Inhomogeneous conductor

The resistivity of certain conductor with circular cross-sectional area A = 1 c m 2 A= 1 cm^{2} and length L = 1 m L=1m depends only on the the distance r from the axis of the conductor as ρ ( r ) = k r 2 \rho(r)= \frac{k}{r^{2}} with k = 1.2 × 1 0 3 Ω m 3 k=1.2\times 10^{-3} \Omega\cdot m^{3} . What is the equivalent resistance in Ohms of the conductor?

The connection between the electric field and the current density (current per unit area j = d I d A j= \frac{dI}{dA} ) is given by j ( r ) = 1 ρ ( r ) E ( r ) \vec{j}(r)=\frac{1}{\rho(r)} \vec{E}(r) This relation is equivalent to the traditional Ohm's Law V = I R V=I R and is known as the microscopic form of Ohm's Law. Therefore a non-uniform resistivity in a material implies that the current is not uniformly distributed over its cross section.


The answer is 753982.

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4 solutions

Kapil Singhal
May 20, 2014

E=V\L. HERE L=1 SO E=V J(r)=(r^2\k).V dI=J(r).d(r) consider a circular ring at a distance of r from axis.its area dr will be 2pi r dr. so dI=(2 pi r^3 dr).V\k integrating we get I=(pi r^4).V\2k so V=pi 2 k.I(pi^2.r^4) also given pi^2 r^4=A^2=10^-8 putting these values we get V=753600I comparing it with V=IR we get R=753600 ohms

Since the cross-sectional area element is d A = 2 π r d r dA=2\pi rdr , the total current is given by I = 0 r 0 j d A I=\int\limits_0^{r_0}jdA , where r 0 {r_0} is the radius of the cross-section (and therefore A = π r 0 2 A=\pi r_0^2 ). Because E = V L E=\frac{V}{L} , we have I = 0 r 0 r 2 k V L 2 π r d r = 2 π V k L 0 r 0 r 3 d r = 2 π V k L r 0 4 4 I=\int\limits_0^{r_0}{\frac{r^2}{k}\frac{V}{L}2\pi rdr} = \frac{2\pi V}{kL} \int\limits_0^{r_0} r^3dr = \frac{2\pi V}{kL} \frac{r_0^4}{4} . Replacing r 0 4 = A 2 π 2 r_0^4=\frac{A^2}{\pi^2} and knowing that R = V I R=\frac{V}{I} , we get R = 2 π k L A 2 R=\frac{2\pi kL}{A^2} . Numerical value R = 753982 , 236 R=753982,236 Ω \Omega

David Mattingly Staff
May 13, 2014

For a homogeneous conductor of length L and cross sectional area A we know that its resistance is given by R = ρ L A . R=\rho \frac{L}{A}. Let us mentally divide the conductor into thin wires with cross sectional area Δ A \Delta A . Since they are thin, they can be treated as homogeneous conductors and the resistance of each thin wire is then
ρ t h i n = ρ ( r ) L Δ A . \rho_{thin}=\rho(r) \frac{L}{\Delta A}. We notice that all the thin wires are connected in parallel and therefore 1 R e q = 1 ρ t h i n = 1 ρ ( r ) Δ A L = 1 k L r 2 d A = 2 π k L 0 a r 3 d r = π a 4 2 k L \frac{1}{R_{eq}}=\sum{\frac{1}{\rho_{thin}}}= \sum{\frac{1}{\rho(r)}\frac{\Delta {A}}{L} }=\frac{1}{kL} \int r^{2} dA= \frac{2\pi}{kL} \int_{0}^{a} r^{3} dr= \frac{\pi a^{4}}{2k L} Hence R e q = 2 k L π a 4 = 2 π k L A 2 = 753982 Ω . R_{eq}= \frac{2 k L}{\pi a^{4}}=2 \pi k \frac{L}{A^{2}}=753982 \Omega.

This is a question from Problems in General Physics by IE Irodov

Saarthak Marathe - 5 years, 1 month ago

I did the same thing. I got Little confused seeing 1/delta(A). It is very nice an infinite number of parallel resistors.

Srikanth Tupurani - 1 year, 9 months ago
Rajeev Bhatt
May 20, 2014

Given a cylinder , Take an elemental cylinder of thickness dr (lies between r and r+dr) which has length L . The resistance of this element can be found and such cylinders arranged in a parallel way gives the total cylinder. Hence integrating our elemental resistance ...... gives total resistance

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