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Definitions for

Physics G482

Electric Current

  The Net flow of charged particles
 Vector Quantity
 ()
 1 A = 1 C/s
 Caused by electrons in a metal
 Caused by ions in an electrolyte
 Caused by protons/anti-protons in a PartAccel
 Caused by conduction electrons and holes in a
semiconductor
Conventional current

 Model used to describe the movement of charge in a
circuit.
 Conventional travels from + to -
Electron Flow

 The movement of electrons (normally round a
circuit)
 Electrons flow from – to +
Coulomb

 The standard unit for charge
 equal to the quantity of electricity conveyed in one
second by a current of one ampere

 1 C = 1 As
Ammeter

 A device used to measure the current in a circuit
 connected in series with the components
Kirchoff’s First Law

 The sum of the current entering a junction is equal to
the sum of the current leaving a junction
 This is a consequence of the conservation of charge
Mean Drift Velocity


The average displacement travelled of the electrons along the wire per second
 

 Number density refers to the available electrons for conduction. Conductors


have huge numbers of free electrons.
 Insulators have none or extremely few because they have full electron shells.
 Semiconductors are "doped" to create hole/electron pairs in a so called p-n
junction region that allows conduction to be turned on and off by the strength
and direction of the electric field in the p-n junction. The number density in
semiconductors is thus much less than in conductors and is artificially created
by doping. Without doping, semiconductors have a number density between
conductors and insulators.
 Doping enforces specific impurities which allow conduction
P-N Junction

 Positive negative junction
 Formed between the boundary of a semiconductor
with + and – parts.
Junction

Positive Negative
Potential Difference

 The electrical energy transferred per unit charge
 when electrical energy is converted into some other
form of energy
Electromotive Force

 The electrical energy transferred per unit charge
 when some other form of energy is converted into
electrical energy

 All sources of emf have internal resistance


Volt

  Unit of potential difference and e.m.f.

 Energy = Volt Charge


 1 V = 1 J/C
Voltmeter

 A device used to measure the p.d. across a
component

 It is connected in parallel across a component


Resistance
A  property of a component that regulates the electric current
through it.
 Measured in Ω (Ohms)

 Resistance of a metal increases with temp as the atoms of the


metal attain more kinetic energy caused by vibrations. The
electrons therefore have to travel through more turbulent atoms,
meaning more resistance
 Thermistors with an NTC have a decrease in resistance with an
increase in temperature
Ω (Ohm)
 Unit of resistance
 1 Ω = 1 V/A
Ohm’s Law
 The electric current through a conductor is proportional to the
p.d. across it
 Provided physical conditions, such as temperature, remain
constant
Resistivity
  is a measure of how strongly a material opposes the flow of
electric current
 The ratio of the product of resistance and cross-sectional
Area of a component and its length
 electrical resistivity of metals increases with temperature
 the resistivity of intrinsic semiconductors decreases with
increasing temperature
Power
  The rate of doing work
 The rate of energy transfer
 Measured in W (Watts)
 1 W = 1 J/s
Fuse
 An electrical component used to heat up, melt and break the
circuit (hence stop the current) when a specified amount of
electric current passes through it. Used as a safety device

 The fuse used should always be a bit higher than the Current
specified by the power rating and voltage rating
Slow Blow fuse
 A double helix fuse capable of withstanding short surges of
current through it
 Energy transferred = P.d. x Current x Time
 Measured in Joules

W = VIt
 A Unit of Energy
 The energy transferred when 1000W is used for
3600s, equal to 3.6 MJ

Kilowatt-hour (kWh)
 Cost of using an appliance =
cost per one kWh number of kWh’s used
  

kWh-cost ratio
 The sum of the e.m.f.s is equal to the sum of the
p.d.s in a closed loop

  
This is a consequence of a conservation of
energy

 +

Kirchoff’s Second Law


 Potential difference (pd) or voltage across the
terminals of a power supply, such as a battery of
cells. When the supply is not connected in circuit
its terminal voltage is the same as its
electromotive force (emf)
 however, as soon as it begins to supply current
to a circuit its terminal voltage falls because
some electric potential energy is lost in driving
current against the supply's own internal
resistance. As the current flowing in the circuit is
increased the terminal voltage of the supply falls.

Terminal p.d.
 E is Emf
  V is voltage of components
 I is the current
 r is the internal resistance

Equation for emf


 The potential of the voltage
source is dividied into the ratio
of the resistances (ie R1 will have
 a  pd of across it)
 This means you can choose the
resistances to get the voltage you
want across one of them

Potential Divider
 Intensity of light increases, resistance decreases

LDR
 LDRs and thermistors are highly useful in these
circuits as the voltage can be change
continuously
 This is useful in appliances such as a stereo to
continuously adjust the volume

NTC Resistors in Potential Dividers


 an additional advantage of using a thermistor
in a potential divider is that it produces an
electrical output V0, which may be used as an
input to a datalogger, if a continuous record of
a temperature is required
 The advantage is that you can use a datalogger
to record a significant change in resistance for a
very small (and otherwise difficult to record)
change in temperature.

Data Logging with Potential dividers and


thermistors
ave
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Plane polarised wave
 A transverse wave oscillating in only one plane

 Light is partially polarised on reflection


Malus’ Law
 A physical law describing a change in intensity of
a transverse wave passing through a Polaroid
analyser
Superposition
 The principle that states
 When two or more waves exist at the same place
 The resultant wave can be found by adding the
displacements of each individual wave
Interference
 The addition of two or more waves
(superposition)
 That results in a new wave pattern
Coherence
 Two or more waves with a constant phase
relationship
Path Difference
 the difference in distance travelled by the two
waves from their respective sources to a given
point on the pattern
Constructive Interference
 Occurs when the path difference = nλ

 When a crest meets a crest between two waves


Destructive Interference
  Occurs when the path difference = λ

 When a crest meets a trough between two waves


(ie antiphase)
Sound Interference experiment
O Sig Gen
O Two speakers
O Places of intensity (antinodes – con.
Interference)
O Places of quietness (nodes – dest.
Interference)
Light Interference Experiment
O Feynman’s Two Slit experiment
O The light waves enter the slits, and start
spreading coherently towards a wall
O The waves superimpose, forming an
interference pattern
Microwave Interference
Experiment
O A Waveguide can be used to split microwaves
into two different paths before re-joining

Path A

Path B
Intensity Relationships

Young double-slit experiment
O  An experiment to demonstrate the wave nature
of light via superposition and interference

O a is the slit spacing


O x is the fringe width
O D is the distance to the wall
Diffraction Grating
O Advantage is that from each grating, each ray
will travel exactly one wavelength further than
the ray directly above it
O Therefore, all rays will be in phase with one
another – they will reinforce to give a
maximum intensity
Diff. Grating Equation

O d is the spacing between slits


Node
O A point along a stationary wave where there is
0 amplitude due to destructive interference
Antinode
O A point along a stationary wave where there is
max amplitude due to constructive
interference
Fundamental mode of vibration
O The lowest frequency in a harmonic series
where a stationary wave forms
Harmonics
O Whole number multipliers of the fundamental
mode of vibration
PARTICULATE NATURE OF EMR

 EMR was described as Planck to be a stream of particles


called photons
PHOTON

  A Quantum of light, often described to be a particle of light


ELECTRONVOLT

 1 eV is the energy change of an electron when it moves


through a p.d. of 1 V

 1 eV = 1.6×10 - 1 9 J
TRANSFER EQUATION

 
 Used for electrons and other charged particles
PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT

 electrons are emitted from a material surface


 as a consequence of their absorption of energy from
electromagnetic radiation of very short wavelength
 such as visible or ultraviolet light.
 Electrons emitted in this manner may be referred to as
"photoelectrons"
WORK FUNCTION

 the minimum energy (usually measured in electron volts)


needed to remove an electron from a solid to a point
immediately outside the solid surface
 (or energy needed to move an electron from the Fermi level
into vacuum)
THRESHOLD FREQUENCY

 The lowest frequency of EMR that will result in the emission


of photoelectrons from a specified metal surface
C OF E BETWEEN PHOTONS AND
ELECTRONS
  The energy is conserved when a photon interacts with an
electron
MAX KE OF ELECTRONS IS
INDEPENDENT OF INTENSITY
 Max KE of electrons is independent of intensity because
electrons can only absorb one photon at a time
 The KE does depend on the frequency of light however…
PHOTOELECTRIC CURRENT IS PROPORTIONAL
TO THE INTENSITY OF INCIDENT LIGHT…

 an increase in intensity (more photons) will produce an


increase in photoelectric emission
PHOTOCATHODES AND TEMP
RELATIONSHIP
 The rate at which the electrons are emitted from a photo
cathode is independent of its temperature.
STOPPING POTENTIAL

 Voltage required to stop the outward movement of electrons


emitted by photoelectric or thermionic action.

 For a given metal surface, stopping potential ( Vo) is directly


proportional to frequency but independent of intensity.
DE BROGLIE’S EQUATION

h
 

λ=
𝑚𝑒 𝑣
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION USES

 Used to determine the atomic spacing and arrangement of


atoms

 The size of nuclei

 Diameter of a nucleus
ENERGY LEVEL
  One of the specific energies an electron can have within an atom
EMISSION LINE SPECTRA
 Hot Gases emit light – Emission Spectra
 Cool Gases absorb white light – Absorption Spectra

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