What is Ohm’s law? Ohm’s law states that the electrical current through a conductor is proportional to the potential difference across it. Furthermore, the electrical resistance of the conductor is constant. This leads to the mathematical equation: where I is the current in amperes, V the voltage in volts and R the resistance in ohms. To illustrate: a resistor of one ohm subjected to a current of 1A has a voltage difference of 1V across its terminals. The equation is named after Georg Ohm. In 1827 he published his findings that form the basis of the formula that is used today. He performed a large series of experiments that showed the relation between applied voltage and current through a conductor. The law is therefore empirical. Although Ohm’s law is one of the fundamentals of electrical engineering, at the time of publication it was received with criticism. The ohm is adopted as the official SI unit for electrical resistance. Gustav Kirchhoff (known from Kirchhoff’s circuit laws) made a generalization that is more used in physics: where σ is the conductivity parameter (material specific), J is the current density in a location of that material, and E the electric field in that location. Ohm’s law and resistors Resistors are passive elements that introduce resistance to the flow of electric current in a circuit. A resistor that functions according to Ohm’s law is called an Ohmic resistor. When current passes through an Ohmic resistor, the voltage drop across the terminals is proportionally to the magnitude of resistance. Ohm’s formula stays also valid for circuits with varying voltage or current, so it can be used for AC circuits as well. For capacitors and inductors the law can of course not be used, since their I-V curve is inherently not linear (not Ohmic). Ohm’s formula [… read more]