Factors Which Affect the Resistance of a Wire

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Factors Which Affect the Resistance of a Wire

To start off this experiment I feel that it is suitable to explain the

main facts of this study. Below is a section explaining the resistance

in detail.

Facts on Resistance:

I have shown how resistance occurs.

· WIRE

· ATOMS

· ELECTRONS

Resistance occurs when the electrons traveling along the wire collide

with the atoms of the wire.

These collisions slow down the flow of electrons causing resistance.

Resistance is a measure of how hard it is to move the electrons

through the wire.

Factors:

1.Temperature: If the wire is heated up the atoms in the wire will

start to vibrate because of their increase in energy. This causes more

collisions between the electrons and the atoms as the atoms are moving

into the path of the electrons. This increase in collisions means that

there will be an increase in resistance.

2.Material: The type of material will affect the amount of free

electrons, which are able to flow through the wire. The number of

electrons depends on the amount of electrons in the outer energy shell

of the atoms, so if there are more or larger atoms then there must be

more electrons

available. If the material has a high number of atoms there will be

high number of electrons causing a lower resistance because of the

increase in the number of electrons. Also if the atoms in the material

are closely packed then the electrons will have more frequent

collisions and the resistance will increase.

3.Wire length:If the length of the wire is increased then the

resistance will also increase as the electrons will have a longer

distance to travel and so more collisions will occur. Due to this the

length increase should be proportional to the resistance increase.

4.Wire width:If the wires width is increased the resistance will

decrease. This is because of the increase in the space for the

electrons to travel through.

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