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Resistivity and Conductivity: Electrodynamics

The document discusses Ohm's law and electrical resistance. It states that Ohm's law describes how current is directly proportional to voltage in many conductors. The ratio of voltage to current is called resistance. Resistance depends on the material's resistivity and the geometry of the conductor. Resistivity captures how the inherent material properties affect resistance, while resistance also depends on length and cross-sectional area. Resistance can be calculated from resistivity and the conductor's dimensions.

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Eriel Emerio
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40 views

Resistivity and Conductivity: Electrodynamics

The document discusses Ohm's law and electrical resistance. It states that Ohm's law describes how current is directly proportional to voltage in many conductors. The ratio of voltage to current is called resistance. Resistance depends on the material's resistivity and the geometry of the conductor. Resistivity captures how the inherent material properties affect resistance, while resistance also depends on length and cross-sectional area. Resistance can be calculated from resistivity and the conductor's dimensions.

Uploaded by

Eriel Emerio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ELECTRODYNAMICS

PART 1
Ohm's Law
For many conductors of electricity, the electric
current which will flow through them is directly Resistivity and
proportional to the voltage applied to them.
When a microscopic view of Ohm's law is taken, Conductivity
it is found to depend upon the fact that the drift
velocity of charges through the material is The electrical resistance of a wire would be
proportional to the electric field in the expected to be greater for a longer wire, less for
conductor. The ratio of voltage to current is a wire of larger cross sectional area, and would
called the resistance, and if the ratio is constant be expected to depend upon the material out of
over a wide range of voltages, the material is which the wire is made. Experimentally, the
said to be an "ohmic" material. If the material dependence upon these properties is a
can be characterized by such a resistance, then straightforward one for a wide range of
the current can be predicted from the conditions, and the resistance of a wire can be
relationship: expressed as

Resistance The factor in the resistance which takes into


account the nature of the material is the
resistivity . Although it is temperature
The electrical resistance of a dependent, it can be used at a given temperature
circuit component or device is to calculate the resistance of a wire of given
defined as the ratio of the voltage geometry.
applied to the electric current
which flows through it: The inverse of resistivity is called conductivity.
There are contexts where the use of conductivity
is more convenient.

Electrical conductivity = σ = 1/ρ


If the resistance is constant over a
considerable range of voltage,
then Ohm's law, I = V/R, can be
used to predict the behavior of the
material. Although the definition
above involves DC current and
voltage, the same definition holds
for the AC application of
resistors.

Whether or not a material obeys Ohm's law, its


resistance can be described in terms of its bulk
resistivity. The resistivity, and thus the
resistance, is temperature dependent. Over
sizable ranges of temperature, this temperature
dependence can be predicted from a temperature
coefficient of resistance.
ELECTRODYNAMICS
PART 1

Resistor Combinations
The combination rules for any number of
resistors in series or parallel can be derived with
the use of Ohm's Law, the voltage law, and the
current law.

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