MIRACLES OF CONDUCTIVITY

One day , Ohm and Siemens were surfing the TV channels when suddenly the famous ragging scene of 3 idiots popped up. (  I hope you guyz remember it when Aamir khan spares himself from ragging by applying a simple funda of science “Salt water is a good conductor of electricity” !! ) .Though both Ohm and Siemens have seen that movie numerous times yet they almost died laughing. Seeing them this way Ohm’s younger brother Oswald (whose a science geek) couldn’t control himself asking ,”Bro, can you tell me what’s conductor” ??

Ohm and Siemens both scratched their head as little Os has punched in. Ohm was about to ask him to go and do his home -work rather than disturbing them when suddenly Siemens whispered in Ohm’s ears ,” Let’s satisfy Os with an answer else he will think we don’t know it. It’s our big brother pride moment afterall and we can’t hamper our image. Let him know from where have his big brothers got their name .”

Hearing this Ohm got excited and started reciting ,” conductor is any object or type of material that allows the flow of electrical current in one or more directions. A metal wire is a common electrical conductor. Similarly there is another term- conductivity which  is defined as the ability of a material to pass electric current or flow of electrons through it”.

After saying this Siemen gave him a thumbs up and Ohm returned a winning smile to him considering that their task is accomplished and Os won’t disturb them again.

They returned back to their TV set when to their dismay Os again came up with new bunch of questions. This time it was Siemen’s turn to entertain him since he was the harbinger of this mess.

Os put up his new question ,” Bro I didn’t understand this concept of conduction. Can you give me some day to day examples so I might be able to relate them.”

Hearing this Siemen felt relaxed as the question was somewhat easy and started telling ,” Have you ever noticed Os that ice/chocolate bar melts in your hand when you keep it for long or when you put metal spoon in boiling water it becomes hot.”

Os excitedly said , ”yes”.

Siemen continued ,” My boy, those are examples of conduction.”

Os looked puzzled. He said,” But bro, I have heard that conductivity is related to electricity.They both go hand in hand. Even in the movie it’s shown like that…isn’t it??”. With a pause he continued ,” Our teacher says, you will get electric current if you touch wire with bare wet hands because water is a good conductor of electricity but just now Ohm bhaiya said that metals are good conductors….I am confused!! ”

Hearing this Ohm started thinking , “Oh lord, why my brother is so scientist like ??”

Siemen wickedly pointed to Ohm as if to introduce their new speaker whose going to entertain Os’s questions and whispered ,”Dude , you are gone”.

Now it was the question of prestige. Ohm thought ,”I can’t let this moment go in Oss’ hands  else he will complaint to mother that instead of doing group study with my friend ,I was watching T.V.”

Hence with all the information he had on this topic he tried to explain it to little Os in simple terms.

Ohm started ,” Conduction is the transfer of energy either in the form of heat or electricity from one atom to another through direct contact of the two conducting objects. Conduction can occur in all three states of matter namely solids, liquids, and gases. However, solids transfer energy in the most efficient manner since the molecules in solids are tightly packed and the molecules. For liquids and gases, the density of the particles are generally lower than those of solids and the particles are farther apart, and thus the energy transfer is less efficient.”

Ohm carried on, “ Os conduction is basically of two types-Conduction of heat and conduction of electricity. The former occurs when molecules aggressively vibrate in increased temperature condition and this vibrational movement passes on the heat energy to the surrounding. That’s exactly the reason why you pull your arms after touching a hot pot. “With a gulp he said ,” The latter type of conduction occurs due to movement of charged particles be it free electrons or ions about which I hope you are well aware of Mr. Einstein…isn’t it?  It’s the conduction of electricity due to which you get shock if you touch a live wire with wet hands.

Ohm added ,” Do you know that pure water is actually an excellent insulator where by pure water I mean distilled water or deionized water which is used in laboratories.”

After Ohm finished he saw the look on Oswald’s face. He looked satisfied which was a great relief for both of them as they can now enjoy their leisure time together without any questioning from their geek brother.

While Os was leaving the room Siemen shouted,” Os , Do you know that my name is actually the unit of conductance-Siemens whereas your brother’s name-Ohm is the unit of resistance.”

Os gaped and then left the room whereas Ohm and Siemens switched on the match.

I hope you like the blog.