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Ohm's law, Kirchhoff's rules, and power in circuits
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Definition:
Units: 1 ampere (A) = 1 coulomb/second
Current density:
A cylindrical wire of radius r = 1.5 mm and length L = 2.0 m has resistivity ฯ = 1.7 ร 10โปโธ ฮฉยทm. (a) Find the resistance of the wire. (b) If a current I = 5.0 A flows through it, find the current density J. (c) Find the electric field inside the wire.
Given:
(a) Resistance:
Cross-sectional area:
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where is charge carrier density, is charge per carrier, is drift velocity.
Ohm's law:
Resistance:
where:
Conductivity:
Microscopic Ohm's law:
where is temperature coefficient of resistivity.
Power dissipated:
Energy:
Same current through each:
Same voltage across each:
Two resistors:
Junction rule (current):
(Charge conservation)
Loop rule (voltage):
(Energy conservation)
Real battery has internal resistance :
Maximum power to load: When (matched impedance)
Strategy:
Ammeter: Measures current, low resistance (ideally 0), in series
Voltmeter: Measures voltage, high resistance (ideally โ), in parallel
Balanced when:
No current through galvanometer.
(b) Current density:
(c) Electric field:
Using Ohm's law in differential form: where :
Alternatively: where V
In the circuit shown, a 24 V battery is connected to three resistors: Rโ = 6.0 ฮฉ, Rโ = 4.0 ฮฉ, and Rโ = 12 ฮฉ. Rโ and Rโ are in parallel, and this combination is in series with Rโ. Find: (a) the equivalent resistance, (b) the current through Rโ, and (c) the power dissipated by each resistor.
Given:
(a) Equivalent resistance:
Rโ and Rโ in parallel:
Total resistance:
(b) Current through Rโ:
Total current from battery:
(In series, all current flows through Rโ)
(c) Power dissipated:
Voltage across parallel combination:
Total power: 2.67 + 4.0 + 33.3 = 40 W = VI โ
Two batteries (ฮตโ = 12 V with internal resistance rโ = 0.5 ฮฉ, and ฮตโ = 6.0 V with rโ = 0.3 ฮฉ) are connected in parallel to an external load R = 3.0 ฮฉ. Use Kirchhoff's laws to find: (a) the current through each battery, (b) the current through R, and (c) the terminal voltage across R.
Given:
Setup:
Let Iโ = current from battery 1 (positive right) Let Iโ = current from battery 2 (positive right) Let I = current through R (positive down)
Kirchhoff's current law at top junction:
(a) & (b) Finding currents:
Loop through battery 1 and R (clockwise):
Loop through battery 2 and R (clockwise):
From (2):
From (3):
Setting equal:
From (1):
Substitute into (4):
From (2):
Substitute:
(Negative means battery 2 is being charged!)
(c) Terminal voltage: