Lecture 3:

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Electric Current and Emf
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Electric current
• a flow of charges in a conductor is called electric
current, I
• is specifically charge flow per unit time
I=
• Where:
Q – the total charge magnitude which flows, in C
t – time flow, in seconds
I – current in C/s or ampere
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3 Variations of the current equation can be obtained
by noting that the following factors affect charge
flow:
1. Number of particles in the wire, n
2. Magnitude of the individual charge, q
3. Size of the path/wire i.e. cross-sectional area
(A), length, volume
4. Rate of flow or drift velocity, v
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The total charge flow,
Q = nqvAt
Thus,
I = nqvA
Where:
I – current in amperes
n – number of charged particles
q – individual charge magnitude, C
v – drift velocity in m/s
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A – cross sectional area of the wire in m2
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The amount of current which flow per unit cross-
sectional area of wire is called the current
density, J
J=
where:
J – current density
I – current in amperes
A – cross sectional area of the wire in m2

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 In metal conductors, e-s move from their high
potential point (-), to the low potential point
6 (+). The e-s create negative current. On the
other hand, virtual particles called positive sites
migrate in the opposite direction creating
positive current. Positive site (locations vacated
by electrons) move from their high potential
point (+) to the low potential point (-), creating
positive current. Ammeters are mostly designed
to read positive current. They must be
 connected in series with the path, the positive
terminal (red) linked to the positive of the
voltage source and the negative terminal (black)
joined with the negative voltage source. If the
ammeter is connected wrongly, it’s needle
deflects below zero because then, its is reading
negative current
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• Since the number of positive sites depend on
the number of electrons which migrate, both
negative and positive currents have equal
magnitude.
• In semiconductors, current is due to the
movement of positive sites (called holes)

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Electromotive Force (emf)
If electric current has to flow continuously
through a conducting wire, emf is required.
Emf is a nonelectrostatic force which should
overcome the effect of the potential across two
points or terminals called the terminal voltage

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Electromotive Force (emf)
The battery is a common source of emf.
In an open circuit, the electric field lines run
from the positive to the negative terminal.
The field carries with it the electrostatic force
which pushes positive sites toward the negative
terminal and electrons toward the positive.

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Electromotive Force (emf), ε
The force due to the emf acts to remain at rest.
In an open circuit, the terminal potential is equal
to the emf.
V=ε
Note:
The terminal voltage and emf have the same units, the volt

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The nonelectrostatic force from an emf
source can be obtained from a chemical
reaction (wet and dry cells), a mechanical
reaction (generators), a temperature
difference (thermocouple), and even the
action of photosensitive cells
photovoltaic cells). The devices in
parenthesis are called emf sources.

Emf in an open circuit

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 12 If a battery is connected terminal-to-terminal
via a wire, a complete or closed circuit is
created. If current has to be continuously
established in the external wire, the electrons
would have to be pushed back to their
potential point (-) so they can move towards
the low potential point (+), passing through
the wire.
To do this, the emf must overcome the
terminal voltage so that V = ε - Ir
where: V- voltage
ε- emf, in volts
I – current in A
r – internal resitance of the emf source, in ohm

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Closed circuit
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Points to remember:
1. Current is a scalar quantity. The total current due to
many charges is the arithmetic sum of the current
due to the individual kinds of charge.
2. The current equation I = nqvA has the unit Am3
because it describes current in a volume of wire.

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 Points to remember:
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3. Short circuit is created when the current path is made
terribly short. The external resistance becomes zero, the
terminal voltage drops to zero and the current becomes
exceedingly high. The circuit is damaged. To guard this
at home, the main current path is connected to the
fuse (equipped with a strip of metal designed to melt
when the current exceeds its rating flows) or a circuit
breaker.

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Points to remember:
4. Electric current has physiological effect. Because
the human body has parts which function primarily
on electrical impulses such as the heart and the brain,
these organs could seriously be impaired. Strong
electrical shocks can be fatal and caution should be
taken in handling electric circuits.

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 Problems:
1. A wire has a current of 0.5 A. How many electrons flow in one
second?
2. 20x 10 20 electrons flow through a wire in one minute. What is the
current in the wire?
3. A wire connected to a 12 V emf has a short circuit current of 20A.
What is the internal resistance of the emf?
4. 3 x 10 12e-/m3 are detected in a 2m wire of diameter 0.2mm creating
16 a current of 3 microampere. Find: a) drift velocity b)current density
5. In an open circuit, the terminal potential of a battery is 12V. In a
closed circuit, this drops to 11.82V. Find: the emf b) the current
produced if the material resistance is 0.04Ω
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