{"id":367,"date":"2011-02-15T15:04:35","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T20:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/wordpress\/regents\/em\/resistance-of-a-wire\/"},"modified":"2011-02-15T15:04:35","modified_gmt":"2011-02-15T20:04:35","slug":"resistance-of-a-wire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/wordpress\/regents\/em\/resistance-of-a-wire\/","title":{"rendered":"Resistance of a Wire"},"content":{"rendered":"
Resistance<\/h5>\n

Electrical charges can move easily in some materials (conductors<\/a>) and less freely in others (insulators<\/a>), as we learned previously. We describe a material’s ability to conduct electric charge as conductivity<\/strong>. Good conductors have high conductivities. The conductivity of a material depends on:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Density of free charges available to move <\/li>\n
  2. Mobility of those free charges <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In similar fashion, we describe a material’s ability to resist the movement of electric charge using resistivity<\/strong>, symbolized with the Greek letter rho (\"rho\"). Resistivity is measured in ohm-meters, which are represented by the Greek letter omega multiplied by meters (\"omega\"\u2022m). Both conductivity and resistivity are properties of a material.<\/p>\n

    \"Regents<\/p>\n

    When an object is created out of a material, the material’s tendency to conduct electricity, or conductance, depends on the material’s conductivity as well as the material’s shape. For example, a hollow cylindrical pipe has a higher conductivity of water than a cylindrical pipe filled with cotton. However, shape of the pipe also plays a role. A very thick but short pipe can conduct lots of water, yet a very narrow, very long pipe can’t conduct as much water. Both geometry of the object and the object’s composition influence its conductance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    Focusing on an object’s ability to resist the flow of electrical charge, we find that objects made of high resistivity materials tend to impede electrical current flow and have a high resistance<\/strong>. Further, materials shaped into long, thin objects also increase an object’s electrical resistance. Finally, objects typically exhibit higher resistivities at higher temperatures<\/em>. We take all of these factors together to describe an object’s resistance to the flow of electrical charge. Resistance is a functional property of an object that describes the object’s ability to impede the flow of charge through it. Units of resistance are ohms (\"omega\").<\/p>\n

    For any given temperature, we can calculate an object’s electrical resistance, in ohms, using the following formula, which can be found on your reference table.<\/p>\n

    \"resistivity<\/p>\n

    \"resistance<\/p>\n

    In this formula, R is the resistance of the object, in ohms (\"omega\"), rho (\"rho\") is the resistivity of the material the object is made out of, in ohm*meters (\"omega\"\u2022m), L is the length of the object, in meters, and A is the cross-sectional area of the object, in meters squared. Note that a table of material resistivities for a constant temperature is given to you on the reference table!<\/p>\n

    Let’s try a sample problem calculating the electrical resistance of an object:<\/p>\n

    \n

    Question: <\/strong>A 3.50-meter length of wire with a cross-sectional
    area of 3.14 \u00d7 10\u20136 m2 at 20\u00b0 Celsius has a resistance of 0.0625 \"omega\". Determine the resistivity of the wire and the material it is made out of.<\/p>\n

    Answer: <\/strong>\"Regents<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Resistance Electrical charges can move easily in some materials (conductors) and less freely in others (insulators), as we learned previously. We describe a material’s ability to conduct electric charge as conductivity. Good conductors have high conductivities. The conductivity of a Continue reading Resistance of a Wire<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[140,136,81,82,139,83,141,142],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-circuits","category-em","tag-conductance","tag-conductivity","tag-conductors","tag-insulators","tag-resistance","tag-resistivity","tag-tungsten","tag-wire"],"yoast_head":"\nResistance of a Wire - Regents Physics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/wordpress\/regents\/em\/resistance-of-a-wire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Resistance of a Wire - Regents Physics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Resistance Electrical charges can move easily in some materials (conductors) and less freely in others (insulators), as we learned previously. We describe a material’s ability to conduct electric charge as conductivity. Good conductors have high conductivities. The conductivity of a Continue reading Resistance of a Wire→\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/aplusphysics.com\/wordpress\/regents\/em\/resistance-of-a-wire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Regents Physics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/aplusphysics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-15T20:04:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.aplusphysics.com\/courses\/regents\/electricity\/images\/rho.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@aplusphysics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@aplusphysics\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/em\\\/resistance-of-a-wire\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/em\\\/resistance-of-a-wire\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c2ac2abe916d9f213b6cb0d57c685d46\"},\"headline\":\"Resistance of a Wire\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-15T20:04:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/em\\\/resistance-of-a-wire\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":449,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/em\\\/resistance-of-a-wire\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.aplusphysics.com\\\/courses\\\/regents\\\/electricity\\\/images\\\/rho.gif\",\"keywords\":[\"conductance\",\"conductivity\",\"conductors\",\"insulators\",\"resistance\",\"resistivity\",\"tungsten\",\"wire\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Circuits\",\"Electricity & Magnetism\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/em\\\/resistance-of-a-wire\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/em\\\/resistance-of-a-wire\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/aplusphysics.com\\\/wordpress\\\/regents\\\/em\\\/resistance-of-a-wire\\\/\",\"name\":\"Resistance of a Wire - 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