# Non-Ohmic Materials

So I learned today about the version of Ohm's law where

$$J = \sigma E$$

and my professor mentioned that some materials (non-Ohmic materials like superconductors) have "vanishingly small" extra terms that are quadratic or cubic. I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a source (or even just tell me) where I can find out just how small these terms are for Ohmic (linearly conducting) materials.

berkeman
Mentor
So I learned today about the version of Ohm's law where

$$J = \sigma E$$

and my professor mentioned that some materials (non-Ohmic materials like superconductors) have "vanishingly small" extra terms that are quadratic or cubic. I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to a source (or even just tell me) where I can find out just how small these terms are for Ohmic (linearly conducting) materials.

The traditional example of non-ohmic materials are semiconductors and semiconductor junctions. The V-I curve of a p-n junction diode is exponential in nature.

But it sounds like you are asking for examples of slight non-linearities in simple conductors? I suppose if the current density is high enough, the transient heating effects might be considered a non-linearity. But the material is still Ohmic, if you use the resistivity for the temperature at each point in the conductor...

Svein