PHYSICS LAB MANUAL – ACTIVITIES

LIST OF ACTIVITIESS

1. ASSEMBLING OF HOUSEHOLD CIRCUIT

2. ASSEMBLING OF COMPONENTS CIRCUIT

3. ARRANGING THE GIVEN OPEN CIRCUIT IN PROPER ORDER.

4. IDENTIFICATION OF RESISTOR, LED AND CAPACITOR.

5. DIFFRACTION OF LIGHT THROUGH SINGLE SLIT

6. FOCAL LENGTH OF LENS COMBINATION

To be written on Right hand side To be written on Left hand side

AIM DIAGRAM

APPARATUS REQUIRED TABULAR COLUMN

PRINCIPLE CALCULATIONS
PROCEDURE

RESULT

PRECAUTIONS

SOURCES OF ERROS

INSTRUCTIONS

 NO COLOURS / SKETCHES / WHITENER TO BE USED

 USE ONLY PENCIL IN LEFT HAND SIDE
ACTIVITY: 1
ASSEMBLING OF HOUSEHOLD CIRCUIT
DATE:

AIM

To assemble a household circuit comprising three bulbs, three (on/off) switches,

a fuse and a power source.

APPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

Three bulbs (40 W, 220 V each), three (on/off) switches, socket, a fuse of 1.0 A, plug,
flexible connecting wire, main switch.

THEORY

PROCEDURE
RESULT

Household circuit assembly is complete and installed with safety.

PRECAUTIONS

1. Care should be taken while working with mains.

2. Carefully determine the rating of the fuse by calculating the maximum current
drawn by the circuit.

3. Never use fuse of much higher rating than the recommended value.

SOURCES OF ERROR

1. Connections may not be correct

2. The switches may not be working properly

properly.

DIAGRAM
ACTIVITY: 2
ASSEMBLING OF COMPONENTS CIRCUIT
DATE:

AIM

To assemble the components of a given electrical circuit.

APPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

Resistor, ammeter, (0-1.5A) voltmeter (0-5V ), battery, one way key, rheostat, sand
paper, connecting wires.

PROCEDURE

RESULT

The components of the electrical circuit were assembled.

UTILITY

It is used for measuring an unknown resistance

PRECAUTIONS

1. The positive terminal of the battery should be connected to the positive terminal of
ammeter and positive terminal of the voltmeter.

2. The ammeter should be connected in series with the resistor and the voltmeter
should be connected in parallel with the resistor.

3. Sand paper should be used to clean the ends of connecting wires and leads of the
component terminals.
SOURCES OF ERROR

1. Connections may not be correct

2. The switches may not be working properly.

3. Voltmeter may be connected in series.

DIAGRAM
ACTIVITY: 3
ARRANGING THE GIVEN OPEN CIRCUIT IN PROPER
DATE:
ORDER

AIM

To draw the diagram of given open circuit comprising at least a battery,

resistor/rheostat, key, ammeter and voltmeter. Mark the components that are not
connected in proper order and correct the circuit and also the circuit diagram.

APPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

A given open circuit comprising atleast a cell or a battery, plug key, resistor, rheostat,
ammeter, voltmeter, connecting wires and sand paper

PRINCIPLE

An electrical circuit is functional only if all the components of the circuit are
connected in proper order, assuming that all circuit components/devices are in working
condition and key is closed. An open circuit means a break in some part of a circuit
which could be deliberate such as a key in open position or a fault such as broken wire
or burnt out component(s) or loose connection.

PROCEDURE
RESULT

The electrical circuit assembled as per the corrected circuit diagram is functional.

PRECAUTIONS

SOURCES OF ERROR

1. Connections may not be correct

2. The switches may not be working properly.

3. Voltmeter may be connected in series.

CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

INCORRECT CIRCUITS
CORRECTED CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
ACTIVITY: 4
IDENTIFICATION OF RESISTOR, LED AND CAPACITOR
DATE:

AIM

To identify a diode, a LED, a transistor, an IC, a resistor and a capacitor from a

mixed collection of such items.

APPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

Multimeter, a collection of diode, LED, transistor, IC, resistor and capacitor.

THEORY

A diode is a two terminal device. It conducts when forward biased and does not
conduct when reverse biased. It does not emit light while conducting.

A LED (light emitting diode) is also a two terminal device. It conducts when forward
biased and does not conduct when reverse biased. It emits light while conducting.

A transistor is a three terminal device. The terminals represent emitter (E), base (B)
and collector (C).

An IC (integrated circuit) is a multi-terminal device in the form of a chip. But some

may have only three terminals, e.g. 7805, 7806, 7809, 7912.

A resistor is a two terminal device. It conducts equally in both directions.

A capacitor is a two terminal device. It does not conduct but stores some charge when
dc voltage is applied.

PROCEDURE

1. Check the physical appearance of the component.

(a) If it has four or more terminals and has the appearance of a chip (black rectangular
block), then it is an IC.
(b) If it has three terminals, the component may be a transistor. To confirm, set-up the
multimeter in resistance mode (highest range). Connect its black or common terminal
to one of the extreme legs of the component and the second terminal (red or positive)
to the central leg. Check the multimeter deflection. If a deflection is observed,
interchange the multimeter terminals. If no deflection is observed, the component is a
transistor. Repeat this test by connecting the multimeter terminals to the central leg
and the other extreme leg. If a similar behaviour is observed, the component is a
transistor.

(2) If the component has two terminals, it could be a resistor, a capacitor, a diode or a
LED.

(a) Look for colour bands, if it has a typical set of three colour bands followed by a
silver or gold band, the component is a resistor.

(b) Connect the multimeter terminals (in resistance modehighest range) to the
component terminals and watch for multimeter deflection. Also repeat by reversing the
component terminals.

(c) If the multimeter shows an equal deflection in both the directions, the component is
a resistor.

(d) If the deflection is accompanied with emission of light, in one direction and a much
less or zero deflection in the other direction the component is a LED.

(e) If the multimeter does not show any deflection in one direction and shows
deflection with no light emission in the other direction then, the component is a diode.

(f) If the multimeter does not show any deflection on connecting its terminals either
way to the component, it is a capacitor. But if capacitance of capacitor is large,
multimeter may show a momentary deflection.

RESULT

A diode, a LED, a transistor, an IC, a resistor and a capacitor are identified

respectively from a mixed collection.
PRECAUTIONS

1. While obtaining resistance of any component, clean its leads properly.

2. Multimeter may not be working properly

SOURCES OF ERROR

1. When the metal ends of a multimeter leads are touched, the multimeter should show
zero resistance. If it does not show it, bring the pointer to zero using ‘Zero Adj knob’
on the multimeter. If it is not done, the resistance measurements are not reliable.

2. While checking resistance of a component, avoid touching either of the metal ends
of the multimeter leads. Body resistance in parallel with component resistance can
affect the resistance measurement..

DIAGRAM
ACTIVITY: 5
DIFFRACTION OF LIGHT THROUGH SINGLE SLIT
DATE:

AIM

To observe diffraction of light due to a thin slit.

APPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

Two razor blades, one adhesive tape/cello-tape, source of light (electric bulb/ laser
pencil), a piece of black paper, two glass plats.

PRINCIPLE

When a beam of light passes through a fine opening (aperture) or around a sharp
obstacle, it bends around corners of the obstacle/aperture. The light beam spreads and
penetrates into the geometrical shadow of the obstacle. This phenomenon of bending
of light around fine openings/obstacles is called diffraction and is one of the evidences
in favour of wave nature of light.

It arises because of the interference of light waves from different points of the same
wave front. Two razor blades with their sharp edges held parallel, quite close to each
other (separation being of the order of wavelength of light λ) form a fine single slit The
diffraction pattern due to a single slit consists of a central bright band, surrounded on
both sides by coloured bands (with electric bulb) and alternate dark and bright bands
(with laser pencil) of decreasing intensity and fringe width.

PROCEDURE
1. Make a fine, single slit using razor blades. For this purpose, take a glass plate and
fix a black paper on top of it. Cut out a narrow slit in the central part of the black
paper. Place two razor blades, side by side, quite close to each other over this slit as
shown in Figure.

2. Place a glowing clear electric lamp preferably with a straight filament (or a laser
pencil) at sufficient distance (about 4 to 8m) behind the fine slit between the two sharp
edges of the razor blades. Observe the lamp through the slit.

3. Alternatively, place the slit about 0.5m from the wall and the source of light at a
distance of about 15-20 cm behind the slit. Observe the light falling on the wall.

4. Repeat the observations of steps 2 and 3 with a laser pencil. Note the changes you
observe.

5. A Diffraction pattern of alternate dark and bright bands is seen on the wall.
RESULT

PRECAUTIONS

SOURCES OF ERROR

1. Air gaps may be present between glass plates and black paper

2. The source may not be monochromatic.

DIAGRAM

Thin slit made by using two razor blades, black paper and glass plates
Variation of intensity
ACTIVITY: 6
FOCAL LENGTH OF LENS COMBINATION
DATE:

AIM

To obtain a lens combination with specified focal length by using two lenses
from a given set of lenses.

APPARATUS AND MATERIAL REQUIRED

A set of convex lenses of known powers, optical bench with uprights and screen, a
source of light providing a parallel beam of light (a collimator).

PRINCIPLE

A parallel beam of light parallel to principal axis after refraction through a lens either
focus at a point or appears to diverge from a point on the principal axis called the focus
point. The distance from the optical centre to the focal point is called the focal length.

Power of Lens

The ability of a lens to converge or diverge the rays passing through it is called the
power of the lens

=
( )

Its SI unit is Dioptre. Power of a convex lens is taken as positive.

Two or more lenses, placed in contact together to have a common principal axis, form
a lens combination.

If f1 , f2 , ... fn be the focal length of individual lens and F be the focal length of the
combination, then

= + + + …..

or P = P1 + P2 + ... + Pn
where P is the power of the lens combination and P1 , P2 , ... Pn are the powers of the
individual lenses.
PROCEDURE

RESULT

The above combinations may be tried and result verified

PRECAUTIONS

1. Thin lenses should be taken.

2. Lenses should have same aperature.

SOURCES OF ERROR

1. Lenses may not be thin

2. Lens apertures may not be seen.

DIAGRAM

Focal length of combination of lenses

Focussing parallel beam of light on combination of lenses

CALCULATIONS

Let F = 10 cm,

P= (D)