This deep dive covers Ohmic vs Non-Ohmic Conductors within Resistance & Ohm's Law for GCSE Physics. Revise Resistance & Ohm's Law in Electricity for GCSE Physics with 14 exam-style questions and 30 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 5 of 16 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Topic position
Section 5 of 16
Practice
14 questions
Recall
30 flashcards
⚡ Ohmic vs Non-Ohmic Conductors
Ohmic conductors: Resistance stays CONSTANT
- Examples: Fixed resistors, metal wires (at constant temperature)
- V-I graph is a straight line through the origin
- Obey Ohm's Law: V = IR with constant R
Non-ohmic components: Resistance CHANGES
- Filament lamp — R increases as it heats up (curved V-I graph)
- Diode — very high R in one direction, low R in the other (only allows current one way)
- Thermistor — R decreases as temperature increases
- LDR (light-dependent resistor) — R decreases as light intensity increases