Ohm's law

American

noun

Electricity.

the law that for any circuit the electric current is directly proportional to the voltage and is inversely proportional to the resistance.

Ohm's law British

noun

the principle that the electric current passing through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference across it, provided that the temperature remains constant. The constant of proportionality is the resistance of the conductor

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Ohm's law Scientific

/ ōmz /

A law relating the voltage difference between two points, the electric current flowing between them, and the resistance of the path of the current. Mathematically, the law states that V = IR, where V is the voltage difference, I is the current in amperes, and R is the resistance in ohms. For a given voltage, higher resistance entails lower current flow.

Etymology

Origin of Ohm's law

First recorded in 1840–50; named after G. S. Ohm

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Ohm's law

Electric conduction, which is crucial for many devices, follows Ohm's law: a current responds proportionally to applied voltage.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2024

What the most common ohmmeters actually do is to apply a voltage to a resistance, measure the current, and calculate the resistance using Ohm’s law.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Once XC has been found at each frequency, Ohm’s law stated as I = V / XC can be used to find the current at each frequency.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

To summarize, when dealing with AC, Ohm's law and the equations for power are completely analogous to those for DC, but rms and average values are used for AC.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015

Both effects thus involve internal electromotive forces, and prevent the application of Ohm’s law to the electrolytic cell as a whole.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 8 "Conduction, Electric" by Various

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023