Lab Report 1

Reeshad Arian

Wheatstone Bridge

There are a few methods to measure the resistance of a circuit made from only resistors between two points.
One may either use an ammeter and a voltage source, or equivalently, a voltmeter with a current source. But
the problem with such methods is that an ideal ammeter and voltmeter does not exist because it would either
require zero current to flow through it, in the case of a voltmeter, or zero voltage drop, in the case of an
ammeter.

Figure 1 A Wheatstone bridge

The solution to this problem is a Wheatstone bridge, as it eliminates the necessity for these ideal elements. Fig.
1 illustrates the configuration for a Wheatstone bridge. R1 and R3 are resistors of known resistance. R2 is a
variable resistor, and RX is the resistance that needs to be found. This is a simplified picture of course: RX
could be any collection and configuration of resistors. The voltmeter, VG, in the middle measures the voltage
drop across the two sections branches of resistors. Alternatively, one can use an ammeter. If the voltage measure
by VG (or the current if one uses an ammeter) is zero, then the follow equation holds.
𝑅𝑥 𝑅2
=
𝑅3 𝑅1
With R1 and R3 given, and R2 measured, one can easily calculate RX. In the lab, we tested this relationship.
Having been given R1, R3, and RX, we adjusted R2 so that the voltage VG was zero. Then we measured R2.
From the experiment, we found the following values:

𝑅1 = 26.903𝑘Ω, 𝑅2 = 3.024𝑘Ω, 𝑅3 = 5.538𝑘Ω, 𝑅4 = 0.624𝑘Ω

Using these values, we calculated the following ratios:
 𝑅1 𝑅3
= 8.890, = 8.875
𝑅2 𝑅𝑋
Which proved to be sufficiently close.
In the prelab, the resistors we were given were:

𝑅1 = 27 kΩ, R2 = 3 kΩ, R3 = 5.6 kΩ

Using these values, the calculated resistance for Rx is 0.622kΩ. This gives an error of:
0.624 − 0.622
𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = = 0.3%
0.622

This is a very small error that is caused by the tolerances of the resistors that we used. There is supposed to be
a 10% error in the actual resistances used, and since the error in the final answer is lower than the tolerance,
this error is justified.

Loading Effect

The ideal voltmeter is one that has no effect on the circuit. Since the voltmeter is connected in parallel to a
circuit element, this means that the current flowing through the voltmeter is zero. The way this is done is by
connecting it to a resistor of sufficiently high resistance. If that is not used, then the resulting voltage across the
circuit element will be reduced due because the resistance decreases significantly. In the first circuit, the air gap
means an infinite resistance, so the reading is perfect. In the second circuit, the resistance is comparable to the
circuit elements, so the voltage drops significantly. In the second, it is very high, so the voltage readings are
sufficiently accurate.
In the first circuit, below, in the lab we had a v1 of 1.001V as opposed to the 1V in te theoretical prelab. The
error is therefore:
1.001 − 1
𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = = 0.1%
1
The v1’ measured is 0.59V while the theoretical value is 0.602V. The error is:
0.602 − 0.59
𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = = 2.03%
0.59
The v2’ measured is 0.29V while the theoretical value is 0.299V. The error is:
0.299 − 0.29
𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = = 3.1%
0.29
The i’ measured is 0.534mA while the theoretical value is 0.534V. Therefore, the error was not picked up by
the instruments we used.
The v1’’ measured is 1.00 V while the theoretical value is 0.999V. The error is:
1.0 − 0.999
𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = = 0.10%
0.999
The v2’’ measured is 0.485V while the theoretical value is 0.499V. The error is:
0.485 − 0.499
𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = = 2.81%
0.499
The i2’’ measured is 0.001mA while the theoretical value is 0.892µA. The error is:
0.001 − 0.0000892
𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = = 1023%
0.0000892
The errors were reasonable given the 5% error tolerance of the resistors used. They are all well below that
threshold. The last current reading, however, was faulty because the instruments were not accurate enough.
However, since it measured only 0.001mA, which is close enough to 0.

Dimmer Circuit
The data collected from the lab gave the following graph:

The Current through LED with varying F

16
14
12
Current (mA)

10
8
6
4
2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
F

The prelab Pspice model gave the following graph:

It is evident that predicted values show an approximately linear trend in the first part of the sweep, and then
loses that linearity as the current decreases. The lab experiment approximates that very well, especially since the
current does not vanish at F=1, which it would if it were linear. Of course, some resistance still persists from
the potentiometer, but it is not enough for the current to be so high.