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Electric current

Just like water in motion constitutes water current, electric charges in motion constitute
electric current. For the charges to flow between two points there must be a potential
difference between the two points and a conducting path between the two points. The
flow of charges continues till the potentials at the two points become equal.

Microscopic view of electric current

All matter is composed of very small particles called atoms. The atoms are composed of
subatomic particles-protons, neutrons and electrons. While protons and neutrons reside
inside the nucleus, the electrons revolve round the nucleus in various orbits. The proton
has positive charge and the electron possesses a negative charge of equal magnitude.

Electricity is a form of energy involving the flow of electrons. All matter

is made up of atoms, and an atom has a center, called a nucleus. The
nucleus contains positively charged particles called protons and
uncharged particles called neutrons. The nucleus of an atom is
surrounded by negatively charged particles called electrons. The
negative charge of an electron is equal to the positive charge of a
proton, and the number of electrons in an atom is usually equal to the
number of protons. When the balancing force between protons and
electrons is upset by an outside force, an atom may gain or lose an
electron. When electrons are "lost" from an atom, the free movement of
these electrons constitutes an electric current.

An electric current is the flow of electric charges. There are two types of electric current
(i) Direct current is a current that always flows in the same direction and
(ii) Alternating current is a current whose magnitude changes continually with time

The strength of electric current is the rate of flow of charges. If dq is the quantity of
dq
charge flowing in a time interval dt , the strength of the electric current is I  . If the
dt
q
rate of flow is steady, then, I  where q is the charge that flows in time t.
t
Current Carriers

In solid conductors like metals, the valence electrons are the current carriers. In liquids,
the positively charged and negatively charged ions are the current carriers. Gases are
normally insulators of electricity. But they can be ionized by applying a high potential
difference at low pressures. The ionized gas contains positive ions and electrons.
Therefore, positive ions and electrons are current carriers in gases.
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Unit of electric current

The SI unit of electric current is ampere(A). The current through the conductor is said to
be one ampere if one coulomb of charge flows per second through a section of cross
1 coulomb
section of the conductor. i.e 1 ampere 
1 sec ond
Direction of electric current

By convention, the direction of flow of positive charge gives the direction of current.
Thus the conventional current direction is opposite to the direction of electron flow and it
is from positive potential to the negative potential.

Drift velocity and mobility

Every metal has a large number of free electrons. These free electrons will be in a state of
continuous random motions within the conductor. Since the directions of motion are
randomly distributed the average thermal velocity of the free electrons is zero. If
are the random thermal velocities of n electrons in the conductor, then the
u1  u 2  ......  u n
average thermal velocity of electrons is given by  0    (1)
n

When the conductor is connected to a battery, a steady electric field E is established in

the conductor. The free electrons
experience a force (eE ) which is in a
direction opposite to that of the
electric field E. The acceleration of
 eE
each electron is given by (since
m
F  ma ) where e is the charge of
electron and m is electron mass. The
negative sign indicates that the
acceleration is opposite to the applied
field E.
In this process, the electrons collide
with each other and also with the ions
in the conductor. At each collision the
momentum is lost and electron is
accelerated afresh .Thus due to collisions a backward force acts on the electrons. The
overall effect of these collisions is that the electrons slowly drift with a constant drift
velocity in a direction opposite to the applied field E. Let v1 , v 2 ,........v n be the velocities
of the electrons such that v1  u1  a 1 , v 2  u 2  a 2 ,....... v n  u n  a n where  is the
time interval between successive collisions.
The drift velocity of an electron is defined as the velocity with which free electrons get
drifted towards the positive terminal of a battery under the effect of an applied electric
field.
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v1  v 2  .....v n
 Drift velocity, v d 
n

(u1  a 1 )  (u 2  a 2 )  ....... (u n  a n )

n

(u1  u 2  ....  u n ) (   2  ....   n )

 a 1
n n
 0  a
 eE
 vd  
m

Mobility
The magnitude of drift velocity acquired by an electron per unit electric field is called
mobility of the electron.
v
Mobility,   d . Its SI unit is m 2 / Vs
E

Expression for current

Consider a conductor of length l and uniform cross sectional area A. Let the electrons be
moving with the drift velocity v d . The volume of the conductor is V  Al

If the
concentration of electrons in the conductor per unit volume is n , then the total number
of electrons in Volume V is N  nAl .
Total charge carried by the electrons in the conductor is q  Ne  nAle
l
If the electrons take a time ‘  ’ to move the distance l , then v d  or l  v d

Therefore the total charge carried by the electrons in the conductor is q  nAv d e .
q nAv d e
The strength of the electric current I  
t 

where n is the number of electrons per unit volume, A is the area of cross section of the
conductor and v d is the drift velocity of the electrons and e is the charge of an electron.
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Ohm’s law

Statement: “Under constant temperature and other physical conditions, the electric
current flowing through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference
across its ends”

Deduction of ohm’s law

 eE
In a conductor, the drift velocity is given by v d  ---------(1)
m
where e is the charge of an electron, E is the applied electric field,  is the relaxation
time and m is the mass of the electron.
V
If l is the length of the conductor and V is the potential difference across it then E 
l

 e   V  eV
 vd   
m  l  ml
The electric current I  neAv d
 eV   ne 2 A 
 I  neA  or I   V ....(1)
 ml   ml 
or

where

R is called electrical resistance of the conductor and is called the resistivity

of the material. Thus V  IR represents ohm’s law.

Limitations of Ohm’s law

(i) Ohm’s law holds good for metallic conductors at moderate temperatures. The law is
not applicable at very low and at very high temperatures.
(ii) Ohm’s law is not applicable for electron tubes, discharge tubes and semiconductors.
(iii) Ohm’s law is applicable only if all the physical conditions remain constant.

The concept of resistance

Resistance refers to the property of a substance that opposes the flow of electric charges
or the electric current through it. Some substances resist electric current more than others.
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If a substance offers very high resistance to the electric current it is called an insulator. If
its resistance to the flow of electric current is very low, it is called a conductor.
In the case of a conductor the valence electrons move freely throughout the conductor.

Let end A of the conductor be positive and end B be negative. Under the influence of the
electric field electrons drift towards end A. As they move they collide with other
electrons and also with other atoms. These collisions bring back the electron to their
original random state. Thus electrons follow zigzag path. . The collisions cause resistance
in substances. . the molecular structure of a substance determines the number of
collisions or amount of resistance to electron flow. As electrons collide with other atoms
and electrons, the energy provided by applied voltage is converted into heat.

From the mathematical form of ohm’s law, the electrical resistance of a conductor can be
V
written as R  . It is defined as the ration of applied voltage to the current The SI unit
I
V
of resistance if ohm(  ). In the equation R  , if V=1 volt and I=1 ampere, then
I
R=1ohm. Thus resistance of a conductor is said to be 1 ohm when a current of 1 ampere
flows due to an applied p.d of 1 volt across its ends.

The dimensional formula for resistance

V Work done 1 Work done
R 
I Ch arg e
 
Current Curent  Time  current

 ML2T 3 A  2 

Resistivity
m l l m
In the equation for resistance R  2
  , the term   2 is called resistivity
ne  A A ne 
or specific resistance of the conductor.
At a given temperature, the resistance R of a given conductor is found to be (i) directly
proportional to the length ( l ) (ii) inversely proportional to its area of cross section A.

  R if l  1 and A  1
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Thus the resistivity of the material of a conductor at a given temperature is

numerically equal to the resistance of the conductor of that material having unit
length and unit area of cross section. It is expressed in ohm metre.( m ).

The reciprocal of resistivity is called conductivity or specific conductance and denoted by

1
 . Thus conductivity   measured in siemen/metre or mho/metre( /m)

Variation of resistance with temperature
When the temperature of a metallic conductor is increased, the ions of the metal vibrate
with larger amplitudes and with greater frequencies about their mean positions. Due to
the increase in thermal energy, the frequency of collision of free electrons with ions and
atoms also increases. This increases the opposition to the movement of electrons through
the conductor i.e the resistance increases with increase in temperature.

The resistance Rt of a metallic conductor increases with increase in temperature

according to Rt  R0 (1  t   t 2  ....) where R0 is resistance of conductor at 0 C
and  ,  ... are constants. If temperature is not very high, the constants  ,  .... are too
small and are neglected. Then Rt  R0 (1  t ) . In this relation  is called temperature
co-effcient of resistance of the material of the conductor. The value of  is given by
R  R0
 t per degree Celsius.
R0 t
The temperature coefficient of resistance of a conductor is defined as the ratio of the
increase in the resistance of a conductor per degree Celsius rise of temperature to its
resistance at 0C .
Figure shows the variation of resistance of a conductor with temperature.
If R1 and R2 are the resistances of a conductor at temperatures t1 C and t 2 C
respectively, then R1  R0 (1  t1 ) and R2  R0 (1  t 2 )
R 2 1  t 2
 R2  R2t1  R1  R1t 2
R1 1  t1

R2  R1
Or  / C
R1t 2  R2 t1