Engineering

Ohm's Law Calculator

Pick which two quantities you know — voltage, current, resistance or power — and the calculator solves the other two using Ohm's law and the power equations, showing the formula it used.

Result
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Volts
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Amps
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Ohms
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Watts
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How Ohm's law works

Ohm's law ties the three electrical basics together:

V = I × R

Voltage in volts, current in amperes, resistance in ohms. Power joins via P = V × I, which combines with Ohm's law into the two alternates every technician memorises:

P = I² × R     P = V² ÷ R

Those alternates answer the two common real questions: how hot does this resistor get (I²R — dissipation at a given current) and what does this heater draw (V²/R — dissipation at a fixed supply voltage). The four-form wheel lets you solve any third or fourth quantity from any known pair; the calculator implements all four combinations.

Worked example

A 12 V supply feeding a 0.5 A LED driver: R = 12 ÷ 0.5 = 24 Ω and P = 12 × 0.5 = 6 W. Halve the resistance to 12 Ω and current doubles to 1 A while power jumps fourfold to 12 W — current scales as 1/R but power as V²/R, which is why undervoltage heaters and undersized wiring behave so differently from intuition.

Where it stops being exact

Ohm's law is exact for ohmic conductors at constant temperature. Filament lamps, diodes and thermistors have resistance that shifts with temperature or voltage, so treat their results as operating-point values, not constants.

Frequently asked questions

1. What is the formula for Ohm's law?

V = I × R: voltage equals current times resistance. Rearranged, I = V/R gives current, and R = V/I gives resistance. Power adds as P = V × I = I²R = V²/R.

2. How do I calculate power from voltage and resistance?

Use P = V² ÷ R. A 120 V, 14.4 Ω heater element dissipates about 1000 W. This form is handiest when the supply voltage is fixed.

3. What units does Ohm's law use?

Volts (V), amperes (A), ohms (Ω) and watts (W). Keep units consistent — if current is in milliamps, convert to amps before calculating, or resistance will be off by a factor of 1000.

4. Does Ohm's law work for all components?

Only for ohmic, constant-resistance loads at stable temperature. Lamps, diodes, thermistors and semiconductors change resistance with operating conditions; use their datasheet curves instead.

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