Resistance and Ohm's Law

As charged particles try to make their way around a circuit they encounter resistance to their flow - for example, electrons collide with atoms in a metal. The more resistance there is the more energy that is needed to push the same number of electrons through part of the circuit. Resistance is the opposition to the passage of electric current, measured in ohms, , and the resistance of a component can be found using an ohmmeter. The ohm is defined by: "If it takes 1 volt (1 joule per coulomb) to drive a current of 1 amp through a resistor, it has a resistance of 1 ohm." Resistance can be calculated using the equation:

For certain components, such as metal resistors at constant temperature, the resistance, R, doesn't change. These components obey Ohm's Law. Ohm's Law states that the current through a metallic conductor is proportional to the potential difference across it if the temperature remains constant. So, if you plot a graph of current against voltage you will get:

Note: The gradient of a current against voltage graph is equal to 1/resistance of the component.
Any resistor that obeys Ohm's Law is called an ohmic resistor. Any resistor that doesn't do this is cleverly called a non-ohmic resistor.

Voltage-Current Graphs
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Voltage-Current Graph for a Metal Conductor

When metals are heated it causes the atoms in the metal to vibrate more. Imagine an electron in a current travelling through heated copper. It's trying to flow through the metal but the atoms are vibrating more, so they are going to get in the way more, causing more collisions. More collisions gives more resistance. So increasing temperature of a wire leads to increasing resistance. But, it's a little more confusing than that because passing a current through metal causes it to heat up. Why? Collisions between the moving electrons and the metal atoms pass kinetic energy to the atoms, making them shake more. This makes collisions more likely. It's a vicious circle, isn't it?! That means that the higher the current passing through a wire the greater its resistance will become. So most resistors don't obey Ohm's Law unless the temperature is kept constant.

Remember: the gradient of the line at any point =

If

then the gradient =

An increase in resistance will show a reduction in gradient (it becomes less steep) - for example, the filament lamp. Be careful: in some books or questions, the graphs are drawn with V on the y-axis. In this case, the gradient of the graph becomes R, not

Current-Voltage Graph for a Diode

Diodes behave like ohmic resistors when the current is travelling through them in the correct direction. However, if the current is reversed the resistance of the diode is extremely high.

Thermistors and Light-dependent Resistors

Some devices, made from semiconductors, break the rule we've just explained (typical) and reduce their resistance as temperature increases. This is because the extra energy makes the atoms release electrons,allowing them to move more easily, this in turn reduces the resistance. These devices are called thermistors. These are often used in temperature controls. (This diagram shows a thermistor with a negative temperature coefficient. A positive temperature coefficient thermistor increases resistance with temperature).

Light-dependent resistors also decrease their resistance when energy is given, but this time the energy needs to be given as light energy. Remember: The more energy given to a semiconductor the larger the number of charge-carriers that are able to flow, so the lower its resistance becomes.