Successful students will:
- Understand the definition of electric current, so they can relate the magnitude and direction of the current to the rate of flow of positive and negative charge. (IIIC1a) (Knight 30.1 30.3)
- Understand conductivity, resistivity, and resistance, so they can:
- Relate current and voltage for a resistor. (IIIC1b1) (Knight 30.5)
- Write the relationship between electric field strength and current density in a conductor, and describe, in terms of the drift velocity of electrons, why such a relationship is plausible. (IIIC1b2) (Knight 30.3)
- Describe how the resistance of a resistor depends upon its length and cross-sectional area, and apply this result in comparing current flow in resistors of different material or different geometry. (IIIC1b3) (Knight 30.5)
- Derive an expression for the resistance of a resistor of uniform cross-section in terms of its dimensions and the resistivity of the material from which it is constructed. (IIIC1b4) (Knight 30.5)
- Derive expressions that relate the current, voltage, and resistance to the rate at which heat is produced when current passes through a resistor. (IIIC1b5) (Knight 31.3)
- Apply the relationships for the rate of heat production in a resistor. (IIIC1b6) (Knight 31.3)
Due date Day Assignment
3/19 Thu Read/Scan/Use Knight Chapter 30
3/23 Mon Do Ch 30: 2, 8, 10, 23, 35, 43, 48, 50, 58, 72
Lab 4: Resistivity and Ohm’s Law
- MIT's OpenCourseware presents Walter Lewin's videos for 8.02, the freshman electricity and magnetism class. MIT's equivalent of AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism.
- Prentice Hall's web page on Giancoli Chapter 18 Electric Current (no calculus)
- Prentice Hall's web page on Giancoli Chapter 18 Electric Current (no calculus)
- Haliday, Resnick and Walker's page on Chapter 27 - Current and Resistance (Calculus based)
- Haliday, Resnick and Walker's page on Chapter 28 - Circuits (Calculus based)
- In 1827, Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854)published his work on electricity which included his law for the proportionality between electric current and potential difference. This biography comes from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
- John Adams presents a thorough guide to Basic Electronics.COM including explanations of the physics behind circuitry.