CA09 Electronic Materials

ENSC 20062
Course Assignment 09
ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
1. Two wires A and B of circular cross section are made of the same metal and have equal
lengths, but the resistance of wire A is three times greater than that of wire B. What is the ratio
of their cross-sectional areas? How do their radii compare?
2. A very large potential difference is not necessarily required to produce long sparks in air. With a
device called Jacob’s ladder, a potential difference of about 10 kV produces an electric arc a few
millimeters long between the bottom ends of two curved rods that project upward from the
power supply. The arc rises, climbing the rods and getting longer and longer. It disappears when
it reaches the top; then a new spark immediately forms at the bottom and the process repeats.
Explain these phenomena. Why does the arc rise? Why does a new arc appear only after the
previous one is gone?
3. Suppose that the current through a conductor decreases exponentially with time according to
the equation I(t ) = I0e-t/τ where I0 is the initial current (at t = 0), and τ is a constant having
dimensions of time. Consider a fixed observation point within the conductor. (a) How much
charge passes this point between t = 0 and t = τ? (b) How much charge passes this point
between t = 0 and t = 10 τ? (c) What If? How much charge passes this point between t = 0 and t
=
ꚙ?
4. The electron beam emerging from a certain high-energy electron accelerator has a circular cross
section of radius 1.00 mm. (a) The beam current is 8.00 /A. Find the current density in the
beam, assuming that it is uniform throughout. (b) The speed of the electrons is so close to the
speed of light that their speed can be taken as c = 3.00 x 108 m/s with negligible error. Find the
electron density in the beam. (c) How long does it take for Avogadro’s number of electrons to
emerge from the accelerator?
5. A 0.900-V potential difference is maintained across a 1.50-m length of tungsten wire that has a
cross-sectional area of 0.600 mm2. What is the current in the wire?
a resistance of R = 0.500 Ω, and if all copper is to be used, what will be (a) the length and (b) the
6. Suppose that you wish to fabricate a uniform wire out of 1.00 g of copper. If the wire is to have
diameter of this wire?

7. If the magnitude of the drift velocity of free electrons in a copper wire is 7.84 x 10-4 m/s, what is
the electric field in the conductor?
8. An aluminum wire with a diameter of 0.100 mm has a uniform electric field of 0.200 V/m
imposed along its entire length. The temperature of the wire is 50.0°C. Assume one free
electron per atom. (a) Determine the resistivity. (b) What is the current density in the wire? (c)
What is the total current in the wire? (d) What is the drift speed of the conduction electrons? (e)
What potential difference must exist between the ends of a 2.00-m length of the wire to
produce the stated electric field?
9. What is the required resistance of an immersion heater that increases the temperature of 1.50
kg of water from 10.0°C to 50.0°C in 10.0 min while operating at 110 V?
10. Suppose that a voltage surge produces 140 V for a moment. By what percentage does the power
output of a 120-V, 100-W lightbulb increase? Assume that its resistance does not change.
11. A certain toaster has a heating element made of Nichrome wire. When the toaster is first
connected to a 120-V source (and the wire is at a temperature of 20.0°C), the initial current is
1.80 A. However, the current begins to decrease as the heating element warms up. When the
toaster reaches its final operating temperature, the current drops to 1.53 A. (a) Find the power
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ENSC 20062
delivered to the toaster when it is at its operating temperature. (b) What is the final
temperature of the heating element?
12. A straight cylindrical wire lying along the x axis has a length L and a diameter d. It is made of a
material that obeys Ohm’s law with a resistivity %. Assume that potential V is maintained at x =
0, and that the potential is zero at x = L. In terms of L, d, V, ρ, and physical constants, derive
expressions for (a) the electric field in the wire, (b) the resistance of the wire, (c) the electric
current in the wire, and (d) the current density in the wire. Express vectors in vector notation.
(e) Prove that E = ρ J.
13. An electric car is designed to run off a bank of 12.0-V batteries with total energy storage of 2.00
x 107 J. (a) If the electric motor draws 8.00 kW, what is the current delivered to the motor? (b) If
the electric motor draws 8.00 kW as the car moves at a steady speed of 20.0 m/s, how far will
the car travel before it is “out of juice”?
14. An experiment is conducted to measure the electrical resistivity of Nichrome in the form of
wires with different lengths and cross-sectional areas. For one set of measurements, a student
uses 30-gauge wire, which has a cross-sectional area of 7.30 x 10-8 m2. The student measures the
potential difference across the wire and the current in the wire with a voltmeter and an
ammeter, respectively. For each of the measurements given in the table taken on wires of three
different lengths, calculate the resistance of the wires and the corresponding values of the
resistivity. What is the average value of the resistivity, and how does this value compare with
the know values of resistivity?
L (m) ΔV (V) I (A) R (Ω) ρ(Ω.m)

0.540 5.22 0.500
1.028 5.82 0.276
1.543 5.94 0.187
15. An isolated charged conducting sphere of radius 12.0 cm creates an electric field of 4.90 x 104
N/C at a distance 21.0 cm from its center. (a) What is its surface charge density? (b) What is its
capacitance?
16. An air-filled capacitor consists of two parallel plates, each with an area of 7.60 cm2, separated by
1.80 mm. A 20.0-V potential difference is applied to these plates. Calculate (a) the electric field
between the plates, (b) the surface charge density, (c) the capacitance, and (d) the charge on
each plate.
17. Two capacitors when connected in parallel give an equivalent capacitance of Cp and an
equivalent capacitance of Cs when connected in series. What is the capacitance of each
capacitor?
18. Two capacitors when connected in parallel give an equivalent capacitance of 9.00 pF and give
an equivalent capacitance of 2.00 pF when connected in series. What is the capacitance of each
capacitor?
19. A 50.0-m length of coaxial cable has an inner conductor that has a diameter of 2.58 mm and
carries a charge of 8.10 μC. The surrounding conductor has an inner diameter of 7.27 mm and a
charge of -8.10 μC. (a) What is the capacitance of this cable? (b) What is the potential difference
between the two conductors? Assume the region between the conductors is air.
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20. A silicon sample is doped with phosphorus at 1 part per 1.00 x 106. Phosphorus acts as an
electron donor, providing one free electron per atom. The density of silicon is 2.33 g/cm3, and its
atomic mass is 28.09 g/mol.
a. Calculate the number of free (conduction) electrons per unit volume of the
doped silicon.
b. Compare the result from part (a) with the number of conduction electrons per unit
volume of copper wire, if each copper atom produces one free (conduction)
electron. The density of copper is 8.96 g/cm3, and its atomic mass is 63.54 g/mol.
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ENSC 20062

diameter of this wire?

L (m) ΔV (V) I (A) R (Ω) ρ(Ω.m)

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