The Thickness of Nichrome Wire And Its Effect on Its Resistance

1947 Words4 Pages

The Thickness of Nichrome Wire And Its Effect on Its Resistance

Introduction

A current is the flow of negative electrons around a circuit.

Electrons get pushed out of the negative pole of the cell and drift

slowly round the circuit, from atom to atom in the wire, to the

positive pole of the cell. A current flowing in one direction like

this is called direct current. (d.c.)

A cell pushes these electrons around a circuit. It acts as an electric

pump. Different cells provide electrons with different amounts of

energy, or have greater 'voltage.' When a cell is connected to lamps,

the voltage pushes the electrons around the circuit. The energy to do

this comes from the chemical energy stored inside the cell. Batteries

are a store of chemical energy and the wires are able convert this

into electrical energy to be carried around the circuit. The energy

that the electrons carry is converted into light energy by the bulbs.

After the electrons have provided the bulb with the energy to light

up, they carry on their journey around the circuit, but with less

energy. Voltmeters measure the amount of energy that electrons have.

Nichrome Wire

Everything within a circuit has a level of resistance, measured in

'ohms.' Resistance is a force which opposes the flow of an electrical

current around a circuit so that more energy is required to push the

charged particles around the circuit. The nichrome wire contains free

moving electrons, which resist the flow of the negative electrons

supplied by the cell. Therefore, for the electrons to flow through the

wire, the voltage must increase. The amount of energy contained by the

electrons must be greater than that of the free moving electrons in

the nichrome wire, so that they can flow freely. As the voltage

increases, so does the resistance. As the length of the nichrome wire

increases, there is more space for the free moving electrons to move

around inside the nichrome wire. This means that as the electrons try

to pass through the wire, they will be resisted by more free moving

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