MT1011 Engineering materials

Tutorial 6
1. A copper wire 100m long must experience a voltage drop of less than 1.5V when a current
of 2.5A passes through it. Using the data in Table 1, compute the minimum diameter of the
wire.

Electrical conductivity

Table 1: Room-temperature electrical conductivities for several metals and alloys.

2. An aluminum wire 4mm in diameter is to offer a resistance of no more than 2.5Ω. Using the
data in Table 1, compute the maximum wire length.

3. Using the data in Table 1, compute the resistance of a copper wire 3mm diameter and 2m
long.
(a) What would be the current flow if the potential drop across the ends of the wire is
0.05 V?
(b) What is the current density?
(c) What is the magnitude of the electric field across the ends of the wire?
 Tutorial 6- Solutions
1. For this problem, given that a copper wire 100 m long must experience a voltage drop
of less than 1.5 V when a current of 2.5 A passes through it, we are to compute the
minimum diameter of the wire. Solving for the cross-sectional area A leads to;

7 -1

For copper σ = 6.0 × 10 (Ω-m)

2. This problem asks that we compute, for an aluminum wire 4 mm in diameter, the
maximum length such that the resistance will not exceed 2.5 Ω. From Table 1 for
aluminum, σ = 3.8 × 107 (Ω-m)-1. If d is the diameter then,

3. Solving for the resistance in terms of the conductivity,

The conductivity of copper is 6.0 × 107 (Ω-m)-1, and;

a) If V = 0.05 V then;
b) The current density;

c) The electric field;