3.05 Electrical current.
Electrical current is a measure of the rate of flow of electrical charge through a material.
Consider an electrical current flowing through a wire. The magnitude of the electrical current
will depend on;
- The number density of mobile charge carriers within the material. (the greater the number
of free charge carriers that are available within the material, the greater the current will be.)
- The amount of charge carried by each of the charge carriers. (the greater the amount of
charge carried by each of the charge carriers, the greater the current will be.)
(Note in solid materials the charge carriers are electrons, so the charge is simply the charge
carried by an electron, 1.6 x 10-19C).
- The drift velocity at which the electrons move along the wire. (The faster the electrons
move, the greater the current will be).
- The cross sectional area of the wire. (the larger the cross sectional area across which the
electrons flow, the larger the current will be).
I = naqv
.
- I is the current measured in Amps (A).
- n is the number density measured in mobile charge carriers per cubic metre
(m-3).
- a is the cross sectional area of the material measured in metres squared
(m2).
- q is the amount of charge carried by each of the mobile charge carriers measured
in Coulombs (C).
- v is the drift velocity of the charge carriers in metres per second
(ms-1).
Example.
- a wire has a number density of 2x1028m-3.
- the cross sectional area of the wire is 2.5 mm2.
- the charge carriers are electrons so the charge on each carrier is 1.6 x 10-19
C .
- the drift velocity of the free electrons is 1mms-1.
I = naqv =
2x1028m x 2.5x10-6 x 1.6 x 10-19
x 1x 10-3 = 8 Amps