Difference Between Ohmic And Non-Ohmic Conductors

The main difference between ohmic and non-ohmic conductors is that the ohmic conductors follow the ohm’s law and the non-ohmic conductors do not follow the ohm’s law.

Difference Between Ohmic And Non-Ohmic Conductors

Some conductors and electronic devices do not follow the ideal Ohms law, which is a linear relationship between voltage and current. There are many examples of Ohmic conductors and non-Ohmic ones. The law states that there is a linear relationship between the two elements. The Ohmic conductors and electronic components that follow this law are called Ohmic conductors, whereas others are called non-Ohmic conductors.

Understanding the basics of electronics as well as many elements of electrical science is necessary in order to understand why some electronic components and conductors are Ohmic and others are not.

There are many examples of both Ohmic and non-Ohmic conductors. All forms of electrical and electronic components and systems can be used with either type. In view of the importance of electrical design as well as electronic circuit design, it is important to understand which conductors as well as which electronic components fall into which categories.

Ohmic Conductors

The electrical conductors that follow Ohms law are referred to as ohmic conductors. The Ohmic conductor definition says that if the voltage across the conductor, electronic component, etc is doubled, then the current will also double. The Ohmic conductors category consists of items made from metals, carbon, and many metal alloys.

The relationship between the voltage current and resistance is linear and can be calculated using Ohms Law.

V=IR

Where:
    V = voltage expressed in Volts
    I = current expressed in Amps
    R = resistance expressed in Ohms

A straight line can be seen on the graph if the voltage and current for the Ohmic electrical or electronic component is plotted. A lower resistance component will have a shallow line on the Ohmic conductor graph, while a higher resistance device will have a much sharper line.

Non-Ohmic conductors

Non-Ohmic conductors are electrical conductors that do not follow the law. doubling the voltage won’t result in a doubling of the current, because the relationship between the two is not linear for all values. There are a number of electrical and electronic components that are non-ohmic. They have a value of resistance that varies with the amount of electricity applied. Depending on the actual conductor or component in question, this can occur. Non-ohmic conductors and electronic components are some of the main examples.

Non-Ohmic conductors example

The light bulb is a great example of a non-ohmic conductor response. Because they are inefficient in terms of their conversion of electrical energy to light energy, they are not widely used, but they are a good example of a non- Ohmic conductor or electrical component. The reason for the non-Ohmic characteristic is caused by the heat generated by the lamp.

The lamp will usually be powered by a battery or main power lines. It can be assumed that this remains the same all the time because of the almost constant voltage provided by these. When the power is applied to the lamp, there is an in-rush of current because it has a low resistance. The filament becomes very hot when it is heated to white heat, and this causes it to emit light. The lamp settles to normal operation if the resistance is raised so that the current is reduced.