[Physics] Internal resistance of a copper wire

electrical-resistanceelectricity

My textbook says,

"The resistance of wires is usually so low compared with other devices in a circuit that you can ignore wire resistances when measuring or calculating the total resistance. The exception is when there are large currents. If the current is large, the resistance of wires may be important."

Why is this true? If the current is large, then shouldn't the resistance decrease for a constant voltage (V=IR)?

Best Answer

Resistance of a material is $$R=\rho\frac {l}{a} $$ where $\rho $ is the resistivity of the material, $l $ is the length of the conductor, and $a $ is the cross sectional area.

For a given conductor, all these are constant. So resistance of a given conductor does not depend on current or voltage.

It however, depends on temperature: $$R=R_0 (1+\alpha×t) $$ where $R $ is the new resistance, $R_0$ is the initial resistance, $t $ is the change in temperature, and $\alpha $ is the coefficient for increase in resistance per unit rise in temperature.

For copper, resistivity is very low, so resistance is also low.