Principles and

Definition of
Ohms Law
Application of Health and Safety and
Electrical principles

Resistance
and
Ohms law
Aims and objectives
State what resistance is and what affects
it.
Understand Ohms law and how to apply it.

Thevery
importantequation
V=IxR
is an expression
ofOhm's Law.
Resistance is the
opposition to the current
flow

How Electricity Works. Ohm's Law Clearly

Explained

Available from:

Electric Circuit
An electric circuit requires three
things...

A source

A load

A means of transmission

Current can be simplified as

a

The Source Of Supply

The Source Of Supply provides an

electromotive force (emf) to the circuit.
The emf is the drive or push that is applied
to the circuit to force the current around
the circuit.

Symbol is
emf
Unit is Volt
(V)

In this simple circuit we have a Source Of

Supply
(the cell), a load (what we want to use),

Potential Difference
In the simple circuit the emf is the
same as the voltage that we would
measure across the load.
.
This
would not always be the case,
because the load would be the
potential difference or voltage,
that is dropped across the load.

Potential Difference
The emf provides the force that
drives the current around the
circuit.
The circuit may have several
loads connected to it, then the

Volt Drop
The voltages dropped across each resistor
are different to the emf , but combined
they add up to the same value of the
source emf
Symbo
l: U or
V
Unit:
Volt
Although emf and volt drop (potential
(V)
difference) are measured in volts the

U = voltage drop
V or U for the dimension
'voltage'
In lots of mathematical and
similar contexts, capital is
used to denote a change in
something
It means a change in voltage

Ohms Law

Voltage forms a relationship with curren

In 1827, George Simon Ohm discovered
U at U
that if you have metal,Umaintained
= IR I =
R=
R
I
a constant temperature
for a constant length and area,
Ohm law
and then if you then increase
the
triangle
voltage the current increases in the
same proportion.
He discovered that resistance of
the conductor linked the voltage to the

Resistance
Resistance measured in Ohms
(unit )

When any material has an

electrical supply
connected to it, it has a particular
resistance.
This resistance
is called the
resistivity of the material

Specific resistance of material

Particular materials have a specific
resistance
If the length of the material
increases the resistance will
increase in proportion.
If the same material changes in size or area it will change
its resistance.
Increasing the area reduces the resistance.

(rho) is the symbol for resistivity

R=l
A

Where R = resistance ()
= resistivity (m)
l = length(m)
A = area (m2)

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Ohm's Law is the linear

proportionality between current
and voltage that occurs for most
conductors of electricity.
A graph of voltage against current
is a straight line.
The gradient is the resistance.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Resistance
Resistanceis measured
inOhms(symbol)
Resistanceis a measure ofhow
muchthecurrentisslowed down.
Thebiggertheresistance,
thesmallerthecurrent.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Test Circuit for a Component.

Anything in an electric circuit
(e.g., lamp, resistor, motor,
diode) is called a
component.
Each component has its own
circuit symbol.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Atest circuitis used to

find arangeof
voltages
and
currentsfor a
component.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Componentswhich
obeyOhm's LawareWiresand
Resistors.
Acomponentwill only
obeyOhm's Lawat
constanttemperature
(meaning that
thetemperature
mustnot change).

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

If theresistanceof a
componentis
constant(stays the same)
For different values
ofVandI,
then aplot(graph)
ofVagainstIwill be
astraight line.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Inreality,
anincreaseincurrent
through acomponent
willchange
itstemperature
(thetemperatureusually
goesup)
and soOhm's Lawisonlyan

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Components
whichdon'tob
eyOhm's Law
The thin wire (filament) inside the
light bulb
gets very hot when a current flows
through it and it glows brightly.
This rise in temperature causes an
increase in resistance of the filament,

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Calculate theresistanceof acomponent.
(Acomponent can convertelectrical energyintoheat)

Firstly, we need to measure thecurrentflowing through

thecomponent, and thevoltageacross thecomponent.
The circuit below shows where to place anammeter
and avoltmeter.
If theammeterreads2 A, and thevoltmeterreads6 V,
thenV=IxR
R=Vdivided byI
=6/2

=3 Ohms
The same method can be used to calculate the
resistanceof anycomponent.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Components
whichdon'tob
eyOhm's Law
A thermistor is a special type of
resistor
which has been deliberately
manufactured so that its resistance

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Currentin
aSeriesCircuit
Thecurrentin aseriescircuit is

thesame everywhere. Anammeter

placedanywhere
in aseriescircuit always
givesthesame reading.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Currentin
aSeriesCircuit

If anidentical cell(battery) is placed

inserieswith theoriginal cell
thecurrentdoublesbecause the
totalvoltageof the circuitdoubles.
However, twocellstogetherprovide
electricityfor only thesame
amountoftimeasone cellbefore
they both run out.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

SwitchesandLampsinSeriesCircuits

Anopenswitchin
aseriescircuit will
turneverything off,
because the
circuit will be
disconnected
from thecell.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

SwitchesandLampsinSeriesCircuits

Whenlampsareconnected in series,
themore lampsin the circuit
thedimmerthey get, because thevoltage
is divided between them.
Ifone lampin
aseriescircuitbreaksorfails,
alltheotherswillgo outwith it.
For this
reason,lampsarealwaysconnectedin

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Currentin aParallelCircuit.

1. Thecurrentin
aparallelcircuit
depends on the
resistanceof
thebranch.
2. Thetotal
currentflowinginto
thebranches isequal
tothetotal

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Currentin aParallelCircuit.

ThecurrentatA2flo
wing through the2
Ohm resistor can be
found using
V=IxR
If the
supply voltageis12
Volts
I=Vdivided by R

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Currentin aParallelCircuit.
You would get thesame
answerfor the2 Ohm
resistor, whether or not
theotherresistorsare
connected in the circuit.
Forparallelcircuits,
eachcomponent
behaves
as if it is connected
independentlyto
thecell, and is unaware

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

Currentin aParallelCircuit.
If anidentical cell(battery)
is placed inparallelwith
theoriginal cell
thecurrentstaysthesame
because the
totalvoltageof the circuit
is thesame.
Twocellstogetherprovide
electricityfortwiceaslong
before they both run out.

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

SwitchesandLampsin aParallelCircuit

AswitchatS1orS
5will switchall the
lampsoffandon
together
(assume
thatallthe
otherswitchesare
"closed" which

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

SwitchesandLampsin aParallelCircuit

TheswitchatS2will
only
lightthelampatL1.
This isvery
usefulbecause it
means that we can
switch thelamp
onandoffwithout

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

SwitchesandLampsin aParallelCircuit

Similarly,
theswitchatS3
willonly
lightthelampat
L2.
TheswitchatS4
willonly

Principles and Definition of Ohms Law

SwitchesandLampsin aParallelCircuit

Thebrightnessof
thelampdoesnot
change as
otherlampsinparal
lel
areswitchedonoro
ff.
For this
reasonlamps