Investigating how the length of a wire Effects resistance.

Authors Avatar
Lee Powell

Investigating how the length of a wire Effects resistance.

Planning

Aim: I am going to investigate how the length of a wire affects resistance.

Scientific Research: Current is a flow of charged particles, usually through a circuit, in all dry conductors, the flow is of electrons and so are negatively charged.

Resistance is in electricity, it is a property of an electric circuit or part of a circuit that transforms electric energy into heat energy in opposing electric current. Resistance involves collisions of the current-carrying charged particles with fixed particles that make up the structure of the conductors. Resistance is often considered as localised in such devices as lamps, heaters, and resistors, although it is characteristic of every part of a circuit, including connecting wires and electric transmission lines.

Resistance has a relationship with length, the longer the length of the wire the greater the resistance. This is because there are more positively charged particles to get in the way of and collide with the electrons. This means there are more particles to get past so the resistance is increased.

There are four factors that can affect resistance, varying cross sectional area of the wire, different material for wire, temperature of wire, and the one I am interested, in varying length of the wire. Varying cross sectional area effects resistance because if the wire is thicker it allows the electrons to flow more freely, so the resistance is then lower. The temperature affects resistance because as the metal's temperature rises its constituent atoms vibrate more vigorously. This increases the amount of interaction between the atoms and the current carrying electrons. The flow of electrons is impeded, increasing the resistance. The length of a wire affects resistance because the longer the wire, the more particles there are to get in the way of the flowing electrons. We need to keep the other three factors constant so that the test is fair.
Join now!


The relationship between voltage, current and resistance is expressed in Ohm's law.

Ohm's law is: R=V?I

RESISTANCE(?)=VOLTAGE(V)?CURRENT(A)

Ohm's Law states that: the current flowing through a metal wire is proportional to the potential difference across it (providing that the temperature remains the same).

I found some of this informatin from a website:

www.homework-high.com

Prediction: From my research I can now predict:

. If I increase the length the resistance will increase, this is because the length and resistance are directly proportional.

2. a) if I increase the length by ...

This is a preview of the whole essay