The Length of a Wire and Its Effect on Resistance

The Length of a Wire and Its Effect on Resistance

Introduction: In an electrical circuit, the current (flow rate of

charge) depends on the battery voltage that causes the charge to flow

through the circuit and the components in the circuit.

A circuit consists of a bulb, a battery and a resistor. The bulb is

like a resistor, it slows down the electrons and the battery pushes

the electrons and gives them energy.

A component is a resistor, it slows down the flow of electrons. The

bulb acts as a resistor because inside the bulb is a thin filament

wire, and so not many electrons can flow through this then slows them

down.

By adding more bulbs to a circuit you are increasing the resistance.

This means the flow of electrons is less hence the Ammeter reading is

less. So as the current decreases the flow of charge is slowed down.

George Ohm was born in Erlangen, Bavaria (which is in Germany), on the

sixteenth of March 1789. He was the son of a master mechanical

engineer, who taught him basic practical skills. While still young,

Ohm's ambition was to become a scientist and to work at one of the

great German Universities. He studied at the University of Erlangen,

and at the age of 24 (1813), he began teaching physics and mathematics

at the Realschule in Bamberg. He remained there for almost four years,

before becoming a professor of mathematics for the Jesuit's college at

Cologne in 1817.

[IMAGE]

Ohm's main interest was current electricity.

Ohm made only a modest living and as a result, his experimental

equipment was primitive. Despite this, he made his own metal wire,

producing a range of thicknesses and lengths of remarkably consistent

quality. For the nine years he spent at the Jesuit's college, he did

considerable experimental research on the nature of electric circuits.

He took considerable pains to be brutally accurate with every detail

of his work. Ohm's most important discovery (of 1826) now bears his

name: Ohm's Law describes the relationship between voltage, current,