Ohm’s law and its microscopic view

Presented to:
Doctor Masood
Presented by:
M. Quqan Tahir (2015-BT-ELEC-9)
Ohm’s Law :Relationship between Voltage,
Current and Resistance
Ohm’s law states that the voltage across a resistance is
directly proportional to the product of current flowing through the
resistance and that resistance.
V is in Volts (V)
I is in Amperes, or amps (A)
R is in Ohms ()
 Electrical Current
CURRENT I is the amount of positive charge flowing past
a fixed point in the wire per unit time :

if charge dQ flows in time dt

dQ
I
dt
Units: 1 ampere (A) = 1 C/s

Direction: by convention, current is the direction of

movement of positive charge
+ + + - - -
+ + + - - -
I
I
 Electron Velocities
• Random velocities of electrons are large (several km/s)
• Drift velocity is a slow, average motion parallel to E

no field +
E
F  (e) E

end
end
start start
net displacement
Determine the Current

+ + + + + +
E
+ + + + + +

L = vd Dt

In a conductor the flow of electric charge per unit time is known as

current . It is denoted by “I” and its formula is

dQ
I
dt
 Charge ΔQ in length L of wire passes through the
shaded disk of area A in time Δt :

ΔQ = (number of charge carriers/volume) x

(charge on each one) x volume

Charge: ΔQ = n q V
= n q (AL)
= n q A vd Dt (since L= vd D t )

Current: I = DQ/Dt = nqAvd Dt /Dt

So , I = nqAvd
vd = average (“drift”) velocity of each charge
q = charge on each particle
n = number of charge carriers per unit volume
A = cross section area
L = length
AL = volume
 Current Density (J):
The current density is defined as the current per unit area
in a conductor, where A is the cross section of conductor.
The current density is a vector quantity.
Unit: Its unit is Amps/m2

I Since I=nqAvd ; J  nqv d

J 
A
now v d is proportional to the electric field

so J   E Where σ is a constant called the

conductivity of the material.
Voltage:
Voltage is defined as energy or work done per unit charge.
Mathematically,

V= W
Q
where
V is voltage in volts(V)
W is energy in joules(J)
Q is charge in coulombs (C)

Unit: The SI unit of Voltage is Volts (V).

Resistance:
The opposition to the flow of current in a circuit is known as
Resistance and it is the ratio between Applied voltage and Electric
Current.
Mathematically,

Unit: The SI unit of resistance is “Ohm” represented by

symbol “Ω”.
Resistivity and Conductivity:
Resistivity(ρ) : Electrical resistivity (also known
as resistivity, specific electrical resistance, or volume
resistivity) is an intrinsic property that shows how strongly a
given material opposes the flow of electric current.

The relation between resistance and resistivity is given by

the formula

Unit : The SI unit of electrical resistivity is

the ohm⋅metre (Ω⋅m).
Conductivity(σ ):
Electrical conductivity or specific conductance is the
reciprocal of electrical resistivity.

Unit: Its SI unit is siemens per metre (S/m)

References:
• www.physics.mcmaster.ca
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_resistivity_and_conductivity
• Irwin, J. D. (2008). Engineering Circuit Analysis. Auburn: John Wiley
and Sons.
• Floyd, T. L. (2009). Principles of Electric Circuits.