Question

While having a discussion, Technician A says that the longer a conductor is, the more resistance it has and the smaller its diameter, the less resistance it has. Technician B says that the larger its diameter, the less resistance it has. Who is correct

Answer 1

Answer:

Technician B is correct by saying that the larger diameter (i.e the conductor's diameter), the less resistance it has.

Explanation:

According to the law of electrical resistance, the resistance of a metallic conductor is proportional to the length of the conductor, but inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of the conductor.

$R = p\frac{l}{A}$

where R is the resistance of the conductor.

p is the intrinsic resistivity of the material with which the conductor is made.

l is the length of the conductor.

A is the cross-sectional area of the conductor.

This law simply means that if we increase the length of a conductor, or reduce the area, the electrical resistance of the conductor will increase, and vice versa.

Technician B is correct by saying that the larger diameter (i.e the conductor's diameter), the less resistance it has.

This is because the area of the conductor is proportional to the cross-sectional area. And the larger the cross-sectional area of a conductor, the lesser its resistance will be.