In the same way that a conductor resists establishment of electric current in an electric circuit in response to the application of an EMF, a magnetic material shows reluctance against the establishment of flux in the core (magnetic circuit) in response to the application of an MMF.

In a resistive electric circuit, Ohm’s law gives:

where is the electromotive force (voltage) and is the current.

In a magnetic circuit, the equivalent of Ohm’s law can be stated as follows:

where is the magnetomotive force, and is the reluctance of the electric circuit in Ampere-turn/Weber ().

  • In non-magnetic materials, is constant over the entire range of variations of and , and therefore, is proportional to .
  • In magnetic materials, is not a constant and thus, - relation is not linear.

Like the case of resistance in electric circuits, is a function of the material of the core and the geometry of the magnetic core.

In electric circuits, resistance R is related to the property of material and geometry of the resistor through the relation:

where:

  • is the resistance in ohms
  • is the length in meters
  • is the cross-sectional area in
  • is the conductivity of the material in siemens per meter ()

Similarly, in a similar formula relates reluctance to the property of material and geometry of the magnetic core:

where:

  • is the reluctance in
  • is the mean path length in
  • is the cross-sectional area in
  • is the permeability of the core in Henry/meter ().