Nichrome and Copper Circuit w/ Electron Mobility

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The discussion revolves around calculating the electric fields in a circuit consisting of copper and Nichrome wires connected to a 1.5 V battery. Participants explore the relationships between electron mobility, conductivity, and resistance to derive the necessary equations for electric field calculations. They emphasize the need to determine the resistance of each wire segment before calculating current and potential drops across them. The conversation highlights the complexities of circuit analysis, particularly in applying Kirchhoff's laws and understanding the behavior of series circuits. Overall, the focus is on using given values for electron density and mobility to derive resistivity and subsequently calculate the electric fields in the wires.
  • #31
gneill said:
What are the units associated with an electric field? It's not just Volts, which is just the unit of electric potential.

I'll give you a hint. One of the common ways of expressing the units of an electric field is N/C, that is, the force exerted per coulomb of charge. But another entirely equivalent way is V/m (you can massage the units to prove they're equivalent!). That's the change in potential over distance. You have calculated the change in potential that occurs over each wire segment, and you have the lengths of those wire segments...

Ah that makes sense! Thank you very much for your time and assistance!
 
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  • #32
Callix said:
Ah that makes sense! Thank you very much for your time and assistance!
You're very welcome.
 

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