PHYSICS FORMULAE & DEFINITIONS

CURRENT ELECTRICITY V  E  i r or i 
E
FORMULAE Rr
Where – V - terminal P.D., E - emf of the
q ne cell, r-internal resistance of the cell,
1. Electric current I  =
t t R - external resistance.
Where–I-Strength of current; q - charge; t - Case - 2 : When battery is charging
time. V  E ir
V 1 8. Kirchhoff's laws :
2. Resistance R  , Conductance G 
i R
Where – V - potential difference, i - current
i) Kirchhoff's first law : i  0 at any
junction.
ll
3. Resistance R 
A
=
 r2
ii) Kirchhoff's second law :  i R  0 in a
closed circuit.
Where – R - Resistance of the wire;
9. The balancing condition for wheat stone
 - Resistivity or specific resistance,l-length
of the wire, A - area of cross section of the P R
bridge is  , Where P, Q, R and S are
wire Q S
4. Variation of resistance with temperature: the resistances in the bridge.
R T  R 0 1    t   10. Meter Bridge :
x l x l
R  R0 0 i) R  l  R  100  l
1 1
  t / C  1
R0  t  2

Where – x - unknown resistance of given

R R wire, R - resistance in the resistance box,
  2 1 / 0C
R1 (t2  t1 ) l1 - balancing length from left end of the
bridge to Jockey.
Where – R t - resistance at temperature
xA  r2
t C, R0 - resistance at temperature 0C , ii)   = x
 - temperature coefficient of resistance. l l
Where –  - resistivity of the wire, x-
5. Variation of resistivity with temperature : resistance of wire, A - Area of cross section
of the wire, l - length of the wire.
  0 0 11. Potentio Meter :
 t   0 1    t      t / C
 0 t  emf of the cell in the secondary circuit
Es  I l
Where –  t - resistivity at t  C ,
 0 - resistivity at 0C ,  - temperature E1 l1
i) Comparision of emf's of two cells: 
coefficient of resistivity. E2 l2
6. Conductivity = Reciprocal of resistivity.
Where – E1 - emf of first cell, E2 - emf of
1
i.e.   second cell, l1 and l2 - the balancing lengths
 of individual cells respectively.
Where –  - conductivity,  -resistivity.. ii) For determination of internal resistance
7. Terminal voltage : of a cell :
Case - 1 : When battery is delivering current

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PHYSICS FORMULAE & DEFINITIONS

each of length 1 m. made of manganin whose

l  l  R
r 1 2
 E V  specific resistance is high and low
or r   R.
l2  V  temperature coefficient.
12. Series grouping of n identical cells : 3. Principle of potentiometer is :
Total emf = nE p.d. across 'l' is balanced by emf of cell E0 .
Total internal resistance = n r
 E0 = potential gradients  length
Total resistance R  n r
V 
nE E0    l
Current in the circuit i  L
Rnr
nE Where E0 - emf of cell in secondary circuit,
when R  r , imax 
R V - p.d. across the wire, L - total length of
13. Parallel grouping of n identical cells potentiometer wire, l - balancing length.
nE 4. Potentiometer used in :
Current in the circuit i 
r  nR i) comparision of emf's of two cells
nE ii) Measurement of internal resistance of a cell
imax  when R  r
r surface is called work function.
Where – i - current, E - emf, R - external 7. Stopping Potential: The minimum negative
resistance, r - internal resistance, n - number potential given to collector for which
of cells. photoelectric current becomes zero is called
14. Resistivity and Conductivity stopping potential (Vo).
X ray spectrum
 m  m 1. The square root of frequency of
R   2  , where 2   .
 ne   A ne  characteristic X radiation is proportional to
the atomic number of the target atom.
 is called resistivity or specific resistance.
S.I. unit of resistivity is ohm-meter (© m).  Z
Conductivity is inverse of resistivity.
  a  Z  b  , where a, b are constants.
1 This is known as Moseley’s law.

p Compton Effect:
S.I. unit of conductivity is ohm-1 m-1or mho 1. Compton shift is independent of the incident
m-1 or Sm-1. wavelength.
2. Compton shift is independent of nature of
CONCEPTUAL points : scatterer.
3. Compton effect depends only on the angle
Potentiometer : of scattering (f)
1. Potentiometer is a device used to measure
potential difference.
2. Potentiometer consists of 10 uniform wires