Joule heating, also known as ohmic heating and resistive heating, is the process by which

the passage of an electric currentthrough a conductor releases heat. The amount of heat
released is proportional to the square of the current such that

This relationship is known as Joule's first law. The SI unit of energy was subsequently
named the joule and given the symbol J. The commonly known unit of power, the watt, is
equivalent to one joule per second. Joule heating is independent of the direction of current,
unlike heating due to the Peltier effect.
Contents
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1 Background
o 1.1 History
o 1.2 Microscopic description
o 1.3 Power loss and noise
2 Formulas
o 2.1 Direct current
o 2.2 Alternating current
o 2.3 Differential Form
3 Reason for high-voltage transmission of electricity
4 Applications
5 Less-common applications
6 Heating efficiency
7 Hydraulic equivalent
8 References
Background[edit]
History[edit]
Resistive heating was first studied by James Prescott Joule in 1841. Joule immersed a
length of wire in a fixed mass of water and measured the temperature rise due to a known
current flowing through the wire for a 30 minute period. By varying the current and the
length of the wire he deduced that the heat produced was proportional to the square of the
current multiplied by the electrical resistance of the wire.
Microscopic description[edit]
Joule heating is caused by interactions between the moving particles that form the current
(usually, but not always, electrons) and theatomic ions that make up the body of the
conductor. Charged particles in an electric circuit are accelerated by an electric field but give
up some of their kinetic energy each time they collide with an ion. The increase in the kinetic
or vibrational energy of the ions manifests itself as heat and a rise in the temperature of the
conductor. Hence energy is transferred from the electrical power supply to the conductor
and any materials with which it is in thermal contact.
Power loss and noise[edit]
Joule heating is referred to as ohmic heating or resistive heating because of its relationship
to Ohm's Law. It forms the basis for the large number of practical applications
involving electric heating. However, in applications where heating is an unwanted by-
product of current use (e.g., load losses in electrical transformers) the diversion of energy is
often referred to as resistive loss. The use of high voltages in electric power
transmission systems is specifically designed to reduce such losses in cabling by operating
with commensurately lower currents. The ring circuits, or ring mains, used in UK homes are
another example, where power is delivered to outlets at lower currents, thus reducing Joule
heating in the wires. Joule heating does not occur in superconducting materials, as these
materials have zero electrical resistance in the superconducting state.
Resistors create electrical noise, called JohnsonNyquist noise. There is an intimate
relationship between JohnsonNyquist noise and Joule heating, explained by
the fluctuation-dissipation theorem.
Formulas[edit]
Direct current[edit]
The most general and fundamental formula for Joule heating is:

where
P is the power (energy per unit time) converted from electrical energy to thermal
energy,
I is the current traveling through the resistor or other element,
V is the voltage drop across the element.
The explanation of this formula (P=VI) is:
[1]

(Energy dissipated per unit time) = (Energy dissipated per charge passing through
resistor) (Charge passing through resistor per unit time)
When Ohm's law is also applicable, the formula can be written in other equivalent
forms:

where R is the resistance.
Alternating current[edit]
Main article: AC power
When current varies, as it does in AC circuits,

where t is time and P is the instantaneous power being converted from
electrical energy to heat. Far more often, the average power is of more
interest than the instantaneous power:

where "avg" denotes average (mean) over one or more cycles, and
"rms" denotes root mean square.
These formulas are valid for an ideal resistor, with zero reactance. If the
reactance is nonzero, the formulas are modified:

where is the phase difference between current and
voltage, means real part, Z is the complex impedance,
and Y* is the complex conjugate of the admittance (equal to 1/Z*).
For more details in the reactive case, see AC power.
Differential Form[edit]
In plasma physics, the Joule heating often needs to be calculated at
a particular location in space. The differential form of the Joule
heating equation gives the power per unit volume.

Here, is the current density, and is the electric field.
Reason for high-voltage transmission
of electricity[edit]
Main article: Electric power transmission
In electric power transmission, high voltage is used to reduce
Joule heating of the overhead power lines. The valuable electric
energy is intended to be used by consumers, not for heating the
power lines. Therefore this Joule heating is referred to as a type
oftransmission loss.
A given quantity of electric power can be transmitted through a
transmission line either at low voltage and high current, or with a
higher voltage and lower current. Transformers can convert a
high transmission voltage to a lower voltage for use by customer
loads. Since the power lost in the wires is proportional to the
conductor resistance and the square of the current, using low
current at high voltage reduces the loss in the conductors due to
Joule heating (or alternatively allows smaller conductors to be
used for the same relative loss).
Applications[edit]
There are many practical uses of Joule heating. Some of the
most common are as follows.
An incandescent light bulb glows when the filament is
heated by Joule heating, so hot that it glows white
with thermal radiation(also called blackbody radiation).
Electric stoves and other electric heaters usually work by
Joule heating.
Soldering irons and cartridge heaters are very often heated
by Joule heating.
Electric fuses rely on the fact that if enough current flows,
enough heat will be generated to melt the fuse wire.
Electronic cigarettes usually work by Joule heating,
vaporizing propylene glycol and vegetable glycerine.
Thermistors and resistance thermometers are resistors
whose resistance changes when the temperature changes.
These are sometimes used in conjunction with Joule heating
(also called self-heating in this context): If a large current is
running through the nonlinear resistor, the resistor's
temperature rises and therefore its resistance changes.
Therefore, these components can be used in a circuit-
protection role similar to fuses, or for feedback in circuits, or
for many other purposes. In general, self-heating can turn a
resistor into a nonlinear and hysteretic circuit element. For
more details see Thermistor#Self-heating effects.