Much of the modern electrical sciences discovered in 19th C.

Published 4 key Invented & developed Developed the

laws of the telephone alternating current
electromagnetism 1970 - 1975 induction motor
1865 1880s
 Ohm’s Law
• Discovered in 1825
• Relates 3 key quantities in electrical circuits
• Voltage (V)
• Current (I)
• Resistance (R)
V=IxR
Voltage = Current x Resistance
In scientific units: Volts = Amperes x Ohms
Georg Simon Ohm Think of the voltage as the FORCE which is DRIVING the total
electrical flow rate (current), against the resistance encountered
in a portion of an electrical circuit.
In scientific units: Volts = Amperes x Ohms

Alessandro Volta Andre-Marie Ampere Georg Simon Ohm

1745 - 1827 1775 - 1836 17889 - 1854
Ohm discovered the merger
 Voltage = (electrical) Current x (electrical) Resistance
Compare to pushing or cycling a bike up a hill
t in wire e s i stance
- c urre n r Electromotive
eee
- - Force
= VOLTAGE
wire
1) The force is your capacity for work to push or cycle the bike
(or to ‘drive’ it); that is like the Voltage in a circuit.

2) The resistance is like the friction force on the tyres, the stiffness
of the bike components, and the steepness of the hill; all these factors work
together to determine the rate of progress for a given force.

3) The rate of progress (up the hill) – is similar to the “current” in a circuit, which
measures the total passage of electricity in a given time through a particular point.
 Ohm’s Law
V=IxR
e -
= an electron,
the basic physical Voltage = Current x Resistance
unit of a current.
(billions of billions in wire s i stance
r re nt re Electromotive
- - -c
u
eee
pass through a Force
mains circuit = VOLTAGE
every second). wire
The wire is not realllly on a slope, like the example of the bike up the hill.
It is not gravity creating the resistance to the work done:
it is the material of the wire itself!
Some materials – such as metals and water- are ‘electrical conductors’ which offer
relatively little resistance to electrons passage through the material.
 Suppose a wire has twice the resistance

t in wire e s i stance Doubling the resistance of the

urre n r Electromotive
- - -c
eee Force
= VOLTAGE
circuit wire will mean twice the
wire electromotive force (voltage)
required to drive the same
current through the circuit.

The greater the electrical resistance,

the greater the applied voltage V
needs to be
to drive the same current I
•
Ohm’s Law
A wire is a fixed material, so:
in practise
• Usually the resistance of a wire is not varying
• So the value of ‘R’ in the equation V = I x R is fixed in practise.
• What is varied is the Voltage, V
• As the Voltage is increased, the current increases
Rearranging the equation to
V=IxR express the fact that voltage
Voltage = Current x Resistance drives the change in current:
In scientific units: Divide both sides by the
Volts = Amperes x Ohms ‘constant’ resistance:
V/R=IxR/R=I
Volts / Ohms = Amperes Voltage / Resistance = Current
•
Ohm’s Law in practise
Consider a wire with resistance 0.2 ohms.
• Increases voltage in steps of 50 volts from 50 to 500.
• Current is: Voltage/Resistance
• Current ranges from 50/0.2 = 250 amps(A) in steps of 250A to 500/0.2 = 2500A
 Ohm’s Law in practise
• Download the accompanying simple spreadsheet

• Adjust the circuit resistance from 0.2 ohms to other values

• Make a note of how the current values on the graph are changing in response

• What visual quantity on the graph best represents the circuit resistance?
 Ohm’s Law in practise
• Download the accompanying simple spreadsheet

• Adjust the circuit resistance from 0.2 ohms to other values

[Just change the value in cell A2 from 0.2 to say 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 10.0 and drag
it down the column to A11] – the graph will automatically update.

• Notice that the higher the resistance, the lower the current resulting.

• This makes sense, because if a wire has higher resistance, then fewer
electrons can flow through it for a given applied electrical force (‘voltage’).

INPUT = VOLTAGE, working AGAINST = RESISTANCE, to give OUTPUT = CURRENT

Ohm’s Law in practise
INPUT = VOLTAGE
working
AGAINST = RESISTANCE
to give
OUTPUT = CURRENT