FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

LABORATORY REPORT
PHY400

SESSION 2 2021/2022

Experiment No. 4
& Topic : Electrical Resistance and Ohm’s Law

Name of Student
& Student No. : 1) Putri Balqis Binti Rashid (2022971621)
2) Nur Aslina Binti Abdul Rahim (2022905201)

Program : AS253

Group : AS2531A & AS2531C

1.0 OBJECTIVE
• To discover the resistance of a given resistor.

2.0 THEORY

Ohm’s Law is a general physics’ law which states the voltage or the potential
difference between two points that directly proportional to the current or electricity passing
through the resistance. It also directly proportional to the resistance of the circuit. This law
can be showed by a formula which is:
V = IR
The ohm’s Law formula also can be calculated by these two formulae which are:
I = V/R
R = V/I
Ohm’s Law also used to determine the voltage, current, impedance or resistance of a
linear circuit. Resistance is a type of measure of the opposition to the current flow in an
electrical circuit. In an electrical circuit, electrons move through a conductor such a metal
wire which can crash with the ions in the metal. From this theory, it makes the current
difficult to flow and resistance will occur.
Battery is a tool that used chemical energy to convert it into an electrical energy in a
electric circuit. When the electrical energy completely pass through in the circuit, it will make
the heat energy even though it does not store any charge because it stores the energy.
3.0 APPARATUS

Power Supply, Ammeter, Voltmeter, Rheostat, Resistor, and Connecting Wires

4.0 PROCEDURE

1. The formula , the quantities to be measured and the arrangement of circuit in order to
achieve the objective of this experiment is disscussed.

2. A circuit was arranged as shown in Figure 1. Note that the voltmeter reads the voltage
across R, and the ammeter reads the current through R. If change the rheostat setting,
the total resistance will change, and with a relatively fixed voltage (supplied by the
battery), the current will change. The change in the current I through R causes the
voltage across R to change; however, it will be observe that the V/I ratio remains
constant.

FIGURE 1

3. The rheostat slider was moved to eight different positions, and at each position, the
voltage across and current through R from the meters was measured and their values
was recorded in the following table.

4. The relevant measurements is made and recorded it in the suitable Table.

5. The relevant graph is plotted. After that the resistance and its uncertainty is calculated
 from this graph.

6. The value of the resistance determined from the graph is compared to the value
determined by direct measurement using an ohm metre.
5.0 RESULT

Power supply: 5 V

Resistor: 2 Ω

I)

Location Voltmeter (y-intercept) Ammeter (x- intercept)

1 0.2 0.1
2 0.4 0.2
3 0.6 0.3
4 0.8 0.4
5 1.0 0.5
6 1.2 0.6
7 1.4 0.7
8 1.6 0.8
Table 1: Values of voltage and current for different positions of the rheostat

Mean of ammeter (centroid of x- intercept)

= 0.45

Mean of voltmeter (centroid of y- intercept)

= 0.9
Centroid (x,y): (0.45,0.9)

II)

Ammeter (x- R = V/I

Location Voltmeter (y-intercept)
intercept) (Ω)
1 0.2 0.1 2.0
2 0.4 0.2 2.0
3 0.6 0.3 2.0
4 0.8 0.4 2.0
5 1.0 0.5 2.0
6 1.2 0.6 2.0
7 1.4 0.7 2.0
8 1.6 0.8 2.0
Table 2: Values of voltage, current, and resistance for different positions of the

rheostat
 For this experiment, we construct a series circuit by utilising the resistors with the
same resistance value. As more charges carrying electrical energy passes through the
conductor per unit time, more electrical energy is dissipated. Hence, the potential difference,
V across the conductor increases with the current, I that flows through it. The graph of V
against I is a straight line graph that passes through the origin showing that the potential
difference, V is directly proportional to the current, I. The gradient or the ratio of is

constant as current increases. Lastly the difference value percentage is 0 % this is can be
proven with the calculation and based of the plotted graphy where it resulting to a linear line
for the plotted point.
6.0 ANALYSIS

THE GRAPH [ Voltmeter(v) vs ammeter (I) ]

 For the second activity, we construct a parallel circuit by utilising the same resistors
with the same resistance value. However, we add two extra ammeters alongside each resistor
since the current in each path of the parallel circuit is not the same. The results that we
obtained are the sum up of the three ammeters. Then, just like with the series circuit, we
repeated the experiment twice more to obtain the average current. For this parallel circuit, the
same graph of voltage vs current was plotted and the gradient that we got was 0.92. It is the
same as our theoretical value of Req for parallel circuit
7.0 CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, this experiment helps us to achieve the objective stated which is to

determine the resistance to the given resistor by using the Ohm’s Law. From this physic’s
law, we learnt that the resistance is directly proportional to the potential difference, V and
inversely proportional to current, I. This statement proved a graph V vs I plotted that result a
straight-line pass through the origin which if the voltage is increase then the current also
increase. This showed by a formula which is V = IR. Lastly, there is no value to the
difference of percentage which is 0% and proved through the graph.
8.0 PRE-LAB QUESTIONS

1. What is the definition of electrical resistance?

Electrical resistance–is a force that counteracts the flow of current. In this way, it
serves as an indicator of how difficult it is for current to flow. Resistance values are
expressed in ohms (ω).

2. What is the physical quantity supplied by a battery or power supply?

The unit of potential difference, or voltage, is the volt (V). One volt is equal to one
joule of potential energy difference per coulomb of electric charge.

3. Is the current derived from a battery always constant?

A battery produces direct current; the battery voltage (or emf) is constant, which
generally results in a constant current flowing one way around a circuit. If the circuit
has capacitors, which store charge, the current may not be constant, but it will still
flow in one direction

4. How fast does an electric current flow in a circuit?

Usually, it will be around 90 per cent of the speed of light – about 270,000 km/s.

5. What is meant by an ohmic conductor? State two examples of ohmic conductors.

An ohmic conductor is defined as a two-terminal device in which the voltage or

current characteristics have a straight line passing through the origin. Silver, copper
wire, metals are examples of ohmic conductors.

6. Draw a circuit diagram with all the necessary components that will enable you to
perform an experiment to determine the resistance of a given resistor.
 An electric shock requires difference in electric potential between one part of your
body and another part. The electric current passing through the human body is usually
determined by the skin resistance, which ranges from about 1000 ohms for wet skin to about
500,000 ohms for dry skin. The internal resistance of the body is small, being between 100
and 500 ohms. (Singapore Science Centre)

7. Find the current that flows through your body when you simultaneously touch the
positive and negative terminal of a 1.5 V battery while your skin is

(i) wet

_____________

(ii) dry.

______________

8. What is the electrical voltage that can be fatal if applied to our dry body?

Shocks above 2,700 volts are often fatal, with those above 11,000 volts being usually
fatal, though exceptional cases have been noted
9.0 POST-LAB QUESTIONS

1. Does the resistor obey Ohm’s law? State your reason.

Yes, the resistor is obeyed to the Ohm’s Law because the resistance is directly
proportional with the potential difference, V.

2. Describe the energy transformation that took place in the circuit once all the
connections are complete, and the current is flowing in the circuit.

In the electric circuit, there is a chemical energy in the battery changed to the
electrical potential energy on the two sides of the battery. After that, the electrical
energy change to the heat energy after all the connection is completed.

3. Calculate the voltage that is needed across a 1000- Ω resistor so that the current
reaches a fatal level? Refer Table 1.

V = IR

V = 0.45 A × 1000Ω

V = 450 V

4. What is the common effect on resistance when the temperature of a resistor is

increased?

The common effect on resistance when the temperature of a resistor is increased is the
resistance also increase with increasing temperature. Besides the current also increase
due to the increasing of temperature.

5. Why does the value of R in an electric circuit change when the circuit is left on for a
long time?

The value of R in an electric circuit change when the circuit is left on for a long time
because the resistor is increase so the resistance also increases.
 6. Why does an ammeter have a low resistance while a voltmeter has high resistance?

An ammeter has a low resistance because it used to measure the strength of current in
a electric circuit which always in series circuit that it did not have to change the
current by the introduction while voltmeter has a high resistance because voltmeter
always connected in the parallel circuit with load so the current cannot pass through
the circuit.

10.0 REFERENCES
• Mitchell, B., Ekey, R., McCullough, R., & Reitz, W. (2018). A fan-tastic quantitative
exploration of Ohm’s Law. The Physics Teacher, 56(2), 75–78.
https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5021431
• Peng, J. J., & Müller-Wittig, W. (2010). Understanding ohm's law. ACM SIGGRAPH
ASIA 2010 Sketches on - SA '10. https://doi.org/10.1145/1899950.1899960
• Heering, P., Keck, J., & Rohlfs, G. A. (2020). Laboratory notes, laboratory
experiences, and conceptual analysis: Understanding the making of Ohm's first law in
electricity. Berichte Zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, 43(1), 7–27.
https://doi.org/10.1002/bewi.201900019