Lab 6: Kirchhoff’s Rules

Name: John Hafele Date 7/17/23

Lab Partner(s): Connor Pascual, Alexander Hernandez, Dylan Mandel

Laboratory Report

NOTE: Show all your calculations. If needed, include additional pages, or do your work on a
separate sheet and insert a scanned copy or picture to your lab report. Your grade will drastically be
reduced if no work is shown.

DATA TABLE 1

Purpose: To investigate Kirchhoff’s rules by means of a two-loop circuit.

Measured Theoretical Percent

𝑅1 = 9800 Ω value value error
𝑅2 = 9800 Ω %
𝑅3 = 9800 Ω
V1 8.11
Calculations: (Show all your work)
V2 12.0

I1 153uA 144uA 6.25%

I2 614uA 540uA 13.70%

I3 769uA 684uA 12.43%

VR1 1.32V 1.41 V 6.38%

VR2 5.26 5.29 V .567%

VR3 6.66V 6.70 V .597%

𝑴𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅−𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍
Percent Error= ( 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍
∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟎)=%Error
Lab 6: Kirchhoff’s Rules

DATA TABLE 2

Purpose: To investigate Kirchhoff’s rules by means of a three-loop circuit.

Measured Theoretical Percent

𝑅1 = 9900 Ω value value error
𝑅2 = 9800 Ω %
𝑅3 = 10000 Ω
𝑅4 = 9900 Ω
V1 8.1
𝑅5 = 9800 Ω

V2 12
Calculations: (Show all your work)

I1 -526uA -459uA 14.6%

I2 -118uA -100uA 18.0%

I3 256uA 360uA 28.9%

I4 473uA 659uA 28.2%

I5 108uA 559uA 27.0%

VR1 4.48V 4.54V 1.32%

VR2 1.01V 0.976V 3.48%

VR3 3.51V 3.6V 2.50%

VR4 6.54V 6.52V 0.307%

VR5 5.48V 5.48V 0.033%

Lab 6: Kirchhoff’s Rules
Lab 6: Kirchhoff’s Rules

Questions

1. Two batteries with emf’s of 1.5 V and 1.2 V and internal resistances of 0.50  and 0.80 
respectively, are connected in parallel with + terminals together.

(a) Determine the current they would deliver to an external resistance of 2.0 . HINT: This
circuit is equivalent to the two-loop circuit you just investigated above.

𝜀1 𝜀2 1.5𝑉 1.2𝑉
+
𝑟1 𝑟2 0.50𝛺 + 0.80𝛺
𝜀= = = 1.38𝑉
1 1 1 1
+
𝑟1 𝑟2 0.50𝛺 0.80𝛺 +
𝑟1 𝑟2 (0.50𝛺)(0.80𝛺)
𝑟= = = 0.31𝛺
𝑟1 + 𝑟2 (0.50𝛺 + 0.80𝛺)
𝜀 1.38𝑉
𝐼= = = 0.6 𝐴
𝑅 + 𝑟 2𝛺 + 0.31𝛺

(b) Would more current be delivered if only one battery were used? If so, which one?
Explain.

Yes, If only one battery was used rather than 2 batteries, the current delivered will be more
than 0.6A. e<e1 and e<e2 meaning that the active current drawn in the case of e1 and e2 will
be more.

CONCLUSION

This lab focused on the topic of Kirchhoff’s Rules. Lab 6 has the following 4 objectives which
were all accomplished by the end of the lab. The first objective was to identify circuit branches,
loops, and junctions. To experimentally measure branch currents in a multiloop circuit. To
analytically calculate branch currents in a multi loop circuit using Kirchhoff’s rules in matrix
methods for solving simultaneous equations. Our last objective was to understand the relationship
between Kirchhoff’s rules and the conservation of charge or current, and the conservation of energy
or voltage. The equipment we used for lab 6, was a 12 Volt power supply, a 9-volt battery, a
multimeter, an ammeter, five resistors and several patch cables.

Setting up lab 6 consisted of the provided diagrams from the lab manual, the analysis of two loop
circuit and the analysis of three loop circuit, as well as the pictures showing the setup. When setting it
up we ran into a small issue, which is human error for the lab. Our issue was that we tried to set up
the system of circuits on the circuit board and proved to not work. We were told that it would be
easier to set up on the board but proved to take more of our time proving that the board had blown a
fuse or there was an underlying issue that we did not see. After realizing the board was not giving us
readings, we transferred our circuit setup to the table and were able to get readings. We started by
testing the value of the resistors and the voltage that the battery had. After testing resistors and the
battery we turned on the power supply to put power through the circuit. With power going through
the circuit, we tested various points of the circuit and recorded the measured values as specified in
the lab procedure. After gathering all the data needed from the two-loop circuit we switched to the
three-loop circuit as specified in the lab manual set up. Providing power to the three-loop circuit we
were then ready to take data from the three-loop circuit. We recorded the data specified in the lab
manual and concluded our experiment section of this lab.

In the lab report we charted the measured values taken from the experiments. We then were able
Lab 6: Kirchhoff’s Rules

to calculate the theoretical values from the given formulas and obtained values in the procedure.
Having both the measured values and theoretical values we were able to calculate the precent error of
our measured results to show our error amount. These were our calculated results for the lab. In this
lab I can say that my group walked our being able to identify and use circuit loops and branches. We
measured branch currents in a 2 loop and 3 loop circuits and were able to use these recorded values
to build matrix equations to solve simultaneous equations. Walking out of the lab we completed all of
the lab objectives. In the real world circuits are all around us they are in cell phones, tvs, tablets,
machines, most things that run on power involve circuits!