Question

Resistance and Ohms law - Resistance and Resistivity

Answer 1

Resistance is a fundamental concept in electrical circuits and materials. It refers to the opposition that a material offers to the flow of electric current. This opposition is caused by collisions between electrons and atoms or molecules within the material, which generates heat and reduces the overall flow of current. Resistance is measured in ohms (symbol: Ω).

Ohm's Law is a fundamental principle in electrical engineering that relates the current (I), voltage (V), and resistance (R) in an electrical circuit. It's expressed by the equation:


=

×

V=I×R

Where:


V represents the voltage across the component (in volts),

I is the current flowing through the component (in amperes or amps), and

R is the resistance of the component (in ohms).

This equation demonstrates that the voltage across a component is directly proportional to the current flowing through it and the resistance it possesses. In other words, if you increase the voltage while keeping the resistance constant, the current will increase proportionally. Similarly, if you increase the resistance while keeping the voltage constant, the current will decrease proportionally.

The resistance of a material or component depends on various factors, including its physical dimensions, temperature, and the type of material. Another related concept is resistivity (

ρ), which is a property of a material that quantifies its intrinsic resistance to current flow. Resistivity is used in situations where you're dealing with materials of different shapes and sizes. The relationship between resistance (

R), resistivity (

ρ), length (

L), and cross-sectional area (

A) is given by:


=

×


R=
A
ρ×L
    ​


Where:


R is the resistance of the material/component,

ρ is the resistivity of the material,

L is the length of the material/component, and

A is the cross-sectional area of the material/component.

Materials with high resistivity (such as insulators) inhibit the flow of electric current more effectively than materials with low resistivity (such as conductors). This relationship is used in various applications, including designing efficient electrical circuits, selecting appropriate materials for specific purposes, and understanding how electricity interacts with different substances.

In summary, resistance is a property that quantifies how much a material opposes the flow of electric current, and Ohm's Law describes the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance in an electrical circuit. Resistivity is a property that helps describe how resistant a material is to current flow and is used in conjunction with other factors to calculate resistance in various situations.