The aim of this investigation is to find out what happens to the resistance of a wire when the length of a Nichrome wire is increased.

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 The aim of this investigation is to find out what happens to the resistance of a wire when the length of a Nichrome wire is increased.

 

What is Resistance?

Resistance is the force, which withstands the flow of an electric current around a complete circuit, so that energy is required to push the charged particles around the circuit.

 Resistance only occurs when electrons travelling through a wire, collide with the atoms inside the wire. These collisions between the electrons and the atoms try to resist the flow of electrons through the wire, which then causes resistance. Resistance is a measure of how difficult it is to transfer the electrons through the wire. 

We measure resistance by using the following equation:

          RESISTANCE= VOLTAGE   =       V

                                       CURRENT            I   

 RESISTANCE IS MEASURED IN O (OHMS).

    If the length of a wire increases, then the resistance should increase as well because; the electrons in the wire will have to travel a further distance so this means that there will be more collisions that will occur.

The main factors that can affect the resistance of a wire are: -  

  1. The length of the wire.

If the length of the wire increases, then the resistance will also increase. This is because the electrons have to travel a further distance, so this will result in a more number of collisions to occur.

   2.  Diameter or the thickness of a wire.

 

If the width of the wire is increased then the resistance would decrease. This would happen because there is more free space for the electrons to travel through and because of this, there should be fewer collisions with the atoms of the wire.

   3.  The temperature of which the wire is kept.

As the wire is heated, the atoms inside the wire will begin to vibrate because, they have an increase in energy. This will then cause many collisions to take place between the electrons and the atoms because; the atoms are relocating themselves into the trail of the electrons. This increases the resistance.

    I predict that if the length of a wire increases, then the resistance of the Nichrome wire will also increase. I have predicted this because as I already know the longer the wire is, the more the atoms there are, and so the more amount of atoms there are, the more likely that the amount of electrons passing through it will collide with the atoms.

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   Now if I was to say double the length, then at the same time the resistance of the wire would also double. This would happen because; if the length is doubled then the number of atoms would also double. This would then result in a more number of collisions than before, and because there are more collisions this would slow down the electrons and increase the resistance of the wire.

  Now the resistance depends on the length of the wire. If the length were increased than the resistance would increase, as well as the number of collisions, but, ...

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