Physics 163 Experiment 6

Electric Potential
Name: Section:

Task 1: Review
Electric current (units: amps). This is the flow rate of electric charge in a circuit element. This
quantity represents the stuff that is actually moving through the circuit elements.

Electric potential, also known as voltage (units: volts). This is a quantity that represents, in a
sense, the electrical “height” in a circuit. The difference in this height—the potential difference
from one side of a resistor to another—is related to the energy that may be gained by the charge
by crossing the resistor. It is as though the charge is on an electrical slope, and positive charges
(and the current) always flows to lower potential. This means that the current enters the resistor
at the high side and exits on the low side. Batteries, on the other hand, lift charges from the low
side up to the high side, an operation that supplies the energy to the circuit.

The difference in electrical potential is what urges current to flow. How much current actually
packs up and moves is related to the resistance of the material through which the charges move.
If the resistance is large, then there will be a small amount of flow—for a given difference in
potential across the “resistor.”

NOTE: Voltage does NOT flow. Electric charges flow, and it is these charges that make up the
current, in amps. The “voltage” across the resistor represents the change in electric potential
from one side to the other. In a sense, voltage is part of the electrical landscape through which
the charges actually move.

Rules of Circuits (so far):

1) Resistors in series receive exactly the same
current.
2) The total potential difference across resistors
crossed sequentially is always the sum of the
differences across the individual resistors.
3) Circuit elements in parallel always have the
same difference in electrical potential across them.
4) When current enters a junction, the total flow out
of the junction always equals the total flow into the
junction.

Remote labs 6-1

V = I1R1 = I2R2 = I3R3

1. We will look at the circuit from the end of last week (circuit A, below). First, continue your
calculation from last week (when you found I1 and V1) to predict values for all the voltages and
currents. Show your work.
Itotal
Solution:
> I1 Total Resistance=Rt= [(470) x (220)/(470+220)]+100
v Rt= 249.85 Ω
Itotal=3/249.8=0.012A
I2 I3 I1=Itotal=0.012A
< > Voltage Drop Across,R1: V1=I1x100=0.012X100= 1.2V

Voltage Across R2 and R3=3-V1=3-1.2=1.799V

I2=V2/220= 0.0081A

I3=0.0038A
Circuit A

Predicted (calculated) values:

I1 = 0.0128 A V1= 1.2 V

I2 = 0.0081 A V2= 1.8 V

I3 = 0.0038 A V3 = 1.8 V
Itotal 0.012 A

Remote labs 6-2

2. Now let’s test this with an actual circuit and make sure the rules from page 1 are obeyed. Find
the 100W, 220W, and 470W resistors. Construct Circuit A and measure the currents through each
resistor and determine the potential difference across each resistor.

Measured values:
I1= 12mA = 0.012A V1= 1.2 V

I2= 8mA = 0.0081A V2= 1.79 V

I3= 3.9 mA= 0.0039A V3= 1.79V

3. Locate the junctions in Circuit A and check Rule 4: ____________OK?

Verified

4. Check Rule 3: __________OK?

Verified
5. In what way are Rules 1 and 4 related for Circuit A?
Rule 1 says that current will be same in R1 and R23 (R2 in parallel with R3). And according to
Rule 4,Current entering is equal in R1 equals to summation of current driving through R2 and R3
i.e to say: I1=I2+I3
0.012A=0.081A+0.038A (Hence Verified)
This is according to Kirchoff's Current Law.

6. Exactly how does Rule 2 apply to this circuit?

Voltage Across Resistors=Vt=3.0V

Voltage Across R1= V1=1.2 V
Voltage Across R2=V2=1.8V
Voltage Across R3=V3=1.8V
As, R2 and R3 are parallel, so V2=V3
Hence, Vt=V1+V2
3V=1.2V+1.8V (Hence Verified)

Remote labs 6-3

Task 2: The Electric Potential
If we think of taking a hike in the mountains, we know from experience that when traversing a
round trip loop, the total amount of elevation rise must equal the total amount of elevation
drop—or you end up at a different height than you started, possibly floating in the air unable to
get to your car. Electric potential is like “electrical elevation”. To be exact, the electric potential
is related to the electric potential energy of the flowing electric charges. This means that a
difference in electric potential from one side of a resistor to another—what we've been calling a
potential difference—represents the ability of an electric charge to fall from high potential
energy to low potential energy—falling “electrically downhill”. Our positive current always
flows from high potential to low through a resistor while batteries lift positive charges from low
to high potential, where they are endowed once more with potential energy.

(Remember that the relationship for negative charges is opposite—negative particles flow uphill!
Potential energy still decreases in that case, even though potential is increasing. Highlighting that
despite the confusingly similar names, electric potential is not the same thing as electric potential
energy. They are related by a factor of the particle’s charge.)

7. To get started on the “height” concept we start with the definition of “rise” and “drop”. Last
week we really didn’t care about the sign of the potential difference, but now we do. Make sure
your voltmeter has a red lead going to the + side of the battery and a black lead going to the -
side of the battery. Set up circuit B (below), using a single battery.

i) Identify the direction (using

the positive current rule) that
current flows through the
resistor. Mark this on the figure.
ii) Measure the potential
difference across the resistor
with the black lead located
where the current enters and the
red where the current exits.
Circuit B
1.5V
V = _______
iii) Repeat the measurement ii)
but with the leads switched.
-1.5V
V = _______

8. Measure the potential difference across the battery by placing the black lead where the current
enters the battery and red lead where it exits.
1.5V
V = ________
-1.5V
9. Repeat 8 with the leads reversed. V = ________

Remote labs 6-4

10. Does the electric current always go from higher to lower electric potential? Explain. (To
avoid a complicated analysis, don’t worry about what happens inside batteries or power
supplies.) Charge Flow depends on its nature. Positive Current always flows from higher potential to
lower potential, while negative charge does exactly opposite.

11. Verify that there is no significant difference in electric potential from one side of the
connecting wires to the other. The voltage drop across a wire should be very small, if its
resistance is too. What do you measure?
Voltage Drop depends on the length of wire. As wire is too small in our case, so DMM reads exactly same value.

Here is a picture you might find useful for summarizing these results:

Both the resistor and the battery have a difference in electric potential of approximately 1.5 volts
from one side to the other, and the connecting wires have no difference from one side to the
other. We can thus represent the wires by level lines (at constant height), the resistor by a
stairway "down", and the battery by, well, a jump back up.

12. Now set up circuit C (next page), this time using 2 batteries in series. Place the black
voltmeter lead at the part of the circuit marked “a”. In fact you can do this by plugging this lead
to the negative side of the battery. Let this point be our "reference height", or "ground floor", or
just "ground". We will measure how high (or low) other places are in the circuit compared to this
position. The readings we find will DEFINE the values of the electrical potential around the
circuit. Thus the potential of the ground is zero by definition. Use the red voltmeter lead to touch
the points b, c, d, e, and f, and record what the meter reads for these values.

You will not plug the point labeled “ground” into anything else. Just by virtue of connecting one
end of the voltmeter probe there, it becomes the ground (which is just a reference point we set to
zero).

Because we’ve set one potential to zero, that means the DV values our voltmeters give us are also
the potential V at each point (DV = V2 – V1 = V2, if V1 = 0).

Remote labs 6-5

 0V
Here Va,Vf are grounded.
Vc=Vc-Va 3V
Vd=Vd-Va
Ve=Ve-Va 3V

2.164V

1.78V

0V

Thus the electrical potential at a point in a circuit tells us how high, in volts, that point is
above the place called “ground”.

13. Now we will explore what happens to electrical potential when our “ground” is at some
other point. We will take the EXACT SAME circuit and choose the point d as the ground.
Locate that point and attach the black voltmeter lead there. Then touch the probe to the other
locations around the circuit and record the values you observe.
-2.2 V

0.835V

0.835V

0V

- 0.379 V
-2.2V

Remote labs 6-6

14. It’s interesting to note that you have now found totally different electrical heights in these
two cases… despite these two circuits appearing to be the same. Let’s think about how we can
make sense of different potential measurements given two identical circuits.

We said that the potential difference (in volts) across a resistor causes flow (in amps) through it,
and the amount of flow depended on the value of the resistance (in ohms). Hence the flow will be
the same IF the potential difference is the same. Take a look at the 220W resistor. Find the
difference in potential from one side of it to the other in each case to find whether the assignment
of ground actually made any difference:

Vc-Vd =Vc-Vd
Ground at a: DV220 = 3-2.164 Ground at d: DV220 = 0.835-0
=0.86V =0.835V
Ask for help if these are NOT the same. The electrical potential of a point in a circuit is merely
the difference it is from the ground (reference) point. It is a number that acts like a labeling
decal. We can "peel them off and reassign them" by shifting the ground point on our own whim.
The potential differences are actually characteristics of the circuit elements and configuration,
and these only change when we reconfigure the circuit or change the number of batteries.

Note: When you see “V = IR”, you should know that it really means “DV= IR” because it’s the
potential difference across a resistor that determines the flow through it.

The diagrams to the right show

what is happening when we
reassign the position of the
ground. The relative heights in
the circuits are all determined
by the battery voltage and the
values of the resistors.
Assignment of the ground is
merely a convenience. Negative
values of potential merely
reflect that such points are at a
lower electrical level than the
place called ground.

Remote labs 6-7

15. Use your data from Circuit A to assign potential values to each point shown for the two
different reference points shown on the figure below. Show any calculations you perform.

Circuit-A Circuit-A2

0V 1.196

3.0V 1.2V

3.0V 1.2V

1.80 V 0V

0V -1.7996V

0V -1.7996V

Task 3: Kirchhoff’s Voltage Rule

As an anticlimax, we will look at Kirchhoff's Voltage Rule, and see if it isn't already an obvious
consequence of what we have seen so far. Actually, we won't get into circuits complicated
enough to show why we would need this rule—the methods we have developed so far will work
just as well—but it’s important to relate what we’ve done so far to a bedrock physics principle,
the conservation of energy.

Kirchhoff’s voltage rule requires that we think of traversing a circuit in a single loop. Or perhaps
we have a trained ant that crawls around the circuit in a complete loop. These pictures show two
possibilities for a single series circuit.
Remote labs 6-8

 Suppose the ant carries a device that gives the electric potential everywhere along the
circuit. Each time the ant walks to a lower potential, the amount is registered as a "drop", and
whenever it walks to higher potential, the amount is registered as a "rise".
It should be clear from your previous experience that if the ant goes with the flow, then
each resistor represents a drop and the battery is a rise. Of course, if the ant is contrary and goes
against the flow, then as it walks along the resistors it goes to higher potential (electrically uphill
against the flow), and the resistors become rises and the battery is a drop. What Kirchhoff's
Voltage Rule says is that whatever way you traverse a loop in a circuit, the sum of the
voltage drops must exactly match the sum of the voltage rises by the time you are back to
your starting point.
In fact this is a necessary rule if our "height" concept is to make any sense. Whenever
you take a round trip, your total elevation gained must match your total elevation lost, or you are
in a strange predicament. Similarly, when you make a round trip in a circuit, you must drop as
much potential as you gain, or you are NOT truly back at the same level.
Recognize that this statement is just conservation of energy. For Kirchhoff’s voltage rule
it’s conservation of electrical energy, while for our height analogy it’s conservation of
gravitational energy. If you’re back where you started in space, you have to be back where you
started in energy too, for conservative forces like gravity and electricity.

16. Imagine your trained ants are traversing Circuit C with the flow. Use your data from
previous pages to fill in the following columns, and thus show that Kirchhoff’s Voltage Rule is
satisfied. (Note each component has only a drop or a rise, not both.)

0.824V 0V
0.38V 0V
1.793V 0V
0V 3V
3V 3V

Remote labs 6-9

17. Imagine your trained ants are traversing Circuit A in the direction shown. Use your data
from previous pages to fill in the columns, and thus show that Kirchhoff’s Voltage Rule is
satisfied:

0V 1.2V
0V 1.80
3V 0V
3V 3V

18. Would you have obtained the same result if you had followed the path of the 470W resistor
instead of the 220W? Explain.
Yes, it would have resulted exactly as above if i solved the circuit by considering 470 Ohm Resistor.
The reason is both Resistors see same voltage across them as both 470 Ohm and 220 Ohm are in
parallel relationship.

19. Now suppose your ants traverse the small loop containing the two parallel resistors. The ants
traverse both resistors sequentially, and get back to where they started. Looking at the four
“rules” from the beginning of today’s lab, rule _____,
3 combined with a closed loop always
returning each ant to the same point, implies rule _____.
4 Explain. (This is how you can use
Kirchhoff’s voltage rule.)

Rule 3, says Both Resistors will stay at same potential difference. However, Current distribution will
be different in each resistor.
According to Rule 4, we can easy infer that Current Entering the junction of Parallel Circuit will be
equivalent to sum of Current in 470 Ohm resistor and 220 Ohm resistor.

rev 2021-05-05

Remote labs 6-10