Voltage drop in conductor

[jreed]

I'm a plastics guy looking for some basic info on electricity. This is probably a very simple question:

In a DC circuit (such as in a car), how is voltage drop calculated in a specific conductor? Must the current drawn thru this specific conductor be known to calculate the voltage drop? I know the conductor dimensions and can get the resistance values for the conductor from a table.

Would appreciate any responses.

Jon [sig][/sig]

 

[jbartos]

See the circuit engineering since it is more on that side. [sig][/sig]

 

[Sakowski]

In a DC circuit, Ohm's law will give you the voltage drop. It is Voltage = Current times Resistance. This is usually seen written as E=IR, where E is the voltage. You say you have access to the specs for the wire, so all you have to do is calculate the resistance for the length in question, and you can then calculate the voltage drop for any given current. As you can see from the equation, the more current that you draw, the bigger will be the voltage drop.

Mike [sig][/sig]