General Physics 2 Current, Resistivity, and Resistance

General Physics 2
Current, Resistivity,
and Resistance
It’s very common among us the word
“electricity” in fact every month we
receive a monthly bill of electricity that
we must pay. If you come to think about
it, have you ever wondered what’s the
science behind electricity? What’s with
electricity that helps and provides us
the convenience to watch movies and
drama in our television set, and able us
to use wi-fi from our router or broadband
that is plug-in into the socket, which
also connected with the main source of
electricity.
There is electricity because of electrons,
so, the highlight for this lesson is you are to
distinguish between conventional current
and electron flow, Apply the relationship
charge = current x time to new situations or
to solve related problems, describe the
effect of temperature increase on the
resistance of a metallic conductor, describe
the ability of the material to conduct
current in terms of resistivity and
conductivity, and apply the relationship of
the proportionality between resistance and
the length and cross-sectional area of a
wire to solve problems.
Behind the science of electricity is
the current, resistivity, and
resistance as well as the Ohm’s Law.
Take time to reflect on the picture
shown below:
Objectives
1. Distinguish between conventional
current and electron flow
2. Apply the relationship charge =

current x time to new situations or
to solve related problems
Objectives
3. Describe the effect of temperature
increase on the resistance of a metallic
conductor
4. Describe the ability of a material to
conduct current in terms of resistivity
and conductivity
5. Apply the relationship of the
proportionality between resistance and
the length and crosssectional area of a
wire to solve problems
Electricity is a kind of energy that takes in
many forms, and one of this is the current
electricity or electric current. Electric
current refers to the interaction of charges
in motion from one region to another. These
moving charges are called electrons, which
is one of the subatomic particles of atom,
the smallest unit of matter. Electric circuit,
on the other hand, occur the moment when
the charges in motion within a conducting
path forms a closed loop. The path refers to
the electric circuit which serves as a
medium for transferring energy from one
area to another.
Prerequisite of analyzing electric
circuits is to understand first the
basic properties of electric currents
that explains the charges in motion
or the flow of electrons, and its
conductivity, resistivity as well as
the relationship of current, voltage
and resistance.
Current, represented by capital (I)
refers to the motion of charges from
one place to another. It is the rate at
which charges flow through a circuit
element or over a cross-sectional
unit of an area per unit time.
Current represents the flow of
electrons, however it flows from the
positive terminal of the battery
towards the negative terminal, and it
is the common way of representing
the flow of current in an electric
circuit,
that is how it perceive, thus it is
called conventional current, the
choice or preferred current flow, so
the moving charges are considered
positive, so it is assume that it is
moving in the same direction with
current.
On the other hand, the opposite
direction is the actual flow of
electrons, from the negative terminal
to the positive terminal. Look at the
illustration below to distinguish even
better the difference between
conventional current and electron
flow.
The electric current flows from the
circuit shows the flow of electricity.
Given the equation below current
can also be described in terms of the
rate of charges flow over time. It
represents how many electrons per
seconds are flowing at any given
point. Ampere (A), the SI unit of
current is defined as one coulomb
per second (1 A = 1 C/s).
Keep in mind that 1 electron has a
charge of .
Where:
I = current in Ampere Q = charge in
coulomb t = time in seconds
Example:
A current of 5 A flows through a
resistor for 30 minutes. How many
electrons flows through the resistor
during the time given?
Answer:
Answer the following:
2. When 8 C of charge flow pass in a point in a
circuit
4A in 2 seconds, the current is _______.
If the current at a point in a circuit is 1.5A,
1.5Cof charge flow pass this point
then ______
every second.
If the current at a point in a circuit is 0.75A,

3.75Cof charge flow pass this point 5
then _______
seconds.
If the current at3a point in a circuit is 0.80A,

then it takes ____ seconds for 2.4C of charge
to flow pass this point in the wire.
3. A printer draws 150C of charge

when it is used for 10min. How much
current does the printer draw?
Ans. 0.25A
4. How long does it take for 3.25 C of

charge to pass a point in a circuit if
the wire is carrying a current of 0.55
A?
Ans. 5.91 s
5. A car’s starter motor draws 50A of

current from the car’s battery. If the
start up time is 1.5 seconds, how
many electrons pass through a point
in a circuit during this time?
Ans.
6. A current of 1.65 A flows in a

electric circuit. How many electrons
are flowing pass a point in the circuit
every second?
Ans.
There are other factor and properties
that affects the flow of electric
charges, and one of which is voltage
and resistance aside from current.
Its relationship is summarized and
explained by Ohm’s Law, which
named after George Simon Ohm.
It states that the current is directly
proportional to voltage and inversely
proportional to resistance as shown
in the equation below
Where, (V) is denoted for voltage and
has a unit of volts, it serves as a
“force” that pushes electrons
through a certain component in an
electric circuit, (I) for current is the
electron flow which is measured in
ampere, and resistance (R) is
measured in ohms(Ω).
Conductivity is the ability of the
material to mobilize charges. It is the
opposite of resistivity. Moreover,
resistivity () is defined as the
resistance offered by the material
directly proportional to the length of
the conductor and inversely to its
cross-sectional area. The SI unit of
resistivity is Ohmmeter (Ω.m).
RESISTIVITY AND TEMPERATURE
Resistivity is the ability of the

material to resist the flow of the
electric current or the electric
charges. The electrical resistivity of
a conductor material is measured by
how strong the material opposes the
flow of an electric current in a
circuit path.
The following are the factors that
affect the resistance (R) of a
conductor in ohms.
• The resistivity (ρ) of the material
from which the conductor is made.
• The total length (L) of the
conductor.
• The cross-sectional area (A) of the
conductor
• The temperature of the conductor.
Example:
Calculate the total DC resistance of
a 100 meter roll of 2.5 copper wire if
the resistivity of copper at 20 is 1.72
x Ω meter.
𝑹= 𝝆 𝛀
Resistance (R) is directly
proportional to the length of the
conductor and inversely to its cross-
sectional area. The SI Unit is 1 Ω
which is also equivalent to 1 Volt
over 1 Ampere.
Conductivity on the other hand,
refers to the flow of electric current
through a material without any
resistance. It is the total opposite of
resistivity. So metals such as copper,
aluminum or silver have very large
values of conductance meaning that
they are good conductors.
Conductivity, σ (Greek letter sigma),
is the reciprocal of the resistivity.
That is 1/ρ and is measured in
siemens per meter (S/m). Since
electrical conductivity σ = 1/ρ, the
previous expression for electrical
resistance, R can be rewritten as:
𝑹= 𝝆 𝛀 and
Therefore : 𝛀
Example:
A 20meter length of cable has a
cross-sectional area of 1 and a
resistance of 5 ohms. Calculate the
conductivity of the cable.
Therefore, a material or a conductor
with high conductivity will have a
low resistivity, and vice versa. As
you observe from the previous
discussion, Greek letter 𝝆 (rho)
represents the electrical resistivity
of a material,
ρ
and electrical
conductivity on the other hand may
be represented by the Greek letter 𝛔
(sigma), 𝜿 (kappa), or 𝜸 (gamma).
1. What is the resistance of an

aluminum wire that is 10m long and
has a diameter of 3mm if the
resistivity is ?
2. Copper wiring in a house usually

has a diameter of approximately
1.5mm. What length of copper wire
would have a resistance of 1 𝛀?

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General Physics 2

2. Apply the relationship charge =

If the current at a point in a circuit is 0.75A,

If the current at3a point in a circuit is 0.80A,

3. A printer draws 150C of charge

4. How long does it take for 3.25 C of

5. A car’s starter motor draws 50A of

6. A current of 1.65 A flows in a

Resistivity is the ability of the

1. What is the resistance of an

2. Copper wiring in a house usually

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