Scribd
Upload
3K views

Effect of Temperature On Resistance

The resistance of conductors increases with temperature while the resistance of insulators decreases with temperature. For conductors, atomic vibrations caused by increased heat lead to more collisions between free and captive electrons, hindering electron flow and increasing resistance. For insulators, heating helps shake some captive electrons loose, creating more carriers for current and decreasing resistance. Materials exhibit either a positive or negative temperature coefficient depending on if resistance increases or decreases with temperature. Resistance can be calculated using a formula accounting for original resistance, temperature change, and material's temperature coefficient.

Uploaded by

luhusapa-1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
3K views

Effect of Temperature On Resistance

The resistance of conductors increases with temperature while the resistance of insulators decreases with temperature. For conductors, atomic vibrations caused by increased heat lead to more collisions between free and captive electrons, hindering electron flow and increasing resistance. For insulators, heating helps shake some captive electrons loose, creating more carriers for current and decreasing resistance. Materials exhibit either a positive or negative temperature coefficient depending on if resistance increases or decreases with temperature. Resistance can be calculated using a formula accounting for original resistance, temperature change, and material's temperature coefficient.

Uploaded by

luhusapa-1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

SEYED HALISH

Effect of Temperature on Resistance


The resistance of the conductor changes with a change in its physical dimension (e.g.
thicker wires have less resistance to current flow than thinner wires) as conductor
resistance is proportional to the length and inversely proportional to the area. However,
the conducting materials tend to increase their resistance with an increase in
temperature. On contrary, the resistance of the insulating material decreases with an
increase in temperature.

The reasons for these changes in resistivity can be explained by considering the flow of
current through the material. The flow of current is actually the movement of electrons
from one atom to another under the influence of an electric field. Electrons are very small
negatively charged particles and will be repelled by a negative electric charge and attracted
by a positive electric charge. Therefore if an electric potential is applied across a conductor
(positive at one end, negative at the other) electrons will "migrate" from atom to atom
towards the positive terminal.

Only some electrons are free to migrate however. Others within each atom are held so
tightly to their particular atom that even an electric field will not dislodge them. The current
flowing in the material is therefore due to the movement of "free electrons" and the
number of free electrons within any material compared with those tightly bound to their
atoms is what governs whether a material is a good conductor (many free electrons) or a
good insulator (hardly any free electrons).
The effect of heat on the atomic structure of a material is to make the atoms vibrate, and
the higher the temperature the more violently the atoms vibrate.

In a conductor, which already has a large number of free electrons flowing through it, the
vibration of the atoms causes many collisions between the free electrons and the captive
electrons. Each collision uses up some energy from the free electron and is the basic cause
of resistance. The more the atoms jostle around in the material, the more collisions are
caused and hence the greater the resistance to current flow.

In an insulator however, there is a slightly different situation. There are so few free
electrons that hardly any current can flow. Almost all the electrons are tightly bound within
their particular atom. Heating an insulating material vibrates the atoms, and if heated
sufficiently, the atoms vibrate violently enough to actually shake some of their captive
electrons free, creating free electrons to become carriers of current. Therefore at high
temperatures the resistance of an insulator can fall, and in some insulating materials, quite
dramatically.

In a material where the resistance increases with an increase in temperature, the material
is said to have a Positive Temperature Coefficient. When resistance falls with an increase
in temperature, the material is said to have a Negative Temperature Coefficient. In general,
conductors have a Positive temperature coefficient, whilst (at high temperatures)
insulators have a Negative temperature coefficient.

The relation between temperature and resistances Ro and R is approximately given as

R = R0 [1+ α (T-T0)]

R = R0 [1+ α (∆T)]
R0 is the original resistance, R is the resistance after the temperature change, α is the
temperature coefficient of resistivity and ΔT is temperature change.

Simple example to calculate rise of resistance in a conductor due to


temperature rise

What is the resistance of the tungsten filament if its temperature is increased from room
temperature (20ºC) to a typical operating temperature of 2850ºC?

The original resistance of the filament is R0 = 0.350 Ω, and the temperature change is
ΔT=2830ºC. Temperature coefficient of Tungsten is α = 4.5 × 10−3.
The resistance (R) after temperature change is obtained by entering known values into
the below equation:

Temperature coefficient α of various conductors are tabulated below:

Reference:

https://www.electricalvolt.com/2020/11/effect-of-temperature-on-resistance/

You might also like