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Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

Other Spectroscopy

What is electrical resistance?

Electrical resistance describes how a material opposes an electric current through the material. The resistance is related to the applied voltage through the relationship:

where V is the applied voltage and I is the current through the material. Typically the resistance is a constant, and thus the current will increase linearly with an increase in the applied voltage. This relationship is Ohm’s law. As you can see, a material with a higher resistance (R) will have a lower current (I) for a given applied voltage (V).