Ohm’s Law: Series and Parallel Resistors (or Bulbs)

Objectives
This lab introduces the concept of equivalent resistance and how voltage V, current I, and
resistance R interact in series and parallel circuits.
 Build foundational knowledge regarding Ohm's law.
 Establish a fundamental understanding of how resistance values combine when resistors are
configured in series and parallel circuit configurations.

Materials and Equipment

For each student or group:

 Digital Multimeter  Bulbs (3) or resistors
 Capstone and 850 interface  Wire lead (7)
 Voltage-Current sensor

Background
Ohm's law tells us that the voltage drop across an electrical resistor is equal to the current
multiplied by the resistance. If the voltage is held constant, and you double the resistance, then
the current will be half its original value. Likewise, cutting the resistance in half will double the
current.
Ohm's law applies to entire circuits or to smaller parts of a circuit, so we can isolate various
components of a circuit, measure the voltage and current, and find the effective resistance of the
object. Doing this for an unknown group of resistors can quickly yield their total resistance (or
"equivalent resistance"). Varying voltage for a fixed set of resistors (whether they are in series or
parallel) will lead to different currents, so accurate measurement of voltage and current will
provide data that quickly determines this equivalent resistance. Equivalent resistances can be
calculated for resistors in series by simply adding their resistances:
Req  R1  R2  R3  ... (1)

The equivalent resistance of resistors in parallel can be calculated using this equation:

1 1 1 1
    ... (2)
Req R1 R2 R3
Voltage sensors, voltmeters, current sensors, and ammeters must be used properly or they can
affect the circuit's behavior. Voltmeters and voltage sensors have a very high internal resistance,
and should be hooked up in parallel with the device they measure. Ammeters and current
sensors must be put in series with the circuit they measure, and are assumed to have very little
internal resistance so as to not affect the circuit's current. Power supplies and batteries also have
some internal resistance, but we assume this is very small compared to other resistors in the
circuit. This explains why power supply settings usually drop slightly when the switch is closed.

Relevant Equations
V  IR

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Ohm’s Law: Series and Parallel Resistors (or Bulbs)

Req  R1  R2  R3  ...

1 1 1 1
    ...
Req R1 R2 R3

Safety
Add these important safety precautions to your normal laboratory procedures:

 Be sure the circuits are properly constructed. Follow your teacher’s instructions on how to
avoid short circuits and overloading.

Procedure
After you complete a step (or answer a question), place a check mark in the box () next to that step.

Part 1 – Resistors in series

Set Up

1.  Use 5 wire leads to onstruct a series circuit with a power supply and three resistors as
shown in figure 1.

R1 R2 R3
SW1 A

DC Voltage source
+ –

Figure 1: Series circuit

2.  Connect the Voltage-Current sensor voltage leads in parallel across the bank of resistors
in your circuit to measure voltage. Connect Voltage-Current sensor current leads in
series to measure current.

3.  In Capstone, open the Signal Generator dialog and set the following options:

 Waveform to DC

 DC Voltage to 10V

 Voltage Limit to 15V

 Current Limit to 1.5A

4.  In Capstone, create a page with two Digits meters. Set one Digits meter to measure
Voltage (V) and in its Properties submenu increase the Fixed Decimals to 5 (submenus
are available by right clicking on the meter). Set the other Digits meter to measure
Current and increase its Fixed Decimals to 7.

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Collect Data

5.  At the lower left of the Capstone main screen, change Continuous Mode to Fast Monitor
Mode. Click the Monitor button to start making measurements.

6.  Turn the Signal Generator to ON. Record values of voltage and current in Table 1 in the
Data Analysis section.

7.  Turn the Signal Generator to OFF. Disconnect the wire leads from the 850 Interface.

8.  Using the hand-held digital multimeter, measure the total equivalent resistance of the
three resistors in series and record in Table 1. Do this by putting the multimeter in place
of the power supply, and setting it to measure Ohms .

Part 2 – Resistors in parallel

Set Up

9.  Change the circuit set up so that the resistors are in parallel, not series. Be sure the
Voltage-Current sensor is still connected in series with all three of the resistors to
measure total current, not just one.

R2

R2

R1
SW1 A
DC Voltage source

+ –

Figure 2: Parallel circuit

10.  Connect the Voltage-Current in parallel across the bank of resistors to measure voltage.

Collect Data

11.  Turn the Signal Generator to ON and record values of voltage and current in Table 1 in
the Data Analysis section.

12.  Turn the Signal Generator to OFF. Disconnect the wire leads from the 850 Interface and
then measure the resistance of the circuit with the multimeter. Record value in Table 1.

13.  Disconnect the resistors from the power supply. Using a handheld digital multimeter,
measure the total equivalent resistance of the three resistors in parallel and record in
Table 1.

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Ohm’s Law: Series and Parallel Resistors (or Bulbs)

Data Analysis
Table 1

Circuit Current Voltage Measured Calculated % Difference

Experimental Theoretical
Resistance Resistance
(open circuit)

Series

Parallel

1.  Calculate the equivalent resistance using Ohm’s Law for each circuit and record in Table
1.

Analysis Questions

1. Are your calculated theoretical values close to the experimental values from the
measurements? Find the percent difference for each circuit.

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 Physics 112

2. What would happen to the current if you added more resistors to the series circuit
(assume the voltage is kept constant)?

Increases ______ Decreases ______ Stays the same______

Explain your answer.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Would your answer to #2 be any different if you added additional resistors to the
parallel circuit? Explain why or why not.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What happens in the series circuit if one of the bulbs is unscrewed?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What happens in the parallel circuit if one of the bulbs is unscrewed?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Synthesis Questions
Use available resources to help you answer the following questions.

1. What can you conclude about the mathematical relationship between current and
voltage for constant resistance?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What can you conclude about the relationship between current and resistance?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Suppose you had a parallel circuit with several identical light bulbs of equal
resistance. If one bulb goes bad (or is disconnected), what happens to the brightness
of the other bulbs?

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Ohm’s Law: Series and Parallel Resistors (or Bulbs)

Multiple Choice Questions

Select the best answer or completion to each of the questions or incomplete statements below.

1. The voltage across a 580  resistor is 120 V. How much current is going through
the resistor?
A. There isn't enough information to answer this question.
B. 696 mA
C. 207 mA
D. 460 mA

2. The current through a 100  resistor is 0.150 A. What voltage is being applied?

A. There isn't enough information to answer this question.

B. 15 V
C. 1.5 V
D. 666 V

3. A circuit with a 3 V battery pack and a resistor has a current of 0.06 A. What is the
value of the resistor?
A. There isn't enough information to answer this question.
B. 18 
C. 2 
D. 50 

4. What is the total voltage in the circuit below?

8Ω

A I = 0.8 A

2Ω 10 Ω

A. 1.6 V
B. 16.0 V
C. 8.8 V
D. 10.0 V E. 5.0 V

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5. Consider the circuit from the previous question. If an additional 10 Ω resistor was
placed in series with the first 10 Ω resistor, and the power supply voltage was set to 3
V, what would the new current throughout the circuit be?
A. 5.0 A
B. 0.15 A
C. 0.1 A
D. 0.01 A
E. 0.05 A

6. In the circuit below, what is the electrical resistance between point A and point B?

A. 2.5 Ω 2Ω 6Ω

B. 8 Ω
A B

C. 4 Ω
4Ω
D. 12 Ω
E. 2.7 Ω

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Ohm’s Law: Series and Parallel Resistors (or Bulbs)

Key Term Challenge

Fill in the blanks from the list of randomly ordered words in the Key Term Challenge Word Bank.

1. As the voltage across a resistor increases or decreases, ____________ increases or decreases

respectively, thus they are said to be ____________ proportional. When resistance increases,
current decreases and visa versa, thus they are said to be ____________ proportional. This
relationship is called ____________ law.

2. The formula for Ohm's law is written as: ____________. The plot of voltage versus current for
a resistor with constant resistance is a ____________ line with a slope about the same value as
the ____________.

Key Term Challenge Word Bank

Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2
Current I = V/R
Conductivity Resistor
Directly Straight
Inversely
Ohm's
Resistance
Voltage

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