Current is measured in amperes, or amps. Charge can be found using the formula:!ne coulomb is the amount of charge which fows past a point when a current of " ampere fows for " second electron fow when you attach a battery to a small bulb with wires, you would say that the current is fowing from the positive terminal to the negative. This electron fow is in the opposite direction to the conventional current.
Current is measured in amperes, or amps. Charge can be found using the formula:!ne coulomb is the amount of charge which fows past a point when a current of " ampere fows for " second electron fow when you attach a battery to a small bulb with wires, you would say that the current is fowing from the positive terminal to the negative. This electron fow is in the opposite direction to the conventional current.
Current is measured in amperes, or amps. Charge can be found using the formula:!ne coulomb is the amount of charge which fows past a point when a current of " ampere fows for " second electron fow when you attach a battery to a small bulb with wires, you would say that the current is fowing from the positive terminal to the negative. This electron fow is in the opposite direction to the conventional current.
Electric current is the fow of charged particles, usually electrons, around a circuit. Metals are good conductors of electricity because they have free electrons that can move around easily. Current is measured in amperes, or amps. Charged particles have a charge which is either positive or negative. The strength of a charge can be found using the formula: We can use this formula to dene the coulomb: !ne coulomb is the amount of charge which fows past a point when a current of " ampere fows for " second Electron fow When you attach a battery to a small bulb with wires, you would say that the current is fowing from the positive terminal of the battery to the negative one. This is called conventional current. The electrons, however, fow from the negative terminal to the positive. This electron fow is in the opposite direction to the conventional current, and care must be ta#en to not confuse the two. When we $ust say current it is assumed that we are tal#ing about conventional current. The reason for this is that the direction of conventional current was chosen before people #new what was happening inside a conductor when a current fows. %esistance &ny component with electrical resistance opposes the fow of an electrical current. Electrical resistance 'n an electrical circuit, current fows around it. Each component in the circuit has a resistance, which resists the fow of the current. The voltage that you get from the power supply can be simply described as the (push( given to the electrons to go around the circuit. 't would then ma#e sense to say that the greater the voltage, the greater the current, and the greater the resistance, the lower the current. The current fowing around the circuit could then be written as the e)uation: . *or e+ample, if you were to connect a , volt power supply to a - . /read as - ohm0 resistor, you could use the formula above to nd the current. , so I 1 -A. & particular arrangement of this formula is used to dene resistance and the ohm. . This says that the resistance of a component is the voltage across it for every unit of current fowing through it. More formally this can be written as: The resistance of a component in a circuit is the ratio of the voltage across that component to the current in it. The unit of resistance, the ohm /.0, is defined so that one ohm is the resistance of a component that has a voltage of " volt across it for every amp of current fowing through it. 'n other words, one ohm is one volt per amp. !hm2s law 'n many components, the voltage across it is proportional to the current fowing through it. 3ou can ma#e this observation on a circuit with a resistor of a #nown resistance, a voltmeter, an ammeter, and a power supply with a variable voltage. &s you increase the voltage, the current will also increase. 3ou will come to the conclusion that, with the constant of proportionality e)ual to R. This gives us V 1 IR, an arrangement of the familiar formula. Components where V I, are #nown as ohmic conductors, and have a constant resistance. They are said to follow Ohm's law, which states that: *or a conductor at constant temperature, the current in the conductor is proportional to the voltage across it. 4ote that not all components are ohmic conductors, and can have varying values of resistance. 3ou will have to use the formula to nd the resistance for specic values of V and I. 5elow you can see - graphs with current on the vertical a+is, and voltage on the hori6ontal a+is. Where the graph is a straight line, the voltage is proportional to the current. Therefore only the metallic conductor is an ohmic conductor. & diode and a lament lamp are two e+amples of non-ohmic conductors. The diode is designed to only allow current through in one direction, hence the use of negative values on its graph. The lament lamp doesn2t have a constant temperature, which according to !hm2s law is re)uired for a component to be an ohmic conductor. 'nstead, it heats up as a current passes through it, which has an e7ect on the resistance. %esistivity The resistivity of a material is the property that determines its resistance for a unit length and unit cross sectional area of that material. Copper, for e+ample, is a better conductor than lead, and so lead has a higher resistivity than copper. 3ou can compare di7erent materials in this way. %esistivity, 8 /rho0, is defined by the e)uation: Where is resistivity, R is the resistance, A is the cross sectional area of the material, and l is the length of the material. The units of resistivity are !hm9meters, m. 'f we rearrange the above e)uation so that: 3ou can see that as the length of a wire is increased, its resistance will increase, and as the cross sectional area of a wire is increased, its resistance will decrease. This is true provided that the temperature is constant, and that the same materials are always used, to ma#e sure that the resistivity stays the same. :oltage and energy Earlier, we simply said that a voltage is the (push( given to electrons, or units of charge. 4ow, we will ta#e a loo# at voltage in terms of energy, and nd a more accurate denition of the volt. ;otential di7erence When you attach a voltmeter across a component, the voltage you are measuring is a potential dierence /p.d.0. Electrical energy is being used up by the component, and so we can say that a potential di7erence is a voltage where the charge is losing energy. ;otential di7erence has the symbol :. ;otential di7erence is the energy lost per unit charge, and can be written as the following formula: Electromotive force & battery provides a certain voltage to the circuit, and the electrons are gaining energy from the battery as they fow past. This voltage where the charge gains energy is called an electromotive force /e.m.f.0, and has the symbol :. E.m.f. is the energy gained per unit charge, and can be written as the following formula: 5oth the p.d. and e.m.f. are measured in volts, and one volt is e)uivalent to one $oule per coulomb. Electrical energy and power ;ower is the rate at which energy is transferred, written as the formula: To nd a formula for electrical power, we ta#e the following formula for voltage and ma#e W the sub$ect: QV W = Then we need to divide both sides by t to get power: %ecall that charge divided by time is current, we now have: *rom the formula above, you can see that the electrical power is simply: the product of current and voltage. 3ou can combine this with V 1 IR to give a further e)uation: !ne last formula is for energy and is derived from the formula for power: Therefore: R I P 2 = ! <.C Circuits Circuit diagrams =ere are the symbols and names for all of the components that you are re)uired to #now:
>eries circuits When resistors are set up in series, the formula to wor# out the total resistance is: % 1 r " ? r @ ?.... ? r /n9"0 ? r n Where r is the individual resistance if a resistor in series. ;arallel circuits When resistors are set up in parallel, the formula to wor# out the total resistance is: Where r is the resistance of an individual resistor in parallel. 'nternal resistance &ll sources of electrical power have internal resistance, we represent this as small resistor, r contained within the cell: Thus, % total 1 % n ? r ;otential dividers & potential /or voltage0 divider is made up of two resistors. The output voltage from a potential divider will be a proportion of the input voltage and is determined by the resistor values. Airchho72s laws "st Baw states (The sum of the currents /&0 entering a $unction is e)ual to the sum of the current /&0 leaving the $unction(. This is a conse)uence of conservation of charge. @nd law states that the e.m.f is e)ual to the voltage of the circuit. This is a conse)uence of conservation of energy. Cse of other components Thermistors can be placed in circuits when temperature plays a role. &s the temperature increases, the resistance of the device increases. This does not obey the !hms law. Bight dependent resistors are resistors which decrease in resistance when e+posed to light. " Electro9Magnetism *leming2s left hand rule Cse your thumb, rst and second ngers to point at ,DE to each other: li#e the corner of a bo+. *irst nger: *ield seCond nger: Current T=umb: T=rust, thuMb: Motion *ormula * is the force produced, measured in 4ewtons. ' is current that the magnetic eld is acting on, measured in &mps. B is the length of the electrical wire. # Fuantum ;hysics <oes light behave as a wave or as particlesG 'nterference e+periments, such as 3oung2s >lits, see below, can only be e+plained if we assume light is a wave. The photoelectric e7ect can only be e+plained if light is a particle. >o what is light, particle or waveG <on2t li#e thisG Het used to it, accept it, it is the current state of our #nowledge. $oun%'s slits 3oung2s slit is all to do with interference patterns. 'nterference patterns are a feature of waves. Electrons are particles, you will have been led to believe, but can be observed to have interference patterns. To get an interference pattern, you must have a wavelength. This gives more evidence of Wave9particle duality. &he 'hotoelectric eect 'n analysing the photoelectric e7ect )uantitatively using Einstein2s method, the following e)uivalent e)uations are used: Energy of photon = Energy needed to remove an electron + Kinetic energy of the emitted electron &lgebraically: Where: h is ;lanc#2s constant, f is the fre)uency of the incident photon, is the wor# function, or minimum energy re)uired to remove an electron from atomic binding, is the ma+imum #inetic energy of e$ected electrons, f D is the threshold fre)uency for the photoelectric e7ect to occur, m is the rest mass of the e$ected electron, and v m is the velocity of the e$ected electron. ote: 'f the photon2s energy /hf0 is not greater than the wor# function /I0, no electron will be emitted. The wor# function is sometimes denoted W. ;lanc# constant The physicist Ma+ ;lanc# studied a phenomenon #nown as blac#9body radiation, and found that the transmission of light was best treated as pac#ets of energy called photons. The energy of a photon, E, is given by the following formula: Where E is the energy of the photon, h is the ;lanc# constant , and f is the fre)uency of the light. The ;hoton model !ver the ages, scientists have argued what light actually was. 4ewton argued that light is composed of particles called corpussles and theorised that di7raction was due to the particles speeding up as they entered a denser medium, being attracted by gravity. =owever he has since been proved wrong, now we can measure the speed of light and have proved it to slow down in a denser medium. &lbert Einstein thought that light were discrete pac#ets of energy which he called )uanta. Wave9particle duality 'n ",@J, Bouis9:ictor de 5roglie formulated the de 5roglie hypothesis, claiming that all matter has a wave9li#e natureK he related wavelength, L /lambda0, and momentum, p: This is a generali6ation of Einstein2s e)uation above since the momentum of a photon is given by p 1 E M c where c is the speed of light in vacuum, and ! 1 c M ". <e 5roglie2s formula was conrmed three years later for electrons /which have a rest9 mass0 with the observation of electron di7raction in two independent e+periments. &t the Cniversity of &berdeen, Heorge ;aget Thomson passed a beam of electrons through a thin metal lm and observed the predicted interference patterns. &t 5ell Babs Clinton Noseph <avisson and Bester =albert Hermer guided their beam through a crystalline grid. ( Electro9Magnetic Waves >tructure Electromagnetic /EM0 waves are transverse waves that carry energy. This means the light can be polarised li#e all other transverse waves. <epending on the amount of energy, the waves create the Electromagnetic >pectrum, comprising /from longest to shortest wavelengths0 %adio, Microwave, 'nfrared, :isible Bight, Cltraviolet, O9ray, Hamma ray. Commonly referred to as EM (%adiation,( these waves have wavelengths ranging from several thousand #ilometers / m0 to sub9picometers / m0. The wave actually made up of two components which are perpendicular to the direction of the wave. EM radiation can be thought of as particles /the photon0 or as waves, which is commonly referred to as the (Wave9particle duality(. The >peed of Bight &ll electromagnetic waves travel at the same speed /in a vacuum0, and that is the universal constant #nown as the (>peed of Bight,( most often abbreviated by the lower9 case letter (c.( The speed of light is /e+actly0: c 1 @,, P,@ JQR m M s or c 1 ,R- QP" DQS ft M s The Electro9Magnetic >pectrum &ype 'roduction )ses *an%ers +avelen%th ,m- .re/uency ,01- 2amma rays Emitted during radioactive decay Chemotherapy Causes cancer by damaging cells +"D 9"@ +"D @D 3-rays ;roduced by ring electrons at a metal target Medicine for loo#ing at bones Causes cancer by damaging cells +"D 9"D +"D "R )ltraviolet Emitted by the >un induces the production of vitamin < in the s#in Can cause s#in cancer +"D 9R +"D "Q Visi4le li%ht Emitted by the >un 'ntense light can damage sight P +"D 9P to J+"D 9P +"D "J Infra-5ed Emitted by hot ob$ects Conventional coo#ing Can burn +"D 9Q +"D "@ 6icro-waves ;roduced by changing currents in a conductor Microwave coo#ing and communications Can burn +"D 9- to +"D 9@ +"D "D 5adio-waves ;roduced by changing currents in a conductor Communication and media Currently not considered to be ha6ardous + " +"D R to +"D "D Cseful E)uations To nd out the energy of a particular EM wave or its fre)uency, one can use the several forms of the Einstein E)uation. *irst, to determine an EM wave fre)uency, T from its wavelength, L. The wavelength multiplied by the fre)uency is always a constant value: the speed of light, c. =ence, c 7 fL so you can nd the fre)uency from the wavelength, or vice versa from simply manipulating this relationship. 4e+t, to determine the energy from a smallest )uantity of EM wave /photon0. =ere, we must introduce another universal )uantity #nown as (;lanc#2s Constant,( most commonly abbreviated by a lower9case (h.( ;lanc#2s constant is h 1 S.S@SDSR + "D 9-J m @ #gs $% . With this in place we can use the (;lanc# E)uation,( which provides a relationship between the fre)uency, f and energy E of photon. The relation is as follows: E 1 h f. 4ow, if we only have the wavelength with which to start, we can manipulate E)uation /"0 to get what we need. c 1 fL, f 1 L M c, E 1 h c M L.