Electricity Page no. 1 Mob. No.

9828271873
ELECTRICITY

Electric current: It is the rate of flow of electric charges (called electrons ) in a conductor such as a metal wire.

Current = Charge / Time

I = Q/ t
The S.I. unit of current is ampere. Current is measured by an instrument called Ammeter.

Ampere: When 1 coulomb of charge flows through any cross-section of a conductor in 1 second .
1 ampere = 1 C / 1 sec
1 milliampere ( ) = 1/1000 ampere or 10-3 A
1 microampere ( ) = 1/1000000 or 10-6 A

Note: current is measured by an instrument called ammeter and it is always connected in series of the circuit
and has low resistance.An ammeter should have very low resistance so that it may not change the value of the
current flowing in the circuit.

Direction of electric current : The conventional direction of electric current is from positive terminal of a cell or
battery to the negative terminal, through the outer circuit.

Electric circuits: A continuous conducting path consisting of wires and other resistances and a switch between
the two terminals of a cell or a battery along which an electric current flows is called electric circuit.

Electric Potential : It is defined as the work done in moving a unit positive charge from infinity to that point.

Potential difference: The difference in electric potential between two points on a conductor through which a
current is flowing is defined as the amount of work done to move a unit charge is known as potential
difference.

Potential difference : Work done

Quantity of charge moved

V = W/ Q
The S.I. unit of potential difference is Volt. It is measured by an instrument called Voltmeter.

Volt: If 1 Joule of work is done in moving 1 coulomb of electric charge from one point to the other.

Note: A voltmeter has a high resistance so that it takes a negligible current form the circuit.

OHM’S LAW: At constant temperature the current flowing through a conductor is directly proportional to
the potential difference across its ends.

I V ( At constant temperature )
V I

V =Rx I

R= V
I
Where R is called ‘ Resistance ’ of the conductor. V is called ‘ Potential difference’. I is called ‘ Current ’

Resistance of a conductor: The property of a conductor due to which it opposes the flow of current through it is
called Resistance.
The S.I. unit of a resistance is ohm.

1 OHM: When a potential difference of 1 volt is applied to its ends, a current of 1 ampere flows through it.
Electricity Page no. 2 Mob. No. 9828271873

Graph between V and I : Since the current is directly proportional to the potential difference the graph of V
and I is a straight line.

Factors affecting the resistance of a conductor:

• Effect of length of conductor: on increasing the length of wire its resistance increases and on decreasing the length
of wire the resistance will reduce. Actually, the resistance of wire is directly proportional to its length.
• Effect of area of cross section of conductor: it has been found that the resistance of a conductor is inversely
proportional to the area of the cross section of conductor which is used in the circuit.
• Effect of nature of material of conductor: the electrical resistance of a conductor depends on the nature of its
material which is it made.
• Effect of temperature: the resistance of conductor of pure metals increases o increasing the temperature and
decreases on decreasing the temperature.

Resistivity :
The resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to its length.

R l …….. 1
The resistance of a conductor is inversely proportional to its area of cross section ( thickness)
R 1/A ………2

Using 1 and 2
R l/A
R =ρxl
A

RxA =ρ
l
where R= Resistance of the conductor
A= Area of cross section of the conductor
L = Length of the conductor
ρ= Resistivity
The S.I. unit of the resistivity is ohm – metre.
Note: we use copper aluminium wires for the transmission of electricity because these have low resistivity.
And the resistivity of alloys are much more higher than the pure metals.

Combination of Resistances:
1. Resistances in series: The combined resistance of any number of resistances connected in series is equal to
the sum of the individual resistances.
Electricity Page no. 3 Mob. No. 9828271873
2. Resistances in Parallel :

Disadvantages of Series circuits for domestic wiring:

1. If one electrical appliances stops working due to some defect other also stop working.
2. All the electrical appliances have only one switch to turned on or off.
3. The appliances do not get the same voltage in the series circuit.

Advantages of Parallel circuits in domestic wiring

1. If one electrical appliances stop working due to some defect then all other appliances still keep working.
2. Each electrical appliances have individual switch to turn on or off.
3. Each electrical appliances gets the same voltage.

Electric Power: Electric power is defined as the electrical work done per unit time.

Power = Work done

Time taken

P= W/t

The S.I. unit of electric power is watt .

Watt : It is the rate of working of 1 joule per second.
1 watt = 1 joule / 1 sec
1 kilowatt =1000 watt
Some other formulae for calculating Electric Power
P= V x I
P= I2 x R
P= V2 / R
Electrical energy : The electrical energy consumed by an electrical appliances is given by the product of its
power rating and the time for which it is used.

Electrical energy = Power x time

E=Pxt
Commercial unit of Electrical energy is Kilowatt – hour( kw-hr)
One Kw-hr : It is the amount of electrical energy consumed when an electrical appliance having a power rating
of 1Kw is used for 1 hours.

Relation between Kilowatt – hour and joule

Electricity Page no. 4 Mob. No. 9828271873

Heating effect of Current:

When an electric current is passed through a high resistance wire, like nichrome wire the resistance wire
becomes very hot and produces heat. This is called the heating effect of current.

We will calculate the work done by a current I when it is passing through a resistance R for time t. Now
when an electric charge Q moves against a potential difference V, the amount of work done is given by
W=QXV

From the definition of the current we have, I = Q /t or Q = I t

And from ohm’s law, we have V/ I = R or potential difference , V = I x R

Now putting Q = I x t and V = I x R

We have W = I2 X R x t or
Heat produced, H = I2 X R x t joules

It is clear that the heat produced in a wire is directly proportional to

1. Square of current
2. Resistance of wire
3. Time for which current is passed

Applications of Heating effect of Current:

1. The heating effect of current is utilized in the working of electrical heating appliances such as electric
iron, kettle, oven etc.
2. The heating effect of electric current is utilized in electric bulbs for producing light.

Tungsten metal is used for making the filaments of electric bulb because it has a very high melting
points.
3. The heating effect of electric current is utilized in electric fuse for protecting household wiring and
electrical appliances. : A fuse wire is a short length of a thin tin plated copper wire having low melting
point. Due to its high resistance the fuse wire gets heated too much and melts and break the circuit. This
prevents the fire in the house.

Copper and Aluminum wires are used for the transmission of electricity because they have very low resistivity
due to which they are very good conductor of electricity.

The heating elements of electrical heating appliances such as electric iron and toaster are made of pure alloy (
Nichrome ) rather than a pure metal because the resistivity of an alloy is much higher than that of pure metal.
And it does not undergo oxidation easily even at high temperature.

Semi – Conductors : Silicon and Germanium . They were used in making solar cells and transistors because of
their marked change in conducting properties with temperature , impurity , concentration etc.

Electric bulb is filled with a chemically unreactive gas like argon or nitrogen because in the presence of air hot
tungsten filament would burn up quickly.
Electricity Page no. 5 Mob. No. 9828271873