2022-24 syllabus By: Sultan ALShehri

Electricity
 Electric current
 Electric current
 Electric current is the flow/movement of charge carriers and is
measured in units of amperes (A) (sometimes called amps)
 Charge can be either positive or negative
 When two oppositely charged conductors are connected together (by a
length of wire), charge will flow between the two conductors, causing a
current

Charge can flow between two conductors. The direction of conventional current in a metal is
from positive to negative

 In electrical wires, the current is a flow of electrons

 Electrons are negatively charged; they flow away from the negative
terminal of a cell towards the positive terminal
 The direction of the current is from the positive terminal of the cell,
around the circuit to the negative terminal, so it may be called
conventional current.
 Conventional current is defined as the flow of positive charge from
the positive terminal of a cell to the negative terminal
o This is the opposite to the direction of electron flow, as conventional current was
described before electric current was really understood

By definition, conventional current always goes from positive to negative (even though
electrons go the other way)

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 There are several examples of electric currents, including in household

wiring and electrical appliances
 Current is measured using an ammeter
 Ammeters should always be connected in series with the part of the
circuit you wish to measure the current through

An ammeter can be used to measure the current around a circuit and always connected in
series

 Charge carriers
 Sometimes a current is a flow of positive charges – for example, a beam
of protons produced in a particle accelerator. The current is in the same
direction as the particles. In addition, sometimes a current is a flow of
negative charges – for example, in wires of an electric circuit, the only
charge carriers are
electrons which move
away from the battery’s
negative terminal and
towards its positive
terminal. Sometimes a
current is due to both
positive and negative
charges – for example,
when charged particles
flow through a solution. A solution which conducts is called an
electrolyte and it contains both positive and negative ions. These move
in opposite directions when the solution is connected to a cell.
 In general, any charged particles which contribute to an electric current
are known as charge carriers; these can be electrons, protons, or ions. If
you consider the structure of charged particles you will appreciate that
charge comes in definite sized ‘bits’; the smallest bit being the charge on
an electron or on a single proton. This ‘bittiness’ is what is meant when
charge is described as being quantised.

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 Electric current in a metal wire

 A wire is made of metal. Inside a metal, there are negatively charged
electrons which are free to move about. We call these delocalised
/conduction/free electrons,
because they are the particles
which allow a metal to
conduct an electric current.
The atoms of a metal bind
tightly together; they usually
form a regular array, as shown in Figure. In a typical metal, such as
copper or silver, one electron from each atom breaks free to become a
conduction electron. The atom remains as a positively charged ion.
Since there are equal numbers of free electrons (negative) and ions
(positive), the metal has no overall charge – it is neutral.
When the cell is connected to the wire, it exerts an electrical force on
the conduction electrons that makes them travel along the length of the
wire. Since electrons are negatively charged, they flow away from the
negative terminal of the cell and towards the positive terminal. This is in
the opposite direction to conventional current. This may seem a bit odd;
it comes about because the direction of conventional current was chosen
long before anyone had any idea what was going on inside a piece of
metal carrying a current.
 Note that there is a current at all points in the circuit as soon as the
circuit is completed. We do not have to wait for charge to travel around
from the cell. This is because the charged electrons are already present
throughout the metal before the cell is connected.

 Charge and its quantisation

 Charge is current multiplied by time (Charge = current x time)
 The charge on charge carriers is quantised
 Quantised simply mean that charge exists only in discrete amounts
 As a result, Charge comes in definite bits - e.g. a single proton has a
single positive charge, whereas a single electron has a single negative
charge
 In this way, the quantity of charge can be quantised dependent on how
many protons or electrons are present - positive and negative charge has
a definite minimum magnitude and always comes in multiples of that
magnitude
 This means that if we say something has a given charge, the charge is
always a multiple of the charge of an electron by convention

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 The smallest amount of charge that any particle can have is the charge
on an electron or proton, which is approximately equals to 1.60 x 10-19 C
(negative for the electron, positive for the proton). This is a fundamental
property of these particles and doesn’t change, just as their masses don’t
change.
 This mean that charge is quantised; if you remove electrons from an object,
its charge will increase in steps of 1.6 x 10-19 C, and if you add electrons
(remember that the protons are fixed in the nuclei of its atoms, and can’t
move) then the object’s charge will decrease in steps of 1.6 x 10-19 C.
−19 −19
 For example, 3.2×10 C is possible, because this is +2e, but 2.5×10 C is
impossible, because this is not an multiple of e.

 Current can also be defined as the charge passing through a circuit per
unit time
 Electric charge is measured in units of coulombs (C)
 Charge (Q), current (I) and time (t)are related by the following equation
Q = It
 Coulomb is ampere second
 One ampere is the current at a point in a circuit if a charge of 1 coulomb
passes that point each second. This is based on the fixed value of the
elementary charge (e). The size/magnitude of the charge on the electron
is exactly 1.602 176 634 x 10-19 C, and is measured using a circuit that can
count the number of electrons passing in a known amount of time.
 Worked Example
When will 8 mA of current pass through an electrical circuit?
A. When 1 J of energy is used by 1 C of charge
B. When a charge of 4 C passes in 500 s
C. When a charge of 8 C passes in 100 s
D. When a charge of 1 C passes in 8 s
Answer: B
Step 1: Write out the equation relating current, charge and time
Q = It
Step 2: Rule out any obviously incorrect options
o Option A does not contain charge or time, so can be ruled out
Step 3: Try the rest of the options to determine the correct answer
o Consider option B:
I = 4 / 500 = 8 × 10–3 = 8 mA

o Consider option C:
I = 8 / 100 = 80 × 10–3 = 80 mA

o Consider option D:
I = 1 / 8 = 125 × 10–3 = 125 mA
o Therefore, the correct answer is B

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 NOTE: Although electric charge can be positive or negative, since the

conventional direction of current is the flow of positive charge the
current should always be a positive value for your exam answers.

 The expression I = Anvq, for current carrying conductors

 In a conductor, current is due to the movement of charge carriers
 These charge carriers can be negative or positive, however the current is
always taken to be in the same direction
 In conductors, the charge carrier is usually free electrons
 In the image below, the current in each conductor is from right to left.
o In diagram A (positive charge carriers), the mean drift velocity is in the same direction
as the current
o In diagram B (negative charge carriers), the mean drift velocity is in the
opposite direction to the current

Conduction in a current-carrying conductor

 The mean drift velocity is the average velocity the charge carriers are
travelling through the conductor. You will find this value quite slow.
However, since the number density of charge carriers is so large, we still
see current flow happen instantaneously
 The current can be expressed in terms of the number density of charge
carriers (per unit volume) n, the cross-sectional area A, the mean drift
velocity v and the charge of the charge carriers q
I = Anvq
2 -3 -1
 Units: I = A, A = m , n = m , v = ms , q = C
 The same equation is used whether the charge carriers are positive or
negative

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 Deriving I = Anvq
 By looking at figure above, the length of a wire is l. We imagine that all of
the electrons shown travel at the same speed v along the wire. Now
imagine that you are timing the electrons to determine their speed. You
start timing when the first electron emerges from the right-hand end of
the wire. You stop timing when the last of the electrons shown in the
diagram emerges. (This is the electron shown at the left- hand end of the
wire in the diagram.) Your timer shows that this electron has taken time
t to travel the distance l. In the time t, all of the electrons in the length l
of wire have emerged from the wire. We can calculate how many
electrons this is, and hence the charge that has flowed in time t:
number of electrons = number density × volume of wire
n x V or n × A × l

Total charge of electrons = number density × electron charge

=n×A×l×e
 We can find the current I because we know that this is the charge that
flows in time t, and current = charge/time:

 Substituting mean drift velocity v for gives:

I = nAve or I = Anve
 The moving charge carriers that make up a current are not always
electrons. They might, for example, be ions (positive or negative) whose
charge q is a multiple of e. Hence we can write a more general version of
the equation as
I = Anvq

o It is interesting to recognise that the units are homogeneous.

o The unit of current (I) is the ampere (A).
o The unit of the number density of charge carriers per unit volume (n) is m−3.
o The unit of area (A) is m2.
o The unit of the mean drift velocity (v) is ms−1.
o The unit of charge (q) is the coulomb (C).
o All these are in base units except the coulomb and 1 coulomb is 1 ampere second (A s).
o Putting the units into each side of the equation:
m−3 × m2 × ms−1 × A s = A
o This is the same as the left-hand side of the equation. Although this does not prove the
equation to be correct, it does give strong evidence for it. This technique is often used
for checking the validity of an expression and also to predict a possible formula.

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 Worked Example
A copper wire has 9.2 × 1028 free electrons m-3. The wire has a current of 3.5 A
and a cross-sectional area of 1.5 mm2.Calculate the average drift velocity of the
electrons.

 Slow flow
 It may surprise you to find that, as suggested by the result of Worked
example, electrons in a copper wire drift at a fraction of a millimetre per
second. While travelling through the wire, the electrons randomly collide
with the fixed but vibrating metal ions. Their journey along the metal is
very haphazard (by chance/ not organized). The actual velocity of an
electron between collisions is of the order of magnitude 105 ms−1, but its
haphazard journey causes it to have a mean drift velocity towards the
positive end of the battery. Since there are billions of electrons, we use
the term mean drift velocity v of the electrons.
 Figure shows how the mean drift velocity of electrons varies in different
situations. We can understand this using the equation:

o If the current increases, the drift velocity v must increase.

o If the wire is thinner, the electrons move more quickly for a given current. There are
fewer electrons in a thinner piece of wire, so an individual electron must travel more
quickly.
o In a material with a lower density of electrons (smaller n), the mean drift velocity must
be greater for a given current.

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 Metals have a high electron number density – typically of the order of

1028 or 1029 m−3. Semiconductors, such as silicon and germanium, have
much lower values of n – perhaps 1023 m−3. In a semiconductor, electron
mean drift velocities are typically a million times greater than those in
metals for the same current. Electrical insulators, such as rubber and
plastic, have very few conduction electrons per unit volume to act as
charge carriers.

 Potential difference and power

 Potential difference
 A cell makes one end of the circuit positive and the other negative. This
sets up a potential difference (d) across the circuit
 The potential difference across a component is the work done/energy
transferred per unit charge.
 The energy transfer is from electrical energy into other forms
 Potential difference is measured in volts (V). This is the same as a Joule
per coulomb (J C-1)
o If a bulb has a voltage of 3 V, every coulomb of charge passing through the bulb will
lose 3 J of energy
 The potential difference of a power supply connected in series is always
shared between all the components in the circuit

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 Potential difference (voltage) is measured using a voltmeter

 A voltmeter is always set up in parallel to the component you are
measuring the voltage for

Potential difference can be measured by connecting a voltmeter in parallel between two points
in a circuit

 Look at the simple circuit in Figure. Assume the power supply has
negligible internal resistance. The three voltmeters are measuring three
potential differences (voltages). With the switch open, the voltmeter
placed across the supply
measures 12V. With the switch
closed, the voltmeter across
the power supply still
measures 12V and the
voltmeters placed across the
resistors measure 8V and 4V.
You will not be surprised to see
that the voltage across the
power supply is equal to the
sum of the voltages across the
resistors. Earlier in this chapter we saw that electric current is the rate of
flow of electric charge.

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 Figure below shows the same circuit as in Figure above, but here we are
looking at the movement of one coulomb (1C) of charge round the
circuit. Electrical energy is transferred to the charge by the power supply.
The charge flows round the
circuit, transferring some of its
electrical energy to heat in the
first resistor, and the rest to
heat in the second resistor.
The voltmeter readings
indicate the energy
transferred to the component
by each unit of charge. The
voltmeter placed across the
power supply measures the e.m.f. of the supply, whereas the voltmeters
placed across the resistors measure the potential difference (p.d.) across
these components. The terms e.m.f. and potential difference have
different meanings. The term potential difference is used when charges
lose energy by transferring electrical energy to other forms of energy in a
component. We can say that the potential difference between two
points, A and B, is the energy per unit charge as charge moves from point
A to point B. The terms p.d. and e.m.f. will be covered in chapter 10.

 Calculating Potential Difference

 The potential difference is defined as the energy transferred per unit
charge
 Another measure of energy transfer is work done
 Therefore, potential difference can also be defined as the work done per
unit charge

Potential difference is the work done per unit charge

 Worked Example
A lamp is connected to a 240 V mains supply and another to a 12 V car battery.
Both lamps have the same current, yet 240 V lamp glows more brightly. Explain
in terms of energy transfer why the 240 V lamp is brighter than the 12 V lamp.

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ANSWER:
 Both lamps have the same current, which means charge flows at the
same rate in both
 The 240 V lamp has 20 times more voltage than the 12 V lamp
 Voltage is the energy transferred (work done) per unit charge
 This means the energy transferred to each coulomb of charge in the 240
V lamp is 20 times greater than for the 12 V lamp
 This makes the 240 V lamp shine much brighter than the 12 V lamp

 Electrical power
 The rate at which energy is transferred is known as power. Power P is
measured in watts (W). (If you are not sure about this, refer back to
Chapter 5, where we looked at the concept of power in relation to forces
and work done.)

Where P is the power and W is the energy transferred in a time t.

 The rate at which energy is transferred in an electrical component is
related to two quantities:
o The current I in the component
o The potential difference V across the component.
 We can derive an equation for electrical power from the equations we
have met so far. The amount of energy W transferred by a charge Q
when it moves through a potential difference V is given by:
so W = VQ
 Hence:
= =V = VI
 Therefore: P = VI
o As a word equation, we have:
Power = potential difference × current
o and in units: watts = amps × volts
 By substituting from the resistance equation V = IR, we get the
alternative equations for power:
P = I2R and P =
Note that we can also calculate Work done by: W = VIt, since Q = It

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 Resistance and resistivity

 Resistance
 The electrical resistance of a circuit component (in ohms) is defined as the
ratio of the potential difference across it (in volts) to the current that passes
through it (in amps). Shortly Resistance is Potential difference/current
 You can think of the size of the resistance as the potential difference that
would cause a current of 1 A in a component. A larger resistance means
that a larger potential difference would be needed to do this.
 Resistance is defined as the opposition to current
o For a given potential difference: The higher the resistance the lower the current
 Wires are often made from copper because copper has a low electrical
resistance. This is also known as a good conductor
 Resistance can be calculated using the equation:

Resistance of a component is the ratio of the potential difference and current

 Resistance is measured in Ohms (Ω)

 An Ohm is defined as one volt per ampere
 The resistance controls the size of the current in a circuit
o A higher resistance means a smaller current
o A lower resistance means a larger current
 All electrical components, including wires, have some value of resistance

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 Calculating Resistance
 To find the resistance of a component, we can set up a circuit like the
one shown below

A circuit to determine the resistance of a component

 The power supply should be set to a low voltage to avoid heating the
component, typically 1-2 V
 Measurements of the potential difference and current should then be
taken from the voltmeter and ammeter respectively
 Finally, these readings should be substituted into the resistance equation
 There’s also a device known as ohmmeter, which measures resistance
directly

 Worked Example
A charge of 5.0 C passes through a resistor of resistance R Ω at a constant rate in
30 s. If the potential difference across the resistor is 2.0 V, calculate the value of
R.

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 Ohm’s law
 Ohm's law states that for a conductor at constant temperature the
potential difference across the conductor is directly proportional to the
current passing through it, provided the physical conditions remain
constant.
V∝I
 This is true for metallic conductors (that is, not for semiconductors, such
as silicon), so long as all physical conditions, such as the conductor's
temperature, remain constant. We now call this relationship Ohm's law.

 The I-V characteristics of a metallic conductor (at constant temperature),

a semiconductor diode, and a filament lamp
 Metallic conductor
 A resistor is a circuit component with a fixed value of resistance,
provided the current it carries is not too high. This would cause the
resistor to heat up and, as we shall see, temperature can affect
resistance. To investigate the characteristics of a metallic conductor (e.g.
wire) or resistor, a circuit like
that in Figure is used. The
current in the resistor and the
potential difference across it are
measured, for a range of
potential differences. A graph
showing the relationship
between the potential
difference across a component
and the current in it is known as
a I-V characteristic graph or just
an I-V plot. An I-V plot for a wire
or a resistor at a constant
temperature would look like the one shown in Figure. Notice that the
line is straight, and passes through the origin. The same relationship is
true if the current is reversed, that is the positive and negative terminals
of the power supply are swapped over. The graph is symmetrical,
showing that if a p.d. of, say, 2.0V produces a current of 0.5A, then a p.d.
of −2.0V will produce a current of −0.5A. This is true for most simple
metallic conductors but is not true for some electronic components,
such as diodes.

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The graph shows that the resistor follows Ohm's law: the potential
difference across the conductor is directly proportional to the current
passing through it. Conductors which obey Ohm's law are called ohmic
conductors. Their I-V plot is linear, and if we divide the p.d. across the
conductor by the current through it for any value of potential difference,
this ratio (its resistance) is constant: the resistance remains the same.
Notice that the voltage is labeled on the x-axis as it’s the independent
variable while current on the y-axis as it’s the dependent variable.
To determine the resistance, for a graph of I against V which is a straight
line passing through the origin you can use:

(This will give a more accurate value for R than if you were to take a single
experimental data point. Take care! You can only find resistance from the gradient if
the I–V graph is a straight line through the origin.)

 Semiconductor diode
 The semiconductor diode is an example of a non-ohmic conductor. A
diode is any component that allows electric current in only one
direction. Nowadays, most diodes are made of semiconductor materials.
One type, the light-emitting diode or LED, gives out light when it
conducts. Figure shows the I–V characteristic for a diode.

The current against potential difference (I–V) characteristic for a diode. The graph is not a straight line. A
diode does not obey Ohm’s law.
 There are some points you should notice about this graph.
o We have included positive and negative values of current and voltage. This is because,
when connected one way round (positively biased or forward bias), the diode
conducts and has a fairly low resistance. This is shown by the sharp increase in
potential difference and current on the right side of the graph
o When connected the other way round (negatively biased or reverse bias), it allows
only a tiny current and has almost infinite resistance.
o For positive voltages less than about 0.6V, the current is almost zero and hence the
diode has almost infinite resistance. It starts to conduct suddenly at its threshold
voltage. The resistance of the diode decreases dramatically for voltages greater than
0.6V.

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 The resistance of a diode depends on the potential difference across it.

From this we can conclude that it does not obey Ohm’s law; it is a non-
ohmic component.
 Most modern diodes are made from silicon and will start conducting
when there is a potential difference of about 0.6V across them. You
need to remember this key 0.6V value.
 The threshold voltage at which an LED starts to conduct and emit light is
higher than 0.6V and depends on the colour of light it emits, but may be
taken to be about 2V.

 Filament lamp
 Ohm's law is true for a metallic conductor under constant physical
conditions. But what if the temperature of the conductor increases? A
filament lamp gives us a very convenient way to investigate this.

The larger the current passing through a filament lamp, the brighter, and
hotter, it becomes. By measuring the current through the lamp as the
potential difference across it increases, an I-V graph can be plotted. The
I-V characteristic of the filament lamp in Figure is not a straight line as
for a metallic conductor’s I-V
plot at constant temperature.
This shows that the lamp does
not obey Ohm's law. The curved
line in Figure also tells us that
the ratio V: I is not constant, so
the resistance of the filament
does not remain constant as the
current increases. In fact, the
resistance increases as well. This
is because the temperature of the filament becomes higher at higher
currents. So why do higher currents cause the resistance to increase in a
filament bulb when the temperature increases?
In the filament: the conduction electrons collide with metal ions as they
move through the filament, losing some of their kinetic energy to the ions,
which gain vibrational energy. The higher the temperature, the faster these
ions vibrate This means that the ions vibrate more, and so conduction
electrons are more likely to hit them which impedes their flow, hence the
current decreases. So, if the current decreases, then the resistance will
increase (V = IR) therefore, an increase in temperature causes an increase
in resistance

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 Note that the graph is initially a straight line, near the origin. This is
because, for small currents, the temperature (and so the resistance)
remains very nearly constant. the I-V graph for a filament lamp shows
the current increasing at a proportionally slower rate than the potential
difference
 This is because:
o As the current increases, the temperature of the filament in the lamp increases
o Since the filament is a metal, the higher temperature causes an increase in resistance
o Resistance opposes the current, causing the current to increase at a slower rate
 Where the graph is a straight line, the resistance is constant
 The resistance increases as the graph curves
 There are some points you should notice about the graph in Figure:
o The line passes through the origin (as for an ohmic component).
o For very small currents and voltages, the graph is roughly a straight line.
o At higher voltages, the line starts to curve. The current is a bit less than we would have
expected from a straight line. This suggests that the lamp’s resistance has increased.
You can also tell that the resistance has increased because the ratio V/I is larger for
higher voltages than for low voltages.
 The fact that the graph of Figure is not a straight line shows that the
resistance of the lamp depends on the temperature of its filament.

 Resistivity
 The resistance of a particular wire depends on its size and shape. A long
wire has a greater resistance than a short one, provided it is of the same
thickness and material. A thick wire has less resistance than a thin one.
For a metal in the shape of a wire, resistance depends on the following
factors:
o length L
o cross-sectional area , A
o the material the wire is made from
o the temperature of the wire.
 As we have already seen before, the current is directly proportional to
the mean drift velocity of the electrons (since I = Anvq), and in fact both
the current and the mean drift velocity are halved if the length of the
wire is doubled. This has shown that the current through a conductor is
directly proportional to its cross sectional area and inversely
proportional to its length. However, its resistance (at constant
temperature) is inversely proportional to its cross sectional area and
directly proportional to its length:

∝ and ∝
 Combining these gives:
∝

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 But the resistance of a wire also depends on the material it is made of.
Copper is a better conductor than steel, steel is a better conductor than
silicon, and so on. So if we are to determine the resistance R of a
particular wire, we need to take into account its length, its cross-
sectional area and the material. The relevant property of the material is
its resistivity, for which the symbol is ρ (Greek letter rho).
 Inserting a constant of proportionality gives us an equation for the
resistance of a conductor of any uniform shape and size:

 We can rearrange this equation to give an equation for resistivity:

 The unit of resistivity is the ohm metre (Ω m); this is not the same as
ohms per metre.
 We can see how these relate to the formulae for adding resistors in
series and in parallel:
o If we double the length of a wire it is like connecting two identical resistors in series;
their resistances add to give double the resistance. The resistance is proportional to
the length.
o Doubling the cross-sectional area of a wire is like connecting two identical resistors in
parallel; their combined resistance is halved (since 1/Rtotal = 1/R + 1/R). Hence the
resistance is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area.

 Resistivity, like resistance, depends on temperature. For a metal,

resistivity increases with temperature. As we saw above, this is because
there are more frequent collisions between the conduction electrons
and the vibrating ions of the metal.

 Light-dependent resistor (LDR)

 A light-dependent resistor (LDR) is made of a semiconductor, such as
cadmium sulfide (CdS). In the dark, only few of the semiconductor's
electrons are free to conduct a current, while most remain bound to
their atoms. When light falls on the LDR it gives some of these bound
electrons enough energy to become free conduction electrons. As with
the thermistor, a greater density of charge carriers means that a greater
current will flow, i.e. the resistance of the LDR decreases as the light
intensity incident upon it increases. In the dark, an LDR has a high
resistance, in the order of millions of ohms. In the light, the resistance
can fall to less than a hundred ohms

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 LDRs have varied applications such as:

o Clocks with LED displays and television screens that are bright enough to see by
daylight will be uncomfortably bright at night, with the lights out. An LDR can be used
as an auto-dimmer so that the screen's brightness reduces as the light level does. (You
may have noticed a similar effect on a mobile phone.)
o Street lights, security lights, car headlamps and decorative garden lights can be made
to turn on automatically when it becomes dark. The increased resistance will reduce
the current, which triggers a control circuit to turn the lights on.

 Thermistor
 Thermistors are components that are designed to have a resistance that
changes rapidly with temperature. Thermistors (‘thermal resistors’) are
made from metal oxides such as those of manganese and nickel.
 There are two different types of thermistors:
o Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors: The resistance of this type of
thermistor decreases with increasing temperature. Those commonly used for physics
teaching may have a resistance of many thousands of ohms at room temperature,
falling to a few tens of ohms at 100 °C. You should become familiar with the properties
of NTC thermistors.
o Positive temperature coefficient (PTC) thermistors: The resistance of this type of
thermistor rises abruptly at a definite temperature, usually around 100–150 °C.
 In this course, you only need to know about NTC thermistors. So,
whenever thermistors are mentioned, assume that it refers to an NTC
thermistor.

 The change in their resistance with temperature gives thermistors many

uses. Examples include:

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o Water temperature sensors in cars and ice sensors on aircraft wings – if ice builds up
on the wings, the thermistor ‘senses’ this temperature drop and a small heater is
activated to melt the ice
o Baby breathing monitors–the baby rests on an air-filled pad, and as he or she breathes,
air from the pad passes over a thermistor, keeping it cool; if the baby stops breathing,
the air movement stops, the thermistor warms up and an alarm sounds
o Fire sensors – a rise in temperature activates an alarm
o Overload protection in electric razor sockets – if the razor overheats, the thermistor’s
resistance decreases, the current increases rapidly and cuts off the circuit.

 Worked Example
A thermistor is connected in series with a resistor R and a battery.

The resistance of the thermistor is equal to the resistance of R at room

temperature. When the temperature of the thermistor decreases, which
statement is correct?
A. The p.d across the thermistor increases
B. The current in R increases
C. The current through the thermistor decreases
D. The p.d across R increases

ANSWER: A
 The resistance of the thermistor increases as the temperature decreases
 Since the thermistor and resistor R are connected in series, the
current I in both of them is the same
 Ohm’s law states that V = IR
 Since the resistance of the thermistor increases, and I is the same, the
potential difference V across it increases
 Therefore, statement A is correct

 NOTE: Both thermistor and Light-dependent resistor are non-ohmic and

are sensory resistors

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