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Practical Booklet Resistance

Resistance is the property of an electrical component or material to restrict the flow of current through it

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26 views16 pages

Practical Booklet Resistance

Resistance is the property of an electrical component or material to restrict the flow of current through it

Uploaded by

muhamad.abd44
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Required Practical Review

Physics Practical – Resistance


Free science lessons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsZeZotYVag
GCSEpod: https://members.gcsepod.com/shared/podcasts/title/10976

Know it
Resistance is the property of an electrical component or material to restrict the
flow of current through it.

It is measured in Ohms ( Ω ) and is calculated by using the following equation.

Resistance = potential difference (Volts) ÷ current (Amps)

R =V ÷ I

There are two parts to this practical:

1. Investigating how does the resistance of a wire depend on its length?


2. Investigating resistance in series and parallel circuits.

The resistance of the wire is proportional to its length. A graph of resistance


against length should be a straight line through the origin. This experiment is a
good one to use to discuss zero error as it is hard to attach the crocodile
precisely to the zero end of the wire, and there will be some contact
resistances. The potential difference will not vary very much during the
experiment.

Activity 1: How does the resistance of a wire depend on its length?


A dimmer switch allows you to control the brightness of a lamp.

You will investigate how the dimmer switch works. You will construct a circuit
to measure the potential difference across a wire and the current in the wire.
You will do this for different lengths of wire.
Method

You are provided with the following:


• a battery or suitable power supply
• ammeter or multimeter
• voltmeter or multimeter
• crocodile clips
• resistance wire eg constantan of different diameters attached to a metre ruler
• connecting leads.

Read these instructions carefully before you start work.

1. Connect the circuit.


It may be helpful to start at the positive side of the battery or power supply.
This may be indicated by a red socket.

2. Connect a lead from the red socket to the positive side of the ammeter.

3. Connect a lead from the negative side of the ammeter (this may be black) to
the crocodile clip at the zero end of the ruler.

4. Connect a lead from the other crocodile clip to the negative side of the
battery.
The main loop of the circuit is now complete. Use this lead as a switch to
disconnect the battery between readings.

5. Connect a lead from the positive side of the voltmeter to the crocodile clip
the ammeter is connected to.
6. Connect a lead from the negative side of the voltmeter to the other
crocodile clip.

7. Record on a table the:


• length of the wire between the crocodile clips
• the readings on the ammeter
• the readings on the voltmeter.

You will need four columns in total.

Length of wire Potential Current Resistance


in cm difference in V in A in Ω

8. Move the crocodile clip and record the new ammeter and voltmeter
readings. Note that the voltmeter reading may not change.
Repeat this to obtain several pairs of meter readings for different lengths of
wire.

9. Calculate and record the resistance for each length of wire using the
equation above.

10. Plot a graph of length and resistance


Expected Results
The graph produced should be a straight line graph, it may not go through the
origin and is likely to have many points away from the line of best fit. An
example is shown below

This shows that resistance increases with length. This is due to more positive ions getting
the way of the moving electrons.

Sources of error include:

Zero error on meter readings for current and voltage, particularly on analogue meters.
Misread the value of distance – it is hard to locate the crocodile clip exactly on the wire.
Heating may cause some changes of resistance, although in this experiment a wire is
chosen that is unaffected by temperature.
Activity 2: Investigating resistors in series and in parallel
Method
You are provided with the following:

• a battery or suitable power supply


• ammeter or multimeter
• voltmeter or multimeter
• crocodile clips
• two 10 Ω resistors
• connecting leads.

Read these instructions carefully before you start work.

1. Connect the circuit for two resistors in series, as shown in the diagram.

Power Ammeter
supply
A

Switch

R1 R2

V
Voltmeter

2. Switch on and record the readings on the ammeter and the voltmeter.

3. Use these readings to calculate the total resistance of the circuit.


Expected results

The resistance of each individual resistor is 10 Ω, when combined together in


series the resistances add up so the total resistance would be 20 Ω. Each extra
resistor makes it harder for the current to flow meaning overall current is
reduced. As the voltage remains the same the resistance must have increased.

Power Ammeter
supply
A

Switch

R1

R2

V
Voltmeter

4. Now set up the circuit for two resistors in parallel.


5. Switch on and record the readings on the ammeter and the voltmeter.

6. Use these readings to calculate the total resistance of the circuit.

Expected results

In this version of the experiment, the total resistance calculated is around 5 Ω.


This is lower than either of the two individual resistors. In parallel circuits each
additional path allows more current to flow, meaning the resistance is less. In
fact the resistance of two resistors in parallel is always less than the lowest
resistor.
Review it
Complete the tasks below in your book.

Up to grade 4

a. State the equation and units for resistance.

b. List the independent, dependent and control variables in this practical.

c. Draw a circuit diagram of the practical.

Grade 5-7

d) Describe what will happen to the resistance as you increase the length of
the wire. Explain your answer.

e) What is the largest source of inaccuracy in this practical?

Grade 7+

f) Suggest improvements to the method.

g) What would happen to the resistance if you:

1. Increase the diameter of the wire.

2. Increase the temperature of the wire.

Explain your answers.


Question it

Question 1
Mark it

Question 2
Answers

Question 3
Answers

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