Unit 16 Laws of Resistance Page |1

Ohm’s Law and Resistance

Ohm’s law states that the voltage or potential difference between two points is directly proportional to
the current or electricity passing through the resistance, and inversely proportional to the resistance of
the circuit. The formula for Ohm’s law is V=IR. This relationship between current, voltage, and
relationship was discovered by German scientist Georg Simon Ohm.

Ohm’s Law Formula

Voltage= Current× Resistance
V= I×R
V= voltage, I= current and  R= resistance
The SI unit of resistance is ohms and is denoted by Ω
This law is one of the most basic laws of electricity. It helps to calculate the power, efficiency, current,
voltage, and resistance of an element of an electrical circuit.
Limitations of Ohm’s Law
Following are the limitations of Ohm’s law:
1. Ohm’s law is not applicable for unilateral electrical elements like diodes and transistors as they
allow the current to flow through in one direction only.
2. For non-linear electrical elements with parameters like capacitance, resistance etc the voltage
and current won’t be constant with respect to time making it difficult to use Ohm’s law.

Laws of Resistance
The laws of resistance states that the Resistance “R” offered by a conductor depends upon following
factors: The resistance of conductor is the obstruction posed by the conductor to the flow of current
through it.
1. The Resistance “R” is directly proportional with it’s length “L”
2. The Resistance “R” is Inversely proportional with it’s Cross Sectional Area: “A”
3. The Resistance “R” is dependent on the Nature of the material.
4. The Resistance “R” is dependent on the Temperature of the conductor.
Note:- It is found that among physical factors Temperature plays the most significant factor
in determining the resistance  but other physical factors like Pressure and Tension also effect the
resistance of a substance.
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Resistivity or Specific Resistance:

If we do not change the temperature of the conductor or neglect it’s effect then we can come into
conclusion that:
The resistance of a substance is directly proportional to it’ length divided by it’s cross sectional area.

Or, 

or,    , where   is a constant depending on the nature of the material of the conductor and
is known as it’s Specific Resistance or Resistivity.
When L = 1 Meter and A = 1 Meter square Or when the material takes in of length 1 meter and it’s cross
sectional area is one meter square as shown on the figure below then , 

specific resistance
So the specific resistance of a substance can be defined as the resistance between the opposite faces of
a meter cube of that material.
 Formula and Unit of Specific Resistance:
From the equations derived above we can derive the formula for resistivity as:

So , the unit of resistivity is : Ohm Meters or 

Types of Resistance
Resistance is classified into three categories for the sake of Measurement. Different categories of
Resistance are measured by the different techniques. They are classified as
Low Resistance: Resistance having value 1Ω or below are kept under this category.
Medium Resistance: This category includes Resistance from 1Ω to 0.1 MΩ.
High Resistance: Resistance of the order of 0.1 MΩ and above is classified as High resistance.
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Verification of Ohm’s Law

Ohm’s Law
It states, the current passing through any conductor is proportional to the potential difference applied
across the conductor provided that physical condition (mechanical strain, temperature) of the
conductor remains unchanged.

Verification of Ohm’s Law

 
Ohm’s law can be verified by using a simple circuit as shown in fig. aside. A resistance R is connected in a
series to a battery, ammeter and a rheostat. A voltmeter is connected in parallel across a fixed
resistance R. When the key is closed, I current flows  in the circuit and voltmeter and ammeter shows
reading. By adjusting rheostat at different position different value of V and A are obtained. These values
are noted and plotted on a graph paper and the graph shown below is obtained.

Here a straight line passing through origin is obtained. This graph shows V is proportions to I which is
Ohm’s Law. Hence Verified.
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Resistors

mixture of clay or carbon, so they are not

only good conductors but good insulators too.
Most of the resistors have four color bands. The
first and second band reveal the first and
second digits of the value respectively. The third
band is used to multiply the value digits and the
fourth band tells us the tolerance. If there is no
fourth band, it is assumed that the tolerance is
plus or minus 20%.

Resistors are one of the important blocks of

electrical circuits. They are made up of the

Resistance in series
A series generally means connected along a line, or in a row, or in an order. In electronics, series
resistance means that the resistors are connected one after the other and that there is only one path for
current to flow through

Laws of Series Circuits

 Individual resistance add up to the total circuit resistance
 Current through the circuit is the same at every point.
 Individual voltages throughout the circuit add up to the total voltage.

Resistance in parallel
There are many different ways to organize a parallel circuit. In the practical world, most of the wiring is
done in parallel so that the voltage to any one part of the network is the same as the voltage supplied to
any other part of it.

Laws of Parallel Circuits

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 The reciprocals of all the individual resistances add up to the reciprocal of the total circuit
resistance.
1/RT = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + 1/R3
 Voltage through the circuit is the same at every point.
 Individual current draws throughout the circuit add up to the total current draw.