Measure the e.m.

f and internal resistance of a power station

Dp1-cedric

Research question
find out the e.m.f and internal resistance of a certain power station

Introduction
High voltage has long been considered a symbol of danger due to its huge power and
safety risks.The physical formula is known to us as Energy=Voltage X Current, but
with further observation, it can be easily overturned. Like the ceramics of a simple
cigarette lighter, the voltage can reach 6,000 VOLTS, but the energy is too small to
cause an electrical injury.Thus,the “Voltage” here can’t stand for the ability of work
done of the circuit but can the e.m.f (electromotive force) which means the energy
transferred per unit charge in driving charge around a complete circuit. What’s more,
return back to the reason of the heat released from the electronic applicants, it
should be the internal resistance causing it. In order to measure the value of the
internal resistance, we should apply the Kirchhoff’s 2nd Law here which is “as charge
goes around the circuit the sum of EMF must equal the sum of voltage drops leading
to.” Therefore, the value of the emf should be measured first, then through the
reading of ammeter and voltmeter calculate the value of the final internal resistance
such as the formula below:

As the The terminal voltage is equal to IR so this can be rearranged to give:

Then the value of the internal resistance could be clearly calculated

R= E−I V

PROCEDURE
First of all, made the voltmeter and the power station in parallel to measure the
accurate value of EMF, and then disassemble the voltmeter, installed a variable
resistance in series with the ammeter and parallel with voltmeter like fig1 to
calculate the resistance through ohmic’s law (V=IR).Then change the value of the
output of the power station for 5 times and each time change the value of the
variable resistor to get an average value.

Fig.1 circuit diagram

DATA PROCESSING
ELECTROMOTIVE FORCE/V
1.5 1.9 2.48 3.1 3.61
V/V 1.31 1.75 2.21 2.69 3.33
A/I 0.11 0.16 0.21 0.26 0.21
R/Ω 11.91 10.94 10.52 10.35 15.86

table1 the data of the