CURRENT AND VOLTAGE

CONDUCTORS

ATOMS AND THEIR STRUCTURE

✓ In order to understand voltage and current, we first have to understand the atomic
structure of elements,
✓ An atom is made up of a nucleus, surrounded by shells of electrons,
✓ The nucleus consists of protons (which are positively charged) and neutrons which are
negatively charged.
✓ Copper: has 29 electrons
✓ Number of electrons in each shell is determined: 2n^2, where n is the shell number
✓ The outermost shell is incomplete and, in fact it has only one electron.
✓ To determine the number of electronic
✓ Atoms with complete shells are usually quite stable.
✓ Atoms with a smaller percentage of the defined number of electrons are usually
unstable.
✓ The force attraction between the nucleus and the outer electrons is given by:

✓ The force of attraction is inversely proportional, to the distance between the two
charges,
✓ With this we can conclude that, the force of attraction decreases with number of
shells, i.e. electrons in first shell are strongly attracted as compared to last shell.
✓ The last electron of copper is loosely bound to the nucleus, so with enough outside
pressure, it can be easily knocked off/leave the parent atom.
✓ If the electron gains sufficient energy from the surrounding medium, and leaves the
parent atom, it is called a free electron.
 ✓ Other metals: aluminium, silver, gold, and tungsten.

VOLATGE

✓ When the outer most electron of copper is separated, we create a region that has a net
positive and negative charge.
✓ The remaining copper becomes a positively charged ion, because there are now more
protons that electrons, we call this a positive ion.
✓ If the free electron leaves the vicinity of the parent atom, regions of positive and
negative charge have been established.
✓ So, a voltage is created by simply by creating a separation of positive and negative
charges. The greater the voltage, the greater the separation.

CURRENT

✓ Without voltage, there is no current.

✓ In any metal, even one at rest, there free electrons crossing the surface in both
directions.
✓ In order to make this electron flow do work for us, we need to give it direction and
magnitude, this is done by supplying a voltage.
✓ When voltage is connected, free electrons drifts towards the position terminal, the
negative terminal becomes a supply of additional electrons to keep the flow going.
 ✓ The negative electrons arriving at the positive terminal are absorbed, and through
chemical actions additional electrons are deposited at the negative terminal to make
up for those that left.

SEMICONDUCTOR

RESISTANCE

CORE: COMPETANCES

• Become familiar with the parameters that determine the resistance of an element and
be able to calculate the resistance from the given dimensions and material
characteristics.
 • Understand the effects of temperature on the resistance of a material and how to
calculate the change in resistance with temperature

RESISTANCE

Def: Is the opposition of flow of charges (current)

Symbol: R

Units: ohms

The resistance is measured using an ohmmeter.

This opposition of motion is due to collision and friction between free electrons, atoms and
ions in the path of motion, resulting in conversion of the supplied electrical energy into heat
raising the temperature of the surrounding medium.

RESISTANCE: CIRCULAR WIRES

The resistance of any material is dependent upon:

1. Material
2. Length
3. Cross-sectional area
4. Temperature

✓ The atomic structure of the material determines how easily free-electrons will pass
through a material.
✓ The longer the path which the free electron must pass, the greater the resistance.
✓ Free electrons pass easily through materials with larger cross-sectional area.
 ✓ The greater the temperature of the material, the greater the internal vibration of the
atoms/ and electrons of the material/wire, and the more difficult it is for the free
electrons to find path through the material.
✓ The elements are related by the following equation:

R is the resistance of the material

Row is the resistivity of the material in ohm.meter

L is the length

A is the cross-sectional area

Copper = 1.64 * 10^-8

✓ Good conductors such as copper and aluminium have low resistivity

✓ While insulators have higher resistivity

Temperature effects

CONDUCTORS

✓ Conductors have a generous number of free electrons, and any introduction to heat
energy will have a little impact on the total number of free carriers.
✓ An increase in thermal energy only increases the intensity of the random motions (the
vibration) of the particle within the material, so it is difficult for a general drift of
electronics in any one direction to be established. So we can say:
For good conductors, in increase in temperature results in an increase in the
resistance of the material. Conductors have a positive temperature coefficient.
SEMICONDUCTORS

✓ For semiconductors, an increase in temperature increases the number of free carriers

in the material for conduction.
So, for semiconductor material, an increase in temperature results in a decrease
in the resistance level. Semiconductors have a negative temperature coefficient

INSULATORS

✓ Increase in temperature results in decrease in the resistance of an insulator.

CONDUCTANCE

Is the opposite of resistance. It is the measure of how well a material conducts electricity.
Symbol G, and is measured in siemens (S)

G = 1/R

G = A/(rowl)