Practice question
Question
A copper wire carries \( 3.4 \, \text{A} \) with a drift speed of \( 1.0 \times 10^{-4} \, \text{m/s}
\). If \( n = 8.5 \times 10^{28} \, \text{m}^{-3} \) and \( e = 1.6 \times 10^{-19} \, \text{C} \), what
is the cross-sectional area?
Explanation
**Resistivity temperature variation** ρ_t = ρ₀[1+α(T-T₀)], α ≈4×10⁻³ /°C for copper, 1.7×10⁻⁴ /°C for nichrome. Given R=60 Ω at 30°C, α=1.7×10⁻⁴ /°C, T=330°C, ΔT=300°C, R_t=60[1+1.7×10⁻⁴×300]=60×1.051=63.06 Ω, modest increase for nichrome due to small α. Drift speed: v_d = (I/n e A) . Rearrange: A = (I/n e v_d) . Substitute: A = (3.4/8.5 × 10²⁸ × 1.6 × 10⁻¹⁹ × 1.0 × 10⁻⁴) . Calculate: A = (3.4/1.36 × 10⁵) ≈ 2.5 × 10⁻⁵ m² . Applying I = n e A v_d, R = ρ l/A, R_t = R₀[1+αΔT], Kirchhoff's ΣI=0, ΣV=0, R_eq series/parallel, V = ε - I r and P = I²R,
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