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Current Electricity: When the electrons flow, they carry electrical energy with them.
This electrical energy is converted into other forms of energy by electrical devices or
machines, which we utilize either at home or in the industry.

In Current Electricity, we will try to understand how and why electrons move from one
point to another.

Flow of electrons in a conductor

Take a material that is a good conductor of electricity like a copper wire. If we were
somehow able to see inside the wire, what would we observe? We will see that electrons
are moving around randomly. It is like watching people walking around on a railway
platform. There is no unique direction. Normal room temperature is sufficient to give the
outer electrons of copper some energy to go out of their orbits.

Now we‘ll think about moving charges – often referred to as electricity. Here is a close
up of a piece of wire where the nucleus of the atoms are shown by the large "clusters" of
protons and nuetrons. The small black circles represent the electrons around the nuclei. In
this picture the electrons are orbiting round the nearest nucleus and there is no "flow" of
charged particles (like water flowing down a river–this picture is more like water swirling
in a bowl). Similarly, if there is a battery connected to the copper wire, some of the more
energetic electrons in the copper material get a definite direction; they will tend to move
from the negative side of the battery to the positive side.

If we apply a type of force

(called electromotive force) to the metal wire, the electrons will "flow" through the wire
as is shown in the above picture. The electrons will jump from one nucleus to the next

along the path of the wire.

Think of a "plane" through the wire and we can see that a certain number of electrons
passing through the plane during each unit of time..

This is known as electrical CURRENT. Mathematically we can write this as I

=charge/time or I = q/t, where I is the current, q is charge, and t is the time.

Attach the copper wire to a small bulb, then attach the bulb and the other end of the
copper wire to two terminals of a small battery, through a key (or a switch).

As you connect the key, what do you observe? The bulb starts glowing. Remove the key
and the bulb stops glowing..

Connect two batteries together. The glow of the bulb is stronger..

From the knowledge gained in the earlier lessons, we know that

1. charges are attracted to opposite charges with a force given by the coulomb‘s law.
2. charges move so as to neutralize any excess charges.

Now you can immediately guess that the bulb is glowing because of flow of electrons
through the copper wire. When two batteries are connected, the bulb glows more strongly
because there is more flow of electrons..

If we again see inside the copper wire, we will observe that the electrons darting around
randomly all right, but over and above this, there is a definite direction from one side of
the wire to the other side.

In copper, the valence electrons (or outermost electrons) are essentially free and strongly
repel each other. Any external influence (such as abattery) which moves one of them will
cause a repulsion of other electrons which propagate a "domino" effect through the
conductor. Thus when a
battery is connected, it is not as if a bunch of electrons start whizzing through the copper
wire at high speeds. Each electron has a velocity known as Fermi velocity. The velocity
is random at first, but when the battery is connected, the velocity gets a certain direction,
which is known as the drift velocity. There is a net drift velocity of electrons in one
direction. .

The electron flow occurs because a device such as a battery provides a force to accelerate
the electrons. The force is known as electromotive force.

Electric current.

The flow of electrons is known as electric current, which is denoted by I..

If Q is the amount of current flowing through a certain cross section of the wire in time t,
then I = Q/t, where Q is integer multiples of the smallest charge q or e..

The standard unit for measuring electric current is an ampere; denoted as A. Very
simplistically one ampere is rate of flow of charges of 1 Coulomb per second..

I is a scalar quantity. The correct definition of an ampere is related to magnetic force

created by electric current; this will be discussed in the chapter on Electromagnetism.

In a wire that carries 5 amperes, for example, 5 coulombs of charge pass any cross
section in the wire each second. So that‘s a lot of electrons! In a wire that carries 10
amperes twice as many electrons pass any cross section each second.
 Each coulomb of charge that is made to
flow in a circuit that connects the ends of this 1.5V flash light cell is 1.5J. It is interesting
to note that a current–carrying wire is not electrically charged. Under ordinary conditions,
negative conduction electrons swarm through the atomic lattice made up of positively
charged atomic nuclei. So there are as many electrons as protons in the wire. Whether a
wire carries current or not the net charge on the wire is normally zero at every moment.

Actually electric charge carriers can be electrons or even positive ions. For electric
current in a conductor such as a copper wire, the charge carriers are the mobile electrons
and the positively charged copper ions are essentially stationary in the metal lattice. In an
electrolyte, both electrons and positive ions carry currents. In semiconductors such as
silicon, you sometimes have electrons, which are mobile, and sometimes have
deficiencies of electrons, called holes, which are mobile. There are significant differences
in the way they conduct current. Hall effect can experimentally distinguish between
different electric charge carriers, whether electrons, positive ions or holes..

Microscopic understanding of electric current.

We have seen that the electric charge is quantized in discrete multiples of the electron
charge e. It is therefore instructive to look at electric current as the movement of multiple
charge carriers that have drift velocities in a conductor..

The actual drift velocities of electrons are very small. The diagram below shows how to
calculate it. The drift velocity
of electrons in a copper wire can be calculated from above equation. Let us say that the
wire diameter is 1mm and its cross sectional area is 0.78 mm2. The average number of
free electrons per unit volume in copper is n = 8.5 x 1028 electrons/m3. The average
household current is 5 A. Plugging these numbers in the above equation, we get the drift
velocity vd = 0.00046 m/s or 0.046cm/s. This is really a very slow speed!

Then why do you find it impossible to switch off the light and get in bed before the room
goes dark? It is the change of electric field or "signal" which propagates along wires at
the speed of light (3 x 108 m/s) not actual transport of individual electrons from the
switch to the light bulb..

To understand a little more about flow of electrons, get a garden hose. Make sure that it is
empty (no water in it) and connect it to a faucet. Turn on the faucet and notice how long
it takes before water squirts out the end of the hose. It probably will take several seconds.
It takes a while for the water to move through the hose to the end..

Next, turn off the water. Wait a second and then turn it back on. How long did it take this
time for the water to squirt? It happened almost instantly! Was the water in the hose
moving at the speed of light this time? No. What was different? The hose was already full
of water. Water coming past the valve on the faucet pushed on the water already in the
hose. All the water in the hose moved and some came out the other end as soon as you
turned on the faucet.

The same idea applies to electricity. The wires in your house contain lots of electrons,
just as the garden hose contained water. When you turn on the switch, the electrons in the

wire get a shove and they all move, just as the water in the hose. Current –
water flow rate analogy

Connecting a battery to an appliance through a wire is like using a large pipe for water
flow. Very little voltage drop occurs along the wire because of its small resistance. You
can operate most appliances at the end of an extension cord without noticeable effects on
performance. A large pipe
offers very little resistance to flow, as shown by Poiseuille‘s law. Volume flowrate in
liters/min, cm3/sec, m3/sec, etc.

A wire offers very little

resistance to charge flow according to ohm‘s law. Electric current flow in coulombs/sec =
amperes. Resistance to current flow – constriction in water flow

The resistance to flow represented by a severe constriction in a water pipe is analogous to

the resistance to electric current represented by a common electric "resistor".

The severe constriction will

have more resistance than the remainder of the pipe system. Likewise a resistor in an
electric circuit will generally have much more resistance than the wire of the circuit. If
the single elements represented are the only resistances in the circuit, then essentially all
the pressure or voltage will drop across these single elements. The fact that essentially all
the voltage drop appears across a resistor or an ordinary electrical appliance makes
possible the operation of such appliances from an extension cord, or the operation of
several appliances in parallel on a single circuit in your home

Electric ground–water reservoir

The function of a ground wire in an electric circuit is in many ways analogous to the
reservoir attached to the water circuit. Once the pipe is filled with water, the pump can
circulate the water without further use of the reservoir, and if it were removed it would
have no apparent effect on the water flow in the circuit.

The reservoir provides a

pressure reference, but is not part of the functional circuit. Likewise, the battery can
circulate electric current without the ground wire. The ground provides a reference
voltage for the circuit, but if it were broken, there would be no obvious change in the
functioning of the circuit. The ground wire protects against electric shock and in many
cases provides shielding from outside electrical interference.

Electric potential difference

Add water into an empty container from a tap drop by drop. The container starts
accumulating water. Its water level rises.

Same analogy can be extended to a copper rod. Rub an ebonite rod with a piece of wool
and transfer the negative charges developed on the ebonite rod to the copper rod by
conduction. Repeat the procedure so that the copper rod acquires more and more negative
charges.

As the number of negative charges increases on the copper rod, the “level” or
accumulation of charge increases, just as the level of water increases in the container.
“Level” of electric charge is indicative of the potential or strength of electrical charge on
the rod.

Now consider two containers connected to each other via a pipe and a stop cork. One
container has water at a certain height. The second container is empty. Now turn the stop
cork. The water flows from the first container to the second container till the levels
become equal.

What do we conclude? Water flows from higher pressure region to the lower pressure
region so as to equalize the pressure.

Compare the water level with copper rod that has accumulated charge and is at a higher
electric potential or “level.” Connect this copper rod with another one, which has no
charge on it. We will observe that electrons from the charged copper rod flow towards the
second copper rod. The excess electrons on the copper rod will flow towards a region that
has fewer electrons due to Coulomb‘s force of attraction between unlike charges.

The “level” of charge is known as the electric potential V. It is measured in volts.

Conventionally, a level, which has more electrons, is considered to be at a lower electric

potential.

Static electric field and electric potential are created by the presence of electric source
charge. Both these quantities fall off with distance and become zero at very large distance
from the source or at infinity. Therefore in an electric field, in practice, it is convenient to
measure electric potential difference between two points, rather than their absolute
electric potentials.

Thus electric charges flow from a point of higher electric potential difference to a point
of lower potential difference. The electric current stops when the electric potential
difference falls off to zero.

Electric potential difference is measured in voltage. It is a scalarquantity. It is also

denoted by V. Pumping of charges

To get a sustained flow of charge in a conductor, a difference in potential must be

maintained while charge flows from one end to the other. We know that water flows from
the reservoir of higher pressure to the reservoir of lower pressure. A continuous flow is
possible if the difference in water levels hence water pressures is maintained with the use
of a suitable pump. It is the difference in pressure of water which determines the direction
of flow of water. Much the same way electric charges flow from higher potential to a

lower potential.
(1) Water flows from the reservoir of higher pressure to the reservoir of lower pressure.
(2) Water continues to flow because a difference in pressure is maintained with the help
of a pump. When a voltage is generated by a battery or the mains power supply, we say
that an "electromotive force" or emf is generated. The emf represents electric energy per
unit charge (voltage) which has been made available by the generating mechanism and is

not a "force".
A common circuit consists of a battery, some wire connecting the two ends of the battery,
a switch that lets you open and close the connection, and a device which uses electricity
to perform a function The bulb glows when the “force” is there. Ensure that you highlight
the “force” or the emf supplied by the battery.

The emf sources such as batteries have chemical energy inside them, which makes one
side of the battery to be more positive than the other side.

A solar cell, an electric generator, fuel cells, etc., are all emf devices. They power a wide
variety of equipments from wrist watches to spacecraft.

Direction of electric current

Consider a battery cell which has two terminals A and B. A is at a positive electric
potential and B is at a negative electric potential by the chemicals inside the cell. The
terminal A has a store of positive charges and the terminal B has a store of negative
charges. Now connect the two terminals externally by a conducting copper wire.

The current I is said to flow from terminal A to terminal B : this is only a convention.

Actually the electrons will

flow from terminal B to terminal A. But conventionally the direction of current I is taken
to flow from positive potential to negative potential.
 When very little was known
about the nature of electric charge, the electric current was believed to be positive charge
flowing from a point at higher potential to a point at lower potential. Now we know that,
in a metallic conductor, positive charges are not free to move; it is the negatively charged
electrons that move. For historic reasons we still describe and draw the direction of
electric current in a circuit to be flowing from the positive to the negative potential
difference.

Let us now turn to the rate of flow of electric current. In the analogy of water containers,
we have come to know that if the water container that has a higher level has more water,
and the rate of flow is faster because of higher water pressure. As the water level reduces,
the rate of water flow also reduces; and eventually stops when the water is emptied.

Similarly, larger current flows through a wire when the potential difference is higher.
That is greater rate of flow implies greater current and vice versa.

Eventually as the current flow

exhausts the free charges, the battery becomes dead.

While studying effects of current flow, we generally show the current direction as an
arrow. The direction of current I is shown as the direction of opposite to the flow of
electrons. But remember that I is a scalar quantity. I is calculated as the rate of flow of
charge, Q/t – coulombs per second. Both coulomb and time are scalar quantities. The
direction of I is only shown in terms of sense of current. I has no direction in space like
force or velocity. For example, when we show a current in a conductor splitting in two
branches, we show a simple addition and not vector addition. Similarly, when a current
loops around in a conductor, we do not see any effects of circular motion such as
centripetal acceleration on I ! Hence I is not a vector quantity and its arrow only indicates

its sense of flow. We will now

recapitulate what we have learnt till now; it is essential that we understand what is
actually happening and what is the convention because it is important.

• Electron flow generates electric current. Outer electrons in some materials called
conductors are loosely bound. These electrons are free to move in a direction only
when there is a certain electric potential difference between two points in the
conductor.
• Each electron moves only a little. It is not as if electrons are moving in a circuit at
high speeds. When a potential difference is established in a conductor, there is
only a small net velocity of electrons, which we call a drift velocity.
• Conventionally direction of electric current I is shown from a higher positive
potential difference to a lower potential difference.
• Larger the potential difference between two points in a conductor, greater the
current I or greater the rate of flow of charges.
• I is a scalar quantity. It is measured in ampere.
• Electric potential and electric potential difference is measured in volt and voltage
– these two terms are interchanged frequently because they mean almost one and
the same thing. Electric potential is compared to zero electrical potential energy at
infinity; whereas electric potential difference is measured as the difference in the
electric potential between two points in close proximity within a certain electric
field.

Electrical resistance

We have taken a very simplistic view of flow of electrons in a conductor. We have said
that larger the potential difference between two points in a conductor, greater the current
I or greater the rate of flow of charges. Let us now look at exactly what happens when
there is a large current in a conductor.

Large current means large number of electrons that are moving against each other. These
electrons start colliding and knocking each other. These collisions are small, but are
sufficient to disturb the net drift velocity of electrons. This hampers or impedes the
current flow in a conductor.
This hampering of flow of current is known as electrical resistance. The value of
resistance varies from conductor to conductor, its length and its cross section.

Resistance can be compared with the concept of friction in ordinary motion. Electrons
encounter a "friction" while in motion in a conductor, and we call this a resistance.

A resistance is denoted by a symbol as shown below.

The magnitude of current

depends not only on the potential difference or voltage, but also on the electrical
resistance the conductor offers to the flow of charge.

Electrical resistance is similar to the rate of water flow in a pipe, which depends not only
on the pressure difference between the ends of the pipe but also on the resistance offered

by the pipe itself. A short pipe

offers less resistance to water flow than a long pipe, and the wider the pipe is, the less the
resistance.

So also with the resistance of wires that carry current. The resistance of a wire depends
on the thickness and length of the wire, and on its particular conductivity. Thick wires
have less resistance than thin wires. Longer wires have more resistance than short wires.
Copper wire has less resistance than the same size steel wire.

Impediments in the flow of electrons depend on each individual material.

Resistance: Resistance is the physical property of materials. It is measured in Ohms.
Copper is generally used for a typical metal wire – as it is very easy to force the electrons
to leave their closest nuclei and they begin moving through the wire. Hence, Copper is
considered as a metal, which offers low resistance. For other materials the electrons will
not easily leave their closest nuclei and these materials would have a higher resistance. In
some materials, nearly it is impossible to force the electrons to move and since the
electrons will not leave their nuclei, electricity cannot pass through these materials. In the
picture below, think of the car as the electrons trying to move through a wire.

Case I:

Low resistance:This material is a good material and acts as a conductor.

Case II:

Moderate resistance: This material would not be good for household wiring. Since the
electrons get "joggled" around, it heats up the material.

Case III:

High resistance:Here the resistance is so high that the electrons cannot move through the
material (called an insulator).

Electrical resistance also depends on temperature. The greater the jostling about atoms
within the conductor, the greater the resistance the conductor offers to the flow of charge.
For most conductors, increased temperature means increased resistance.

Electrical resistance variation with temperature can also be compared to traffic on a road.
Larger number of cars hamper a smooth flow of traffic; similarly larger number of
electrons flowing will clash with each other and in general increase the electrical
resistance.

Electrical resistance is measured in units called ohms. Ω is commonly used as the

symbol for the ohm. The resistance of a wire is said to be 1 Ohm (Ω ) if a potential
difference of 1 volt (V) across its ends produces a current of 1 ampere through the wire.

Colour codes for resistors

Resistors available in the market are made from compounds of metal or carbon, etc. On
the cylindrical body generally four colour bands are printed. The band nearer to one of
the ends is the first band. The first and second bands represent numerical figures whereas
the third band represents the multiplying power of ten (or number of zeroes to follow the
first two digits). The last band reads the percentage of tolerance or the possible per cent
variation in the nominal (i.e. printed in the first three bands) value of the resistor.

To understand how to read the colour code let us consider an example. A resistor has
colour bands with colours in the following sequence: yellow, violet, red and silver.
Therefore the first digit is 4, the second is 7 and the multiplying power of ten is 2. This
gives 47 x 102. The nominal value of the resistor is thus 4.7 kΩ . As the last band of silver
colour means that tolerance is 10%, its exact value may be anywhere between 4700–470
to 4700 + 470Ω . To remember the colour code, a funny sentence can be used. It is:
"Black Bonny ROY of Great Britain married Violet Gray, a White." The capital letters
represent serially the first letters of the colours used in the colour code. This sentence
helps to avoid confusion between black and brown and also between green and gray by
explicitly mentioning one of the two.

Ohm‘s law

We know that when a potential difference is applied across the terminals of a conductor,
current passes through it. The relation between the two, i.e. the current and the potential
difference is given by Ohm‘s law.

Statement of Ohm‘s law: As long as the physical state of a conductor remains the same,
the potential difference (V) applied between the terminals of the conductor bears a
constant ratio to the electric current (I) passing through it.

If the length, the area of cross section, the temperature and the material of a conductor
remain unchanged, we say that the physical state of the conductor is the same.

According to Ohm‘s law, This constant is denoted by R.

George Simon Ohm, was a mathematician in Germany and in 1827 he discovered this
mathematical law, between electric current and voltage.

Ohm determined that R is nothing but the electrical resistance that we have discussed
earlier.

Experimental determination of Ohm‘s law

For determining the correctness of Ohm‘s law, we need a resistance, a few battery cells,
an ammeter, a voltmeter, a resistance and a key. (A resistance or a resistor is nothing but
a coil of conducting wire,which has a particular length and cross section).

The circuit diagram for the experiment is shown.

The ammeter is connected in

such a way that the current passing through the resistance and the ammeter is the same.
Hence it is said to beconnected in series with the resistance. The potential difference
developed across the voltmeter and the resistance is the same. So, the voltmeter is said to
be connected in parallel with the resistance.

The battery cells are connected one after another in series. First connect only one cell
with the key and pass the current through the circuit. Note down the reading on the
ammeter current I through the circuit and the readings on the voltmeter V, across the
resistor.

The readings are tabulated in the following form. Plot a graph of I versus V; I on the Y–
axis and V on the X axis. You will observe that the I versus V plot is a straight line.

This means that The slope of the line will be I/V. Thus from the slope of
the line the resistance R (R = inverse of slope) of the resistance connected can be
determined.

So we can say that if the V – Icharacteristic of a conductor is linear it obeys Ohm‘s law.
A conductor that obeys Ohm‘s law is called ohmic conductor. All metals and metallic
alloys are ohmic conductors.

There are some materials and some specially manufactured devices for which the current
does not vary proportionally with the potential difference across them. The V–I
characteristics of such materials or devices are not straight lines and the materials or
devices are not ohmic.

The general relationship between voltage and current is expressed as V = IR,and thus the
relation defines resistance. Hence, resistance of any material (ohmic or non–ohmic) is
determined as the ratio of voltage tocurrent. For ohmic materials, the ratio is constant
over the total range of V–I characteristics; whereas for non–ohmic materials it is not
constant but it has to be calculated at each point on the V–I characteristics by calculating
the slope of the curve at that point (dV /dI). Hence it is erroneous to think of the relation
V = IR itself as the statement of Ohm‘s law. In Ohm‘s law there is an additional
requirement namely R is constant over the entire range of V–I characteristics i.e. a
straight line passing through origin. Resistivity:

The resistance of a given conductor is directly proportional to its length. That is:
R ∝ l ............(1)

The resistance of a given conductor is inversely proportional to its area of cross–section.

That is:
R ∝ 1/A ............(2)

By combining the relations (1) and (2), we get:

R ∝ l/A

or R = (ρ ×l)/ A ............(3)

Where ρ (rho) is a constant known as resistivity of the material of the conductor.

Resistivity is also known as specific resistance.

From equation (3), it is clear that for a given conductor having a specified length l and
area of cross–section A, the resistance R is directly proportional to its resistivity ρ . So, if
we change the material of a conductor to one whose resistivity is two times, then the
resistance will also become two times. And if we change the material of a conductor to
one whose resistivity is three times, then the resistance will also become three times.

If we rearrange equation (3), we can write:

Resistivity, ρ = (R × A)/l ............(4)

where R = resistance of the conductor

A = area of cross–section of the conductor and l = length of the conductor

Let us take a conductor having a unit area of cross–section of 1m2 and a unit length of 1
m. So, putting A = 1 and l=1 in equation (4), we get:

Resistivity, ρ =R

Thus, the resistivity of a substance is numerically equal to the resistance of a rod of

that substance which is 1 metre long and 1 square metre in cross–section. Since the
length is 1 metre and the area of cross–section is 1 square metre, so it becomes a 1 metre
cube. So, we can also say that the resistivity of a substance is equal to the resistance
between the opposite faces of a 1 metre cube of the substance.

We have just seen that :

Resistivity, ρ = (R ×A)/l

Now, to get the unit of resistivity ρ we should put the units of resistance R, section A
and length l in the above equation. Now,

The unit of resistance R is ohm

The unit of area of cross–section A is (metre)2

And, The unit of length l is metre

So, putting these units in the above equation, we get:

Unit of Resistivity = ρ = [ohm × (meter)2 ] / meter

= Ohm × meter (or Ω m)

Thus, the SI unit of resistivity is ohm–metre which is written in symbols as Ω m.

The resistivity of a substance does not depend on its length or thickness. It depends only
on the nature of the substance. The resistivity of a substance is its characteristic property.
So, we can use the resistivity values to compare the resistances of two or more
substances. The resistivity values of some of the important substances (or materials) are
being given in the table. A good
conductor of electricity should have a low resistivity and a poor conductor of electricity
will have a high resistivity. From the above table we know that of all the metals, silver
has the lowest resistivity (of 1.6x10–8 Ω m), which means that silver offers the least
resistance to the flow of current through it. Thus, silver metal is the best conductor of
electricity. It is obvious that we should make electric wires of silver metal. But silver is a
very costly metal, so we use copper and aluminium metals to make electric wires for
carrying electricity because copper and aluminium have also quite low resistivities and
they are much more cheaper than silver.

Thin wires of tungsten metal are used for making filaments of electric bulbs. This is
because a thin wire of tungsten has high resistance and tungsten does not get oxidised (or
burn out) easily at high temperatures.

The resistivities of alloys are much more higher than those of the pure metals (from
which they are made). For example, the resistivity of manganin (which is an alloy of
copper, manganese and nickel) is about 25 times more than that of copper; and the
resistivity of constantan (which is an alloy of copper and nickel) is about 30 times more
than that of copper metal. It is due to their high resistivities that manganin and constantan
alloys are used to make resistance wires (or resistors) used in electronic appliances to
reduce the current in an electrical circuit. Another alloy having a high resistivity is
nichrome. This is an alloy of nickel, chromium, iron and manganese having a resistance
of about 60 times more than that of copper. Nichrome alloy is used for making the
heating elements of electrical appliances like electric irons, room–heaters, water–heaters,
and toasters, etc. because it has very high resistivity and it does not undergo oxidation (or
burn) even when red–hot.

The resistivity of conductors (like metals) is very low. The resistivity of most of the
metals increases with temperature. On the other hand, the resistivity of insulators like
ebonite, glass and diamond is very high and does not change with temperature. The
resistivity of semi–conductors like silicon and germanium is in–between those of
conductors and insulators, and decreases on increasing the temperature. Semi–conductors
are proving to be of great practical importance because of their marked change in
conducting properties with temperature, impurity, concentration, etc.