Bernard Ndegwa

Friday

June 5, 2009

Lab 2: Ohms Law

Objective

The objective of this lab is to investigate the relationship between the three variables involved in
Ohm's Law - Current, Voltage and Resistance. We shall also gain hands on skills in building
electrical circuits.

Theory and calculations.

In this lab, we will construct a simple circuit using a single known resistance, R. Then we will
use an ammeter to measure the current, I, through the resistance and a voltmeter to measure
the potential difference, V, across the resistance. With this data, we can check the validity of
Ohm's Law (V = IR) in the circuit.

Equations
Resistance = Voltage/Current
R = V/I
Voltage = Current * Resistance
V=I*R
Current = Voltage/Resistance
I = V/R

Results.

Variation of current with voltage. Table shows the results.

Reading Voltage(v) Current(i) Voltage(v) Current(i)

1 3.0 0.138 2.25 0.1

2 2.5 0.118 1.82 0.08

3 2.0 0.099 1.45 0.06

4 1.5 0.065 1.03 0.04

5 1.0 0.038 0.64 0.02

Slope of graph 1 = 21.522 ohms.

Slope of graph 2 = 23.255 ohms.

Thus we can calculate the percent error which is:

[(21.522-22.000)/22.00]*100=-2.172 %

[(23.255-22.000)/22*100]=5.7%

Unknown resistance.

Reading Voltage Current

1 2.37 0.7
2 2.03 0.6
3 1.73 0.5
4 1.07 0.4
5 1.05 0.3
6 0.75 0.2
7 0.39 0.1

Computed current
3.38
3.38
3.46
3.43
3.50
3.70
3.90
The graph shows that the average resistance for the unknown resistor was 3.279 ohms
while the calculated resistance ranged from 3.90 to 3.38 ohms.

Error Analysis.

Sources of error for this experiment include resistance of the wire, internal resistance of
the battery and current consumption of the meters. However the error percent was less
than 5% thus the experiment was pretty accurate. The data demonstrates how
important ohms law is to understanding the relationship between current, resistance and
voltage.

Conclusion.

The relationship between current, voltage and resistance in a metallic conductor is

given by ohms law. It states that if the temperature and other physical conditions of a
metallic conductor are unchanged the ratio of the potential difference across the
conductor (v) to the current (i) is a constant. This constant ratio (R) is the resistance of
the conductor.

R= V/I