢ ‘Anelecttic iron is connected to a wall socket and has a potential ifterence of 240 V applied across its heating coll. What isits resistance if a current of 8 A flows through it? ‘Thought Process ‘The resistance of the heating coll Is the ratio of Its potential difference to the current flowing through it. Both values are given. Answer ‘The resistance f of the heating coll is glven by: Ra Resistors A resistor is a conductor or an insulator that has high resistance. It s used ina circuit to control ‘the amount of currant. Some rasistors are shown in Figure 16.14, There are two typas of resistors — fixed and variable. ‘A fixed resistor has a fixed value. tis made of a mixture of finely powdered carbon and ‘ceramic, held together by a resin. The ratio of the mixture gives tise to different resistor values. These values are marked with colour bands on the resistor as shown in Figure 1 Resistors can have resistances that range from a few ohms to several million ohms. \Vatiable resistors, as the name suggests, can have different values of resistances. Examples of variable resistors are the rheostat and potentiometer (Figure 16.15). )Rheostat (©) Potentiometers Figure 16.15 Different types of vaiableresisiorsCurrent of Electricity " Chapter 16 ‘The basic construction of all variable resistors is the same. Different resistance values can beset by moving the slider along the metal rod to change the length of wire through which current flows through (Figure 16.16. metaod SIC Cotrane 2 + cument out Figure 16.16 The resistance of variable resistor can be varied by moving the sider along themetal red. Resistance of Objects ‘The resistance of an object depends on its shape and the material Itis ‘made of. To get an insight into how resistance is dependent onits shape, consider a cylindrical resistor (Figure 16.17) Acar a! =Ieng Pom Figure 16.17 Agylindrcal resistor oflength? and cross-sectional area A ‘As you might expect, the longer the cylinder, the more collisions the electrons will make with its particles. Hence, the resistance Rof the ‘oylindrical resistor is directly proportional to the length of the cylinder. (On the other hand, the larger the cross-sectional area A of the cylinder, the reater the number of electrons that can flow through it. Therefore. the resistance p of the cylindrical resistor is inversely proportional to the area of the cylinder 4. ‘Mathematically, we write R* and R* 1. Combining these two relationships, we have: Dm Roky where kis a constant, We define a constant p as the resistivity of a substance that depends on ‘hat the material is composed of The equation now becomes: aed Rearranging the equation: p= 295Chapter 16 # Electricity and Magnetism Helpful Note ‘Thereisnaneedto convert the values ofthe cose sectional reas to Stnissince weare only Interested the ra, 296 From p= a4, we can see that resistvityls the resistance of a material for a unit area per unit langth. nother words, resistivity is independent of the shape or size of the material In fact, resistivity san intrinsic property of a material. The Si unit of resistivity is ohm metre (Cm). ‘The resistivity of some materials can be found in Table 16.2. pe ca measured at 20°C eee o_o 16x10" 49x10" copper 17x10" nichrome 100x 10° tungsten 55x10" graphite 3000 x10 iron 98x10% polythene about 10% Materials with low resistivities are good conductors of electricity. Copper is a common metal ‘that has low resistivity and is often made into wires since electric current can flow easily through copper. Materials with high resistivities are poor conductors of electricity. Such materials generate alot of heat and can be used for heating purposes. Worked Example 16D \Wite P and wire Q are both made from the same materials. They are 10 mlong, The resistance of wire P is 75.0 andiits cross-sectional area is 0.1 mm. If wire P has a cross-sectional area of 1 mm’, what isthe resistance of wire 0? ‘Thought Process since wire P and Qare made from the same material, they have the same value of constant k. As the length of both wires are the same, the differance in the resistances of the wires is only dependent on the cross-sectional areas. Answer ne For wire P and wire O, we can write the relationship as: 8, = 3 y= RA, — (Il) . he ak a7 Foto) since the wire are of the same material, k,=ky Equating equations 1 and 2:3 = 3 aoCurrent of Electricity © Chapter 16 While we assume that the resistance of most metals is independent of temperature, itis not. The resistance of most metals increases linearly with temperature (Figure 16.18) For instance, the resistance of lead increases from R, to R, when temperature increases from, tot,. This is because at hhigher temperatures, the metallic ions vibrate more vigorously about their fixed positions. This increases the number of collisions between the free ‘electrons and the metallic ions, which in turn opposes or siows down the flow of electrons. Temperature °C Figure 16.18 The resistance of most metal increases neatly with temperature, Recall that resistance p =-¥. We can rearrange this equation to forma relationship between voltage and current, thatis, V=/R. The amount of current is directly proportional to the potential difference V applied ‘across a material with resistance R. When a material exhibits this linear relationship between pd. Vand current £ itis sald to be ohmic. Figure 16.19 shows the I-y characteristic graph of an ohmic conductor at constant temperature. uA ‘The voltage across a conductor Is directly proportional to the current flowing through it. This is provided that all physical conditions and ‘temperature remain constant. Conductors that do not havea direct proportional relationship between v and Fare known as non-ohmic conductors. This is because the resistances of these conductors change as their temperature changes. A tungsten filament lamp is an example of a non-ohmic conductor. The resistance ‘of tungsten increases as temperature increases, Other examples of non- ‘ohmic conductors are diodes and negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors. sciplinary Idea ‘Microscopic modelscan ‘exphin macroscopic Phenomena In ametal conductor, increased electical resistance of metals with increased temperature is ‘dieto increased colisions between mobile dectrons and the fixed positive ions. Helpful Note “This -v graph soln because « isle, or basa consant gradient; and + Passes through the orig ‘oe tha the restance Ie given by the recprocl othe gralentand a Constant “Thisrdaborshp between Vand risknownas Ohn'slaw Word Alert Diodes devie that allows cartel to low inone lection but not the other “Thermistor:thermal resistor; a resistor whose resistance depends on 297Chapter 16! Electicity and Magnetism Table 16.3 shows the Fy characteristic graphs of a filament lamp and a semiconductor diode. “able 16.3 -¥ characteristics ofa lament lamp and semiconductor diode ee ee filament lamp uN As clectiiccurrentincreases, more eneray is wansferted ‘from the chemical potential store ofthe battery to the internal store ofthe filament. This in tumnincreases the resistance of the filament. “which limit the rate of increace of current. The ratio of Vto shows the increase of flament resistance. When a positive veltage is applied to the anode ofa diode, a large current flows. We say that the resistance in ‘the forward direction is very low. In the reverse direction. then a positive voltage is applied to the cathode of diode, the current is very low (or almost zero, The resistance isvery Let's Investigate 16A Alm ‘To determine the resistance of an unknown ohmic resistor using a voltmeter and an ammeter Procedure 1 Set up the apparatus according to the circuit diagram in Figure 16.20. 2 Adjust the rheostat to the maximum resistance so that the initial current is small This also minimises heating of the theostat. +3 Record the ammeter (7) and voltmeter (v) readings. ammeter 4 Adjust the rheostat to reduce the current by 1A. Record the ammeter and voltmeter V readings. @) v 5 Repeat step 4 to obtain four more readings. 6 Plot V/V against // A. Determine the gradient of, thegeeph ‘vetimetar Observation ww iment set ‘The plot of v/V against 1/ Ais todteonane the linear and the gradient gives the value ofthe resistance (Figure 1621). JIA Figure 16.21 -V graph 298Current of Electricity © Chapter 16 ‘Questions ‘TIfL/ Awas plotted against v/ V, how can the resistance be determined? 2 Does the graph begin at the origin? If the graph hasa non-zero yrintercept value, is Ohms law being observed? 3 What are the possible sources of error? Let's Practise 16.2 1 The maximum resistance of potentiometer yy shown in Figure 16.22 is 270.0. If the full range “™P* ofthe knob of the potentiometer is 270° what Is the resistance when the knob is turned to 100°? 2 Acompany makes two different models of electric kettles, model C and model D. Both models use different lengths of the same heating elemant. The resistance of the heating element of model Cis 60 Qandits length is 10m, If the length of the heating element of ‘model Dis 12m, what is the resistance? Tech Connect ‘When two sheets of graphene are stacked on topof each other at ust the correct ange, their electrical property can change drastically, from non-conductive 'o| ‘superconductive. This behaviour was first postulated by physicist Antonio Casiro [Neto who stated tht some new electrical properties may be obtained when two misaligned graphene sheets ae tacked together. Since then, other scientists have ‘been hunting for this “magic” angle and this hae given rise to the emerging field of Figure 16.23 By stacking one graphene cheet on “Twistronics. What are some posible uses of this new material? another a a"magic” angie, a superconductor can be obtained, Cool Career Applied Superconductor Researcher lil spercondctor researcher is esearch ces that investigates hhow to apply or use supercenductors. A superconductor isa conductor with ‘very or o residance (igure 1624), Superconductors can be used in evel pplication For instance superconductors can potatlly be wid tobi Tow ‘lage wansnsion ley, magellan ais fs dtl cuts deck: ‘motors. resent day superconductvty can enybeacheved when ally metal are cooled belowa critcal sub-zero temperature, which makes them unslbe fr {eal-world applications. Honeer, as new mtr propetesare bring discover, the use of superconductivity in practical applications are within grasp. The applied. Figure 16.24 A superconductor hovering ‘searcher explores ways in wich these appcationscaa be tarne iio reat corte over a strip of magnetic tracksChapter 16! Electricity and Magnetism ead Electric fericig (SI unit: A) Potential difference (Stunit: v) y= Filament lamp Flow of positive charge is known as convectional currant Emé. (Slunit:V) Ww where 2 w= work done by source to drive unit charge ‘around the circuitCurrent of Electricity © Chapter 16 Section A: Multple-cholce Questions ‘When a car engine is cranked, 20 A of current is drawn by the starter motor in 20 ms, What Is the charge flowing through the starter motor? JA 04nC B 40uC © 04me Od 04c 2. Which of the following Is the Z-y characteristic of an ohmic conductor? O« uA | wiv w vv oT vw 3 Acharged cloud carrying a charge of 12000 was discharged in § ms ina flash of lightring. What isthe current flowing into the ground? a 108 400A Je 1x 108A Op 4x10 4 Aresistor with resistance fis made from ‘a material with length?. Ifa resistor with, resistance of 2R is made from thesame material and its cross-sectional area remains unchanged, what is the length 5 Acomponent is found te have !-y characteristics shown in Figure 16.25. ‘What is this component likely to be? UK ary viv Figure 16.25 QA fixed resistor JB rheostat Jc lament amp JD. semiconductor diode Section B: Structured Questions 1 Iselectromotive force a kind of force? Distinguish between electromotive force and potential difference. 2 Anelectriceel can discharge about 500 mA of current for about 2 ms. Find ‘the amount of charge that is generated. 301Chapter 16 302 1 Electricity and Magnetism 3, Wire wound resistors of different values are made of different lengths of resistance wire enclosed by a ceramic casing, Figure 16.26 shows the internal construction of a wite wound resister. Togeta resistance of 1000, 2m of resistance wire is required. What is the length of resistance wire of a 470 0 wire one restr vere SE cmetn i ts a a a Se Fw 136 4. Transmission lines carry electricity from distant power stations to cities (Figure 16.27). Transmission lines are usually made of copper. The distance from a power station to city A is 100km, and the resistance of the transmission line ies used is resistance 5.0. (a) I the same transmission line wire is, used to connact the power station tocityB 150 km away, calculate the resistance of the transmission line wire used. (b) Suggest one way to reduce the ‘esistance. Explain your answer. Figure 16.27 ‘Section C: Free-response Questions 1 Adriver forgot to tum ofthis car's headlights, When he returns to his car ‘the next morning, he found the car battery to be completely flat. (a) Define electromotive force. (b) Ifthe currentdrawn by the headlight is constant at 2, and the battery operated for 8 hours, find the charge passing through the headlights. (c) What i the work done by the 12 battery, assuming that the wires connecting the battery to the headlights have zero resistance? (a) When the driver touched his headlights, they felt ht. Would you expect the resistance of the filament to stay constant? Provide a ‘microscopic explanation why or why not for your answer. ‘Atechaician found that there isa constant current of 0.1 Aina filament lamp when connected to a 12V battery. He also found that the work done by the filament is 300 J over a five-minute period. (a) Calculate the charge flowing through the lamp during the five-minute period. (&) Calculate the pd. across the lamp. (c)_ Explain the difference between pa. and ems. inthis case. (a) The technician left the lamp operating for 10 hours and found that thas dimmed considerably. He ‘measured the p.d. across the lamp and found itto be just 4 V. Using the Z-v characteristic graph forthe filament lamp shown in Figure 16.28, calculate the charge flowing inthe lamp over a five-minute period. (e) Determine the resistance of the lamp. sm 2. ae eo Figure 16.23