Electricity
1. Introduction
Electric charges
To understand electricity, we need to understand the concept of electric
charge first.
When two dry substances of different types are rubbed together and are then
separated, each substance acquires property of attracting light pieces of
paper, dry leaves, straw etc.
The substances being rubbed acquire something which give them this
property.
That something is called electric charges.
The substances are said to have become charged after acquiring or loosing
electric charge.
Positive charge Negative charge
Glass rod Silk Cloth
Woolen cloth or cat skin Amber, ebonite, rubber rod
Woolen carpet Rubber shoe soles
Woolen coat Plastic seat
2. Electric Charges
Charges are of two kinds
1. Negative charge
2. positive charge
Electrons are negatively charged particles and protons, of which nucleus is
made of, are positively charged particles.
Actually, nucleus is made of protons and neutrons but neutrons are uncharged
particles.
Opposite charges attract each other whereas similar charges repel.
e = -1.6 × 10 -19 C, charge on an electron.
Its unit is coulomb, denoted by ‘C’.
3. Conductors and insulators
Substances through which electric charges can flow easily are called
conductors.
All metals like copper, aluminum etc. are good conductors of electricity.
Substances through which electric charges cannot flow are called
insulators.
Few examples of insulating materials are glass, rubber, mica, plastic, dry
wood etc.
Presence or absence of free electrons in a material makes it a conductor or
insulator.
Conductors have free electrons which are loosely held by nuclei of their
atoms whereas insulators do not have free electrons.
Question 1. What is the difference between static and current electricity?
Answer.
1. Static (or fractional) electricity is caused by the electrical charges on the surface
of objects, while current electricity is a phenomenon involving the flow of electrons
along a conductor.
2. When objects are rubbed, a loss and/or gain of electrons occurs, which results in
the phenomenon of static electricity.
4. Electric potential and potential difference
Electric charges or electrons move in a conductor only if there is a difference
of electric pressure, called potential difference, along the conductor.
This difference of potential may be produced by a battery, consisting of one
or more electric cells.
Potential difference across the terminals of the cell is generated due to
chemical reaction within the cell.
The potential difference between two points in an electric field is defined as
the amount of work done in moving a unit positive charge from one point
to another point.
The SI unit of electric potential difference is volt (V)
The potential difference between two points is said to be 1 Volt if 1 Joule of
work is done in moving 1 Coulomb of electric charge from one point to
another.
The potential difference is measured by means of an instrument called the
voltmeter.
The voltmeter is always connected in parallel across the points between
which the potential difference is to be measured.
5. Electric current and electrical circuits
The rate of flow of electric charges (electrons) in a conductor is known as
electric current.
If a net charge Q, flows across any cross-section of a conductor in time t, then
the current I, through the cross-section is
The S.I. unit of electric current is Ampere (A)
When 1 Coulomb of charge flows through a cross-section of conductor in 1
second then current flowing through the conductor is said to be 1 Ampere.
Current is measured by an instrument called ammeter.
It is always connected in series in a circuit through which the current is to be
measured.
A continuous and closed path of an electric current is called an electric circuit.
For example, figure given below shows a typical electric circuit comprising a
cell, an electric bulb, an ammeter A and a plug key K.
Note:
The electric current flows in the circuit from the positive terminal of the
cell to the negative terminal of the cell through the bulb and ammeter.
The electron flows from negative terminal to positive terminal of the battery.
6. Circuit Diagrams (components)
Ohm's Law
Ohm's law is the relation between the potential difference applied to the ends of
the conductor and current flowing through the conductor.
This law was expressed by George Simon Ohm in 1826.
Statement of Ohm's Law
At a constant temperature, the current flowing through a conductor is always
directly proportional to the potential difference across the two ends of the
conductor
mathematically V∝I or V=IR
where constant of proportionality ‘R’ is called the electric resistance or simply
resistance of the conductor.
If a graph is drawn between the potential difference readings (V) and the
corresponding current value (I), then the graph is found to be a straight line
passing through the origin as shown below in the figure
Resistance
The resistance of the conductor is proportional to
1. its length (directly)
2. its area of cross-section (inversely)
Where ρ is the constant of proportionality and is called the electrical resistivity
of the material of the conductor.
The SI unit of resistivity is Ω m. It is a characteristic property of the material.
8. Factors affecting of resistances of a conductor
Electric resistance of a conductor (or a wire) depends on the following factors
1. Length of the conductor:
Resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to its length.
Thus, a long wire has more resistance than a short wire.
2. Area of cross-section:
Resistance of a conductor is inversely proportional to its area of cross-
section.
Thus, a thick wire has less resistance and a thin wire has more resistance.
3. Nature of material of conductor:
Electrical resistance of a conductor also depends on the nature of the material
of which it is made.
For example, a copper wire has less resistance than a nichrome wire of same
length and area of cross-section.
4. Effect of temperature:
Resistance of all pure metals increases on raising the temperature and
decreases on lowering the temperature.
Resistance of alloys like manganin, nichrome and constantan remains
unaffected by temperature.
9. Resistance of a system of resistors
The resistances can be combined in two ways
1. In series
2. In parallel
To increase the resistance individual resistances are connected in series
combination and to decrease the resistance individual resistances are
connected in parallel combination.
Resistors in Series
When two or more resistances are connected end to end then they are said to
be connected in series combination.
Figure below shows a circuit diagram where two resistors are connected in
series combination.
For a series combination of resistors, the current is same in every part of the
circuit or same current flows through each resistor "
Again, if we connect three voltmeters one across each resistor as shown
below in the figure. The potential difference measured by voltmeter across
each one of resistors R1 , R2 and R3 is V1 , V2 and V3 respectively and if we add
all these potential differences then we get
the total potential difference across a combination of resistors in series is equal
to the sum of potential differences across the individual resistors.
Now applying Ohm’s law to entire circuit, we get
On applying Ohm's law to the three resistors separately we have,
Resistors in parallel
When two or more resistances are connected between the same two points
they are said to be connected in parallel combination.
Figure below shows a circuit diagram where two resistors are connected in
parallel combination.
IMPORTANT NOTE
When a number of resistors are connected in parallel, then the potential
difference across each resistance is equal to the voltage of the battery
applied.
When a number of resistances are connected in parallel, then the sum of the
currents flowing through all the resistances is equal to total current
flowing in the circuit.
To calculate the equivalent resistance of the circuit shown in figure consider a
battery which is connected across parallel combination of resistors so as to
maintain potential difference V across each resistor. Then total current in the
circuit would be
Since potential difference across each resistor is V. Therefore, on applying
Ohm's Law
Putting these values of current in equation
If R is the equivalent resistance of parallel combination of three resistors
heaving resistances R1, R2 and R3 then from Ohm's Law
𝑉 1 1 1
= 𝑉( + + )
𝑅𝑒𝑞 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑅3
V gets cancelled both sides
Heating Effect of Electric current
When electric current passes through a high resistance wire, the wire
becomes hot and produces heat.
This is called heating effect of current.
This phenomenon occurs because electrical energy is gets transformed into
heat energy when current flows through a resistance.
Role of resistance in electrical circuits is similar to the role of friction in
mechanics.
consider a current I flowing through a resistor of resistance R. Let V be the
potential difference across it as shown in the figure.
Let ‘t’ be the time during which charge Q flows. Now when charge Q moves
against the potential difference V, then the amount of work is given by
And we know that power is given by work done per unit time.
𝑊 𝑸𝑉
𝑃= = = 𝑉𝐼
𝑡 𝒕
3 Formulae for power:
𝑃 = 𝑉𝐼
𝑃 = 𝑽𝐼 = 𝑰𝑹𝐼 = 𝐼 2 𝑅
𝑉𝑽 𝑉2
𝑃 = 𝑉𝑰 = =
𝑹 𝑅
The energy supplied to the circuit by the source in time t is
Energy = power x time
𝐸 = 𝑉𝐼𝑇
𝐸 = 𝑖 2 𝑟𝑡
𝑣2𝑡
𝐸=
𝑟
Thus, for a steady current I flowing in the circuit for time t, the heat produced
is given by the same formula as energy.
11. Applications of heating effect of current
1. The heating effect of current is utilized in the electrical heating appliances for
example electric iron, room heaters, water heaters etc.
2. The heating effect of electric current is utilized in electric bulbs or electric
lamps for producing light.
3. An electric fuse is an important application of the heating effect of current.
The working principle of a fuse wire is based on the heating effect of
current.
When high current flow through the fuse (current higher than the rated
value) then the heat developed in the wire melts it and breaks the
circuit.
4. In an electric heater one type of coil is used.
A high resistance material like nichrome or same type of material is
used as coil.
Flowing electric current through the coil it becomes heated. Due to
high resistance the coil becomes red color forms.
12. Electric Power
Rate of doing work or the rate of consumption of energy is known as POWER
Mathematically,
SI unit of power is Watt which is denoted by letter W.
The power of 1 Watt is a rate of working of 1 Joule per second.
Watt is a small unit, therefore, a bigger unit of electric power called Kilowatt
is used for commercial purposes.
1 kilowatt = 1000 Watts
" The rate at which electric work is done or the rate at which
electric energy is consumed is called electric power "
The commercial unit of electrical energy is a kilowatt-hour (kWh).
1kWh = 3,600,000J = 3.6×106J
One kilowatt-hour is defined as the amount of energy consumed when 1kW
of power is used for 1 hour.
1 unit = kilo-watt hour
= 1000 W x 1 hour
= 1000 W x 3600 s
= 36,00,000 joules
= 3.6 x 𝟏𝟎𝟔 joules
