Ohm's Law Lesson for Kids: Definition & History
Learn about Ohm's law, named for Georg Ohm, and his discoveries during the early 1800s. Ohm discovered how voltage, current, and resistance are related and how they interact. Explore his discoveries and the formulas for this interaction.
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What happens when you make a scientific discovery? You get a law named after you!
Voltage, current, and resistance are all parts of electricity that affect each other. A scientist named Georg Ohm figured out how these three things are related and came up with a formula known as Ohm's Law.
Like many scientists, Ohm expanded on work done by other scientists who came before him. From 1825 to 1827, he did many experiments and came up with the formula that explains the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance that became very important in the study of electrical circuits. At the time, scientists did not agree with or accept this formula. However, many years later, they realized the value in Ohm's findings, and Ohm's Law became very well-known.
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Before we get into the actual formula, let's discuss the three parts of the formula. Voltage, labeled with a (V), is the force of an electrical current at the end of its path. This is measured in volts. For example, a 12-volt car battery has more force than a 3-volt watch battery. Current, labeled with an (I), is how fast or slow the electricity travels in a certain amount of time. This is measured in amps. Resistance, labeled with an (R), is how the path of electricity resists or fights the flow of electricity. This is measured in ohms. For example, a wide water hose has less resistance than a narrow water hose.
Ohm's Law shows how voltage, current, and resistance are related. If we know the value of two of these things, we can figure out the third using one of three formulas of Ohm's Law. Because there are three letters representing three different things in our formula, we can write it three different ways. The first one says that current is equal to voltage divided by resistance, or:
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Rearranging our letters with some algebra, we can also say that resistance is equal to voltage divided by current, or:
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Finally, we can say that voltage is equal to current times resistance, or:
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Using the water hose example, the width of the hose would be the resistance, the water flowing through the hose is the current, and the force of the water coming out of the hose is the voltage. The wider the hose, the less resistance the current of water will have, and the more force, or voltage, the water will have coming out of the hose.
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Electricity is hard to explain and study because you cannot see it. Georg Ohm was able to figure out how voltage (which is the force of an electrical current at the end of its path), current (how fast or slow electricity travels in a certain amount of time), and resistance (how the path of electricity resists or fights the flow of electricity) affect each other. Ohm's Law shows how voltage, current, and resistance are related. His formulas are still used in the study of electricity today.
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