PART B: measure voltage and current in circuit

Objectives
1) Use the analog multimeter to measure the resistance, voltage and current.
2) To determine the right way to connect the multimeter in the circuit.
3) To determine the effect of tolerance level to the current flow and voltage in the
circuit.
4) To determine the minimum voltage for the LED to light up.

List of components
1) LED
2) Multimeter
3) 200 ohm Resistor
4) Connecting wires

Results
Stimulated circuit
Voltage supplied (V) Current reading (A) Voltage drop at Voltage drop at DC
resistor (V) load
1.0 0 0 1.00
1.5 0 1.77 x 10^-3 1.60
2.0 0.906 0.181 1.82
2.5 3.52 0.703 1.90
3.0 5.35 1.070 1.93
3.5 8.18 1.638 1.96
4.0 10.10 2.008 1.99
4.5 12.90 2.588 2.01
5.0 14.78 2.965 2.03

Actual Circuit

Voltage supplied (V) Current reading (mA) Voltage drop at Voltage drop at DC
resistor (V) load
1.0 0 0 1.101
1.5 0 16.60 x 10^-3 1.685
2.0 0.887 0.259 1.805
2.5 3.040 0.780 1.872
3.0 5.087 1.157 1.903
3.5 8.070 1.677 1.943
4.0 9.780 2.081 1.967
4.5 11.870 2.617 1.990
5.0 14.207 2.960 2.006
 Graph of diode foward voltage vs current for stimulated circuit
80.000
70.000
Diode Foward Voltage

60.000
50.000
40.000
30.000
20.000
10.000
0.000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Current

Figure 1: Graph of voltage drop at DC load vs current for stimulated circuit

Graph of voltage drop at DC load vs current for the actual circuit

0.070

0.060

0.050

0.040

0.030

0.020

0.010

0.000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Figure 2: Graph of voltage drop at DC load vs current for actual circuit

Discussion
Based on the results obtained in the table above, the result obtained from the actual
circuit slightly differs from stimulated circuit such that the value for the stimulated circuit is
slightly higher than the exact circuit. This happens because in the actual circuit, there’s a
tolerance level. It has a tolerance level of 5%. This states that the resistance value can exceed
or deceed the actual resistance of the resistor by 5%.. In the other hand, the resistor in the
stimulated circuit is an ideal resistor where there’s no tolerance level present in it. Based on
the graph in figure 1 and figure 2, the diode operate in a forward-bias.2 Besides that, we can
also see that the LED will only be activated when the voltage supply exceed 1.5V. The
minimum voltage o activate the LED will be 1.5V.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the result obtained from the actual circuit slightly differs from the
stimulated circuit. This happen because the resistor used in this lab has a tolerance level of
5%, while the resistor used in the stimulation software is an ideal resistor. Besides that, the
ammeter must be connected in series, while the voltmeter must be connected in parallel with
the load.