PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

EXPERIMENT 7 : DIRECT CURRENT CIRCUIT : OHM’S LAW AND

RESISTIVITY OF WIRE
Name : ____________________________________________________
Lecture’s Group : __________________________ Student’s ID. :_______________
Date : ____________________________________________________
Lecturer : ____________________________________________________

Group Member(s)

1. 3.
2. 4.

Rubrics for Lab Report PHY130

3 2 1 0 Score

Units are used

correctly and Units used only in Units are rarely
Units are not used
Units consistently some key parts of used or are
or incorrect
throughout the report generally incorrect
report.

Some data
Data entered with A few data entered No data entered
entered with
Data entry correct significant with correct with correct
correct significant
figure. significant figure. significant figure.
figure.

Calculations Calculations
Calculations are
Data contain few contain some Calculation steps
correct. All steps
Manipulation errors. All steps errors. Steps not not shown.
clearly laid out.
clearly laid out. clearly laid out.

Some questions Few questions are

Answer to All questions are No questions
are correctly correctly
Question correctly answered. answered.
answered. answered.

Given discussion
Discussion Appropriate Irrelevant No discussion and
and / or
and discussion and discussion and / or / or conclusion
conclusion
Conclusion conclusion given. conclusion given. given.
partially correct.

TOTAL: / 15

59
PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

Rubrics for Lab Report PHY145

CRITERIA POOR FAIR GOOD VERY GOOD EXCELLENT Score Weightage Subtot Total
1 2 3 4 5 al

Units are not used or Units are rarely used Units used correctly only Units used correctly in Units are used
Units incorrect or are generally in some parts of report most parts of report correctly throughout 0.1 /0.5
incorrect the report.

No data entered with A few data entered Some data entered with Most data entered with Data entered with
Data entry correct significant with correct significant correct significant figure. correct significant correct significant 0.1 /0.5
figure. figure. figure. figure.

 Calculation steps  Calculations  Calculations contain  Calculations  Calculations are

not shown. contain a lot of some errors. All contain a few correct. All steps
 Graph/drawing title errors. Steps not steps clearly laid out. errors. All steps clearly laid out.
not written. clearly laid out.  Graph/drawing title clearly laid out.  Graph/drawing title
 Labels for  Graph/drawing title correctly written.  Graph/drawing title correctly written
graph/drawing not not correctly  A few labels for correctly written.  All labels for
written. written. graph/drawing are  Most labels for graph/drawing are
Data  Data points plotted  Most labels for correctly written. graph/drawing are correctly written. 0.5 /2.5
Manipulation incorrectly, graph/drawing not  Some data points correctly written.  All data points
 Wrong method correctly written. plotted correctly,  Most data points plotted correctly,
used to determine  A few data points  Correct method used plotted correctly,  Correct method
slope and intercept plotted correctly. to determine slope  Correct method used to determine
 Wrong method and intercept used to determine slope and intercept.
used to determine slope and intercept /5
slope and intercept

 No questions  Few questions are  Some questions are  Most questions are  All questions are
answered. correctly answered. correctly answered. correctly answered. correctly answered.
 Only discuss the  Able to relate less  Able to relate some  Able to relate most  Able to relate ALL
experimental results than half of the experimental results experimental experimental
without the theories. experimental with theories results with results with
Answer to results with the  Unable to identify theories theories
Question and theories reasonable reason  Able to identify  Able to identify 0.2 /1.0
Discussion causing the errors reasonable reason reasonable reason
and suggest suitable causing the errors causing the errors
solution but could not and suggest
suggest suitable suitable solution or
solution assumption

Unable to conclude all Able to conclude a few Able to conclude some Able to conclude Able to conclude ALL
the experiment of the objectives based experiment objectives ALMOST all the experiment objectives
objectives based on on the discussion based on the discussion experiment objectives based on the
Conclusion the discussion based on the discussion clearly 0.1 /0.5
discussion

60
PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

Title : DIRECT CURRENT CIRCUIT : OHM’S LAW AND RESISTIVITY OF WIRE

Objectives : (i) To calculate total resistance in series and parallel resistors network
by using Ohm’s Law.
(ii) To calculate the resistivity of a wire.
Apparatus : DC power supply, 5 Ω and 10 Ω resistors, rheostat, 2 sets of multimeter,
constantan wire, micrometer screw gauge and ruler.

Theory

Ohm’s Law states that the current in a good conductor is proportional to the potential difference
applied to its ends. The voltage, V across a wire is directly proportional to current, I across the
wire.
𝑉∝ 𝐼
For any particular material, the ratio of the applied voltage to the resulting current is defined to
be the resistance of the wire, R (Ω).

𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅 when R is constant (Ohm’s Law) (1)

The equivalent resistance of a set of resistors connected in series is

Req  R1  R2  R3  ... (2)

The equivalent resistance of a set of resistors connected in parallel is

1 1 1 1
    ... (3)
Req R1 R2 R3

Consider a wire with length, L and radius, r as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

The resistance of a wire is proportional to its length, L and inversely proportional to its cross
sectional area, A and temperature, θ. At a constant temperature, the resistance, R is given by
equation
ρl
R= (4)
A
Where ρ (rho) is a constant of proportionality of the wire called resistivity. The SI unit for
resistivity is Ω m.

61
PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

Procedure

Experiment A

1. Set one multimeter to DC voltage and the other to DC current.

2. Arrange and connect the circuit as in Figure 2.
3. Switch on the power supply and with the rheostat at the minimum setting.
4. Adjust the power supply until the voltmeter reads 2.0 V.
5. Adjust the rheostat until the voltmeter reads 1.8 V and record the current into Table 1.
6. Repeat step 4 with voltmeter reading of 1.6 V, 1.4 V, …, 0.8 V.
7. Rearrange the resistors as in Figure 3.
8. Repeat step 5 and 6 and record the data into Table 2.

Figure 2 Figure 3

Experiment B

1. Measure and record the length of wire AB precisely.

2. Measure and record the diameter of wire by using micrometer screw gauge.
3. Arrange and connect the circuit as in Figure 4.
4. Set the power supply to 2 V. Make sure the voltage does not exceed 2 V.
5. Decrease the voltage by about 0.3 V by adjusting the rheostat and record the ammeter and
voltmeter reading.
6. Repeat step 4 and tabulate the data in Table 3.

2V

Figure 4

62
PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

Data and Data Analysis

Experiment A

Table 1 Series connection Table 2 Parallel connection

No Voltage, V (V) Current, I (A) No Voltage, V (V) Current, I (A)

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

6. 6.

1. Using the data from Table 1 and 2, plot a graph of V versus I for both on the same graph
paper. Label the lines clearly.
2. From the graph of V versus I, obtain the total resistance for series and parallel arrangement.

Experiment B

Wire AB length (𝑙 ± ∆𝑙) = __________

Wire AB diameter (𝑑 ± ∆𝑑)=__________

Fill in the data from your experiment in Table 3.

Table 3 Voltage, V and current, I readings

Voltage, V (V) Current, I (A)

1. Using the data from Table 3, plot a graph of V versus I.

2. From the graph of V versus I, calculate the gradient of the graph.

63
PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

Discussion

Experiment A

1. Calculate the theoretical value of the total resistance in Figure 2 and Figure 3 by using the
equation (2) and (3).

2. Compare the calculated values with the experimental values by calculating their percentage
differences. Explain if the percentage differences are more than 10%.

Experimental value  Theoretical value

Percentage difference (%) =  100%
Theoretical value

3. A number of light bulbs are to be connected to single electrical outlet. Which arrangement of
the light bulbs will be brighter, series or parallel arrangement? Why?

64
PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

Experiment B

1. Calculate the cross-sectional area of wire AB (𝐴 ± ∆𝐴) by using the value of diameter
recorded in this experiment. Give;
i) Area of circle, A =

∆ ∆
ii) The relative uncertainty of area, =2

∆
iii) The absolute uncertainty of area, ΔA =2 𝑥𝐴

iv) Cross sectional area of wire AB (𝐴 ± ∆𝐴) =_________________________

2. Calculate the resistivity of wire AB by using equation (4).

i) Resistivity of wire ρ =

∆ ∆ ∆
ii) The relative uncertainty of resistivity, = +

∆ ∆
iii) The absolute uncertainty of resistivity, ∆𝜌 = ( + )𝜌

Resistivity of constantan wire, (𝜌 ± ∆𝜌) (from calculation) = __________________

Resistivity of constantan wire (from your instructor) = ________________

65
PHY130 / PHY145 Experiment Physics JSG UiTMPP

3. The standard value of resistivity of constantan wire is 49 x 10-8 Ωm. Calculate the
percentage error of the calculated value. Explain if the percentage differences are more
than 5%.

Experimental value  Standard value

Percentage error (%) =  100% edited
Standard value

4. How much does the resistance change when the length of the wire is doubled?

5. How much does the resistance change when the diameter of the wire is doubled?

8. Conclusion

66