Unit 03: Ohm's Law

Prediction: We predicted that as the voltage goes up, the current should go up as well if the resistance is constant due to Ohm's law. We also believe that temperature affects the resistance of the filament. Unlike procedure 1, procedure 2 should produce a non-Ohmic looking graph as the temperature cycles through hot and cold phases. Data: Procedure 1 (10) Data Current (amp) Voltage (V) Resistance () -0.287 -2.976 10.38 0.287 2.952 10.29 10.34 Procedure 1 (100) Data Current (amp) Voltage (V) Resistance () -0.031 -2.945 95.00 0.029 2.945 101.6 98.28 Procedure 2 Data Current (amp) Voltage (V) Resistance () 0.155 0.817 5.27 -0.155 -0.815 5.48 0.204 0.490 2.40 -0.217 -0.556 2.56 5.38 2.48

Average Resistance()

Average Resistance()

Average Hot Temperature Resistance() Average Cold Temperature Resistance()

Resistance was calculated by the formula Voltage(V)/Current(amp) = Resistance() The average resistance was calculated by the formula; (resistance1 + resistance2)/2 Resistance (10) = 10.34 Resistance (100) = 98.28

Analysis: Question 1: How does the ratio of voltage and current from the Scope display compare to the resistance of the resistors? By using the ratio of voltage to current, one can calculate resistance. In the scope display we selected 2 points from the 10 experiment, 2 points from the 100 experiment, and 4 points from the procedure 2 experiment. The experimental resistance of the 10 experiment was an average of 10.34. The experimental resistance of the 100 experiment was an average of 98.28. This is very similar from what we would expect from the 10 and 100 resistors. Question 2: Does each resistor appear to have a constant resistance? Each resistor does appear to have a constant resistance. There are small variations in experimental data from the graph. However, the instructor told us that the measuring instruments give slightly off data. We call this difference experimental error. The experimental error from the 10 resistor was 3.4% and 1.58% in the 100 resistor. This was calculated by the formula; (theoretical resistance-experimental resistance)/theoretical resistance x 100%. The graphs of procedure 1 show a straight line indicating a constant resistance. This means the resistor is Ohmic. Question 3: Does the light bulb filament appear to have a constant resistance (constant ratio as the voltage to current)? Why or why not? No, it actually does not appear to have a constant resistance. On the graph, the voltage/current ratio fluctuates from an average of 5.38 to 2.48. That is a 54% drop in resistance. The graph is curved which means resistance changes throughout the experiment. This is because the resistance of the filament depends on the temperature. At high AC frequencies the temperature usually remains high which means resistance is relatively constant. However, in our experiment we used low AC frequency which gave the system time to cool. As the system cycled through the hot and cold phases, the resistance changed accordingly as can be seen in the procedure 2 graph. Question 4: For a circuit with a constant resistance, what happens as the voltage increases? If we look at Ohm's law, I=V/R. This means as you increase the voltage, current will directly increase if resistance is constant. Voltage is directly proportional to the current. Question 5: For a circuit with a constant resistance, what kind of relationship (e.g., inverse, linear) does the current have to the voltage? Because I=V/R, the current is directly proportional to the voltage if the resistance is constant. We can expect a positive linear graph.

Graphs: Procedure 1 (10) Graph

Procedure 1 (100) Graph

Procedure 2 Graph