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Whenacellconnectedinacircuitismadetosendcurrentthroughthe
circuitbyclosingthekey,currentflowsfromthepositivepoletothenegative
poleofthecellintheexternalpartofcircuitandflowsfromthenegative
poletothepositivepolethroughelectrolyteinsidethecell.Duringthe
passageofcurrentthroughtheinteriorofthecell,electrolyteofferssome
resistancetotheflowofcurrent.
Theresistanceofferedbythe
electrodesandtheelectrolytetothepassageofcurrentthroughthe
interiorofthecelliscalledtheinternalresistanceofthecell
Itis
denotedbythesymbolrinanelectriccircuit
Themaximumpotentialdifferencethatexistsbetweentheterminalsofa
cell,whencellisinopencircuiti.e.whenitisnotsendinganycurrent
throughthecircuitiscallede.m.fofthecell.ItisdenotedbythesymbolE
Thepotentialdifferencethatexistsacrosstheterminalsofacellwhenthe
cellissendingcurrentinthecircuit,iscalledtheterminalpotential
differenceofthecell.ItisdenotedbyV
RelationbetweenEandVWhentheinternalresistancerissending
currentIthroughacircuit,then
E = V + I .r
FactorsInfluencingInternalResistance
OfaCell
DistanceBetweentheElectrodes
CommonAreaofElectrodesInsidetheElectrolyte
NatureoftheElectrolyte
AmountofCurrentDrawnfromtheElectrolyte
DISTANCEBETWEENTHEELECTRODES
InternalResistanceofaCellisdirectlyproportionaltothedistancebetween
theelectrodesi.e.thelengthoftheelectrolytethroughwhichcurrent
passesthroughthecell
rL
COMMONAREAOFELECTRODESINSIDETHE
ELECTRODES
Itisinverselyproportionaltothecommonareaofelectrodes(orplates)
dippingintheelectrolyte
r1/A
NATUREOFTHEELECTROLYTE
Internalresistanceofacellisinverselyproportionaltothespecific
conductivityoftheelectrolyte.Specificconductivityisreciprocalofspecific
resistivityorspecificresistanceoftheelectrolyte
r1/
= 1/
AMOUNTOFCURRENTDRAWNFROMACELL
Internalresistanceofacellalsodependsupontheamountofcurrentdrawn
fromthecell.Beyondacertaincriticalvalueofcurrentdrawnfromacell,its
internalresistanceincreaseswiththeincreaseinthevalueofcurrentdrawn
fromit.Thereis,however,nodefinitemathematicalrelationbetweenthe
two
AIM
Tostudyvariousfactorsonwhichinternalresistance/EMFofacell
depends
APPARATUS
Potentiometer,Amultimeter,A9VBattery,Connectingwires,Abulb
THEORY