Microscopic View of Current Video Lessons

Concept

# Problem: A 20 cm long nichrome wire is connected across the terminals of a 1.5 V battery. a. What is the electric field inside the wire? b. What is the current density inside the wire? c. If the current in the wire is 1.0 A, what is the wires diameter?

###### FREE Expert Solution

The electric field inside the wire:

$\overline{){\mathbf{E}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{V}}{\mathbf{L}}}$, where V is the potential difference across the wire and L is the length of the wire.

Current density caused by electric field inside conductor:

$\overline{){\mathbf{J}}{\mathbf{=}}{\mathbf{\sigma }}{\mathbf{E}}}$, where σ is the conductivity.

Current density is also expressed as:

$\overline{){\mathbf{J}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{\mathbf{i}}{\mathbf{A}}}$

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###### Problem Details

A 20 cm long nichrome wire is connected across the terminals of a 1.5 V battery.

a. What is the electric field inside the wire?

b. What is the current density inside the wire?

c. If the current in the wire is 1.0 A, what is the wires diameter?