CHAPTER 5 LESSON 2
RESISTANCE
Resistance is the opposition a
material offers to the flow of
charges through it. The SI unit
of resistance is the ohm,
named after German physicist
Georg Simon Ohm.
The Greek letter omega (Ω) is
used to represent the unit
ohm.
Factors Affecting
Resistance of an Object
There are four factors affecting
the resistance of an object:
cross-sectional area, length,
kind of material, and
temperature.
The resistance of an object is
inversely proportional to its
cross-sectional area.
The resistance of an object is
directly proportional to its length.
As temperature increases,
resistance increases for
conductors and decreases for
insulators and semiconductors.
For superconductors, resistance
first decreases as temperature
decreases just like ordinary
conductors.
Sample Problem
1. The resistance of a 120 cm wire is 24 Ω.
The wire is cut into two pieces: one piece is
100 cm long and the other is 20 cm long.
Find the resistance of each piece of wire.
Given: L = 120 cm
L1 = 100 cm
L2 = 20 cm
Formula: =
Solution: =
=
(120 cm) = ()(100 cm)
=
Solution: =
=
(120 cm) = ()(20 cm)
=
=4
Sample Problem
2. Wire A has a resistance of 26 Ω. What is
the resistance of wire B whose radius is
twice that of wire A? Assume that wires
A and B have the same length and are
made of the same material. Given:
Given: R= 26 N
rB = 2rA
Formula: RAAA = RBAB
Solution: RAAA = RBAB
(26 )() = RB()
(26 )() = RB(
=
= 6.5