PHYSICS 3: ELECTRICITY AND

MAGNETISM

Phan Hiền Vũ
Department of Physics - IU VNU-HCM
Office: A1.503
Email: phvu@hcmiu.edu.vn
Chapter 3: Current and Resistance.
Direct Current Circuits.
3.1. Electric Current
3.2. Resistance and Resistivity
3.3. Ohm’s Law and a Microscopic View of Ohm’s Law
3.4. Semiconductors and Superconductors
3.5. Work, Energy, and Emf
3.6. Kirchhoff’s Rules
3.7. Resistors in Series and in Parallel
3.8. RC Circuits

2
3.1. Electric Current:
3.1.1. Definition:
• Figure a shows an isolated conducting loop,
all points of the loop have the same
potential
• If we insert a battery in the loop (figure b),
the loop is no longer at a single potential
Electric fields exert forces on the electrons,
causing them to move and thus
establishing a current
• In a very short time, the electron flow
reaches a constant value and we say “the
current is in its steady state”, it means it
does not vary with time dq
• The current i is defined: i 
dt
dq: charge passes through a plane (e.g., aa’)
in time dt
3
• So, the charge passes through the plane in a time
interval t:
t
q   dq   idt
0

• For a steady-state, the current is the same for

planes aa’, bb’, and cc’ regardless of their location
and orientation.
• SI unit: 1 ampere = 1 A = 1 coulomb per second
= 1 C/s
• If a current i0 splitting at a junction into two
branches, because charge is conserved, therefore:

i0  i1  i2
Note: bending or reorienting the wires in space does
not change the validity the equation above

4
Problem 1. During the 4.0 min a 5.0 A current is set up in a wire,
how many (a) coulombs and (b) electrons pass through any cross
section across the wire's width?

(a) We have:

q  it  5  4  60  1200 (C )
(b) The number of electrons:

q 1200
N  19
 7.5 10 21

e 1.6 10

5
3.1.2. The Directions of Currents:
• We represent a current with an arrow to indicate that charge is
moving
• The current arrows show the direction in which positively charged
particles, which are called charge carriers, move from the positive
terminal to the negative terminal of a battery. However, the charge
carriers in the wires are electrons (negative charge) and they move
in the opposite direction to the current arrows
• But we follow the convention:

A current arrow is drawn in the direction in which positive charge

carriers would move, even if the actual charge carriers are negative
and move in the opposite direction

6
Checkpoint 1: The figure shows a portion of a circuit. What are the
magnitude and direction of the current i in the lower right-hand wire?

i0  i1  i2

N O

R
P

7
  
i   J dA

Streamlines represent
current density in the
flow of charge

i
i   JdA  J  dA  JA J
A
Note: the current from a wider conductor to a narrower one does not
change but the current density does change. It is greater in the
narrower conductor
8
Checkpoint 2: A wire that carries a current consists of three sections with
different radii. Rank the sections according to the following quantities,
greatest first: (a) current, (b) magnitude of current density.

9
Problem 12. Near Earth, the density of protons in the solar wind (a
stream of particles from the Sun) is 8.70 cm-3, and their speed is 470
km/s. (a) Find the current density of these protons. (b) If Earth's
magnetic field did not deflect the protons, what total current would
Earth receive?

(a) We have: J  nqvd

J  8.7 10 6 1.6 10 19  470 10 3
J  6.54 10 7 ( A / m 2 )

(b) The current i: i  JA

A is Earth’s cross-sectional area that the beam of protons encounters

i  RE2 J  3.14  (6.37 10 6 ) 2  6.54 10 7

i  8.33 10 7 ( A)
10
 3.1.4. Drift Speed:
• If a conductor does not have a current through it, the conduction
electrons move randomly (106 m/s)
• If an electric field is applied the electrons still move randomly but
now they tend to drift with a drift speed vd about 10-5 or 10-4 m/s

Note: the drift speed is very low compared

with the speeds of random motions
11
• Now, we find the relationship between vd and J:
We consider the equivalent drift of positive charge carriers (actually
electrons move). The total charge q of the carriers in a length L of
the wire:
n: number of carriers per unit volume the current i:

q  n  ( AL )  e

q nALe
i   nAevd
t L / vd
L
ne: charge density (C/m3)

i J  
vd   J  (ne)vd
nAe ne

12
Checkpoint 3: The figure shows conduction electrons moving leftward
in a wire. Are the following leftward or rightward: (a) the current i, (b)
the current density J, (c) the electric field E in the wire?

13
3.2. Resistance and Resistivity
3.2.1. Definition
• Resistance R is defined by the following equation:
V
R
i
SI unit: 1 ohm = 1  = 1 volt per ampere = 1 V/A
• A conductor that provides a specified resistance is called a resistor
(symbol: )
Usually, we deal not with particular objects (e.g., resistance R of an
object) but with materials represented by its resistivity defined by
the following equation
• Resistivity  of the material:

E

J
Unit: (V/m)/(A/m2) = (V/A)m = m
14
  
E  J
• The conductivity  of a material:

1


Unit: (m)-1
 
J  E

15
3.2.2. Calculating Resistance from Resistivity
First, we need to discriminate resistance from resistivity: “Resistance
is a property of an object and Resistivity is a property of a material”
• We apply a potential difference V between the ends of a wire of
length L and cross section A, resulting in a current i.
We also have:

V i
E  ;J 
L A
E V /L A L
  R R
J i/ A L A

16
Checkpoint 4: The figure shows three cylindrical copper conductors
along with their face areas and lengths. Rank them according to the
current through them, greatest first, when the same potential
difference V is placed across their lengths.

17
Problem 19. A conducting wire has a 1 mm diameter, a 2 m length, and
a 50 m resistance. What is the resistivity of the material?

The resistance of a conducting wire is calculated by:

l
R
A
3 3 2
RA 50 10  3.14  (0.5 10 )
 
l 2
  1.96 10 8 (m)

18
3.2.3. Variation of the Resistivity with Temperature
• The resistivity of a material depends on temperature. This relation
for metals is fairly linear over a broad temperature range

   0   0 (T  T0 )

0 is the resistivity at
temperature T0

 is the temperature
coefficient of resistivity

19
3.3. Ohm’s Law and a Microscopic View of Ohm’s Law
3.3.1. Ohm’s Law
The current through a device is always directly proportional to the
potential difference applied to the device

V
i
R

A linear relation between i and V A non-linear relation

20
• The essence of Ohm’s law is that the i versus V plot is linear, it
means that R is independent of V
• Therefore:
A conducting device obeys Ohm’s law when the resistance of the
device is independent of the magnitude and polarity (direction) of
the applied potential difference

• We also have:
 
E  J (analog of V = iR)

So:
A conducting material obeys Ohm’s law when the resistivity of the
material is independent of the magnitude and polarity (direction)
of the applied electric field

21
3.3.2. A Microscopic View of Ohm’s Law
Key question: Why do particular materials obey Ohm’s law?
• First, we assume that the conduction electrons in the metal are free
to move throughout the volume of a sample and they collide not
with one another but only with atoms of the metal (the free-
electron model), this is like the molecules of a gas
• In a conductor, the electrons move randomly with an effective
speed veff ~ 106 m/s. If we apply an electric field, the electrons
modify their random motions slightly and
drift very slowly in the opposite direction
to the field with a velocity vd ~ 10-7 m/s,
so vd ~ 10-13 veff
If we only consider the electron motion
due to the electric field, an acceleration:

F eE
a 
m m net displacement
22
After a typical collision, each electron will completely lose its previous
drift velocity, so between the two successive collisions:
eE
v d  a 
m
: the average time (mean free time) between the collisions

We have:
 
J  (ne)vd
So: J eE
vd  
ne m
 m 
E    J
 e n
2

23
We introduce: m

e n
2
So, we can rewrite:
 
E  J (see the definition of resistivity)

n (the number of carriers per unit volume), e and m are constant for
metals
 is hardly affected by the electric field as vd caused by the field is too
much smaller than veff
therefore for metals, their resistivity ρ is a constant, independent of
the electric field.

24
3.3.3. Power in Electric Circuits
• We consider a circuit as shown in the
figure
• In time interval dt, an amount of charge
dq moves between two terminals with a
potential difference V, its potential
energy decreases by an amount:

dU  dqV  idtV
• Power P is the rate of electric energy
transfer:
dU
P  iV
dt
Unit: 1 V.A = (1 J/C) (1 C/s) = 1 J/s = 1 W
V 2
For a resistor, we have V = iR, so:
P  i 2 R or P 
R
25
Problem 43. An unknown resistor is connected between the terminals
of a 3.00 V battery. Energy is dissipated in the resistor at the rate of
0.540 W. The same resistor is then connected between the terminals of
a 1.50 V battery. At what rate is energy now dissipated?

The power of the resistor:

2
V
P  i R or P 
2

R
V12 V22
P1  ; P2 
R R
2
 V2 
2
 1.5 
P2    P1    0.54  0.135(W )
 V1   3.0 

26
3.4. Semiconductors and Superconductors
3.4.1. Semiconductors: A semiconductor is a material with electrical
conductivity σ intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor
and an insulator, e.g., silicon

Property Copper Silicon

Type of material Metal Semiconductor
Charge carrier 8.49 x 1028 1 x 1016
density, m-3
Resistivity, Ω m 1.69 x 10-8 2.5 x 103
Temperature +4.3 x 10-3 -70 x 10-3
coefficient of
resistivity, K-1

• Silicon has many fewer charge carriers comparing to that of copper

and has a much higher resistivity
• Silicon has a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity (α < 0), so
the resistivity of silicon rapidly decreases with increasing temperature
27
 We have for both conductors and Metals
semiconductors:

m

e 2 n
• For conductors, n is nearly constant,
so the increase of temperature will
increase the collision rate, hence will Semiconductors
reduce the mean time between collisions,
τ decreases leading to an increase in ρ

• For semiconductors, n increases very

rapidly with temperature resulting in a
rapid decrease in ρ

28
 Doping of Semiconductors:
The resistivity of semiconductors can be greatly reduced by adding small
amounts of specific “impurity” atoms in a process called doping.

Doping Si with B creates deficiencies Doping Si with Sb contributes

of valence electrons (called holes), excess electrons, producing
producing p-type semiconductor n-type semiconductor

29
3.4.2. Superconductors: non-superconductive metal
Superconductors are materials
that lose all electrical resistance
at low temperatures

For example, the resistance of

mercury drops to zero at ~4 K

This phenomenon of superconductivity

plays a very important role in technology
Explanation:
According to the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory, the conduction
electrons move in coordinated pairs
One of the electrons in a pair may electrically distort the molecular
structure of the material as it moves through, creating a short-lived
concentration of positive charge. The other e- in the pair may then be
attracted toward this positive charge
This coordination would prevent collisions between electrons and
the molecules of the material, completely eliminating resistance

30
Summary
dq
• Electric current (A): i
dt
i
• Current density (A/m ):
2 J
A
 
• Drift speed (m/s ): J  ( ne)vd
2

V L
• Resistance (): R  ; computed from resistivity: R  
i A
E  
• Resistivity (.m):   E  J
J
• Variation of  with temperature:    0   0 (T  T0 )

V
• Ohm’s law: i
R 2
dU V
• Power in electric circuits (W): P  iV  i 2 R 
dt R
31
Homework:
Problems 5, 10, 24, 26, 31, 37, 47 in Chapter 26 Textbook

32