Definition of Ohm's Law

The law of Ohm represents a fundamental element to explain certain phenomena related to the electricity. More specifically, this law studies the relationship between three concepts: the intensity of the current, the potential difference and the endurance electrical. In its simplest formulation, this law states that the intensity (called I) that circulates through an electrical conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference (V) and, in parallel, inversely proportional to the resistance (R).

Ohm's law explains the phenomenon of electric current

The electric current involves the passage of electrons from one point to another through a conduit, for example a copper wire. Thus, current intensity refers to the amount of electrons that pass through a conductor during a given time and its Unit measured are amps.

The potential difference, popularly known as voltage or electrical voltage, is the force that allows electrons to move through a conductor and its unit of measurement is the volt.

Finally, resistance is the greater or lesser opposition that a certain conductor presents to the passage of current electrical (for example, a copper wire is a good conductor of electricity and therefore offers little endurance).

As a consequence of the relationship between these three concepts, its mathematical formulation is as follows: I = V / R

This simple formula explains how voltage, current, and resistance are related (intensity is measured in amperes, resistance in Ohms and voltage in volts and knowing two of these three data it is possible to obtain the one that lack).

The discovery of Ohm's Law occurred in the early nineteenth century, a time when the generation of electric current was already known through the investigations of Alexander Volta. The German scientist Georg Simon Ohm (1789-1854) wanted to deepen the advances on the new fluid discovered by Volta and began to experimenting on the properties of electricity using metallic bodies until he finally discovered the law that carries its Name.

Ohm's law was definitively perfected by Maxwell's electromagnetic theory

Although Ohm's law was a key contribution to describe how electricity works, it should be noted that this law It is not always fulfilled, since Georg Simon Ohm did not consider other laws that do intervene in electricity, the laws of Kirchhoff. The set of electrical phenomena were not explained until the scientist James Clerk Maxwell unified electricity and magnetism in the so-called Maxwell's laws.

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