Tutorial 3

Electric Properties of Materials

1) Compute the electrical conductivity of a 7.0-mm (0.28-in.) diameter cylindrical silicon

specimen 57 mm (2.25 in.) long in which a current of 0.25 A passes in an axial direction.
A voltage of 24 V is measured across two probes that are separated by 45 mm (1.75 in.).
Compute the resistance over the entire 57 mm (2.25 in.) of the specimen.

2) An aluminum wire 10 m long must experience a voltage drop of less than 1.0 V when a
current of 5 A passes through it. Compute the minimum diameter of the wire.

3) Calculate the drift velocity of electrons in silicon at room temperature and when the
magnitude of the electric field is 500 V/m. Under these circumstances, how long does it
take an electron to traverse a 25-mm (1-in.) length of crystal?

4) Determine the electrical conductivity of a Cu–Ni alloy that has a tensile strength of 275
MPa (40,000 psi). (𝜌 = 14 𝑥 10−8 Ω − 𝑚)

5) Using information contained in related Figure 1(a) and 1(b), determine the electrical
conductivity of an 85 wt% Cu–15 wt% Zn alloy at -100ºC

Figure 1(a)
 Figure 1(b)

6) A parallel-plate capacitor have an area of 3225 𝑚𝑚2 (5 𝑖𝑛2 ), a plate separation of 1 mm

(0.04 in.) and a dielectric constant of 3.5 positioned between the plates. Compute:
(a) The capacitance of this capacitor.
(b) The electric field that must be applied for 2 𝑥 10−8 𝐶 to be stored on each plate.

7) The polarization P of a dielectric material positioned within a parallel-plate capacitor is

to be 4.0 𝑥 10−6 𝐶/𝑚2
(a) What must be the dielectric constant if an electric field of 105 𝑉/𝑚 is applied
(b) What will be the dielectric displacement D

8) Consider a parallel-plate capacitor having an area of 6.45 𝑥 10−4 𝑚2 and a plate

separation of 2 𝑥 10−3 𝑚 across a potential of 10 V is applied. If a material having
dielectric constant of 6.0 is positioned within the region between the plates compute
a) The capacitance
b) The magnitude of the charge stored on each plate
c) The dielectric displacement, D
d) The polarization