Ohm’s Law

Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across the two points:

I is the current through the conductor in units of amperes, V is the voltage measured across the conductor in units of volts, and R is the resistance of the conductor in units of ohms. Further, Ohm's law holds that the R in this relation is constant, independent of the current.

The law was named after the German physicist Georg Ohm. Georg Ohm was a German physicist and school teacher. He researched the then-novel electrochemical cell using equipment of his own creation. In doing so, Ohm found that a direct relationship between the voltage applied across a conductor and the electric current. He published a treatise in 1827 describing this relationship through the example of the flow of voltage and current through simple electrical circuits containing various lengths of wire. The above equation is the modern form of Ohm's original law.

Ohm’s law serves as an algebraic method for calculating the current if we know the electric potential difference and the resistance. What’s more, this equation indicates the two variables that would affect the amount of current in a circuit. The current in a circuit is directly proportional to the electric potential difference and inversely proportional to the resistance.

Charge flows at the greatest rates when the battery voltage is increased and the resistance is decreased. A twofold increase in the battery voltage would lead to a twofold increase in the current (if all other factors are kept equal). And an increase in the resistance of the load by a factor of two would cause the current to decrease by a factor of two to one-half its original value.