Ohm's law is a fundamental principle in electrical engineering and physics that describes the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance in an electrical circuit. It is named after the German physicist Georg Simon Ohm, who formulated this law in the 1820s.
Ohm's law states that the current flowing through a conductor (like a wire) is directly proportional to the voltage applied across it, while inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductor. Mathematically, Ohm's law can be expressed as follows:
V = I * R
Where:
V is the voltage across the conductor (measured in volts, V).
I is the current flowing through the conductor (measured in amperes, A).
R is the resistance of the conductor (measured in ohms, Ω).
This formula signifies that for a given conductor at a constant temperature, the voltage across the conductor increases if the current flowing through it increases, and vice versa. Additionally, if the resistance of the conductor increases, the current flowing through it will decrease for a given voltage. The relationship between these three electrical properties makes Ohm's law a fundamental tool in understanding and analyzing electrical circuits.