Phys2426

Current, Resistance and DC Circuits

Name: Section

Objective:
1. To become familiar with multimeter and resistors.
2. To explore series and parallel DC circuits.
3. To investigate and explore ohms law and Kirchhoff’s rules for circuit analysis.

Apparatus: 5 different color-coded resistors (10Ω, 100Ω, 1000Ω, 10kΩ 1MΩ). Two flash light bulbs digital
multimeter, DC power supply (1.5-volt battery), 3 electrical leads.

Part 1: This is to be done in Lab.

Procedure
1. Measure the resistance of given 5 different color-coded resistors with the digital multimeter. Find the
%difference or resistance for each resistor and state weather or not it is within the tolerance level. You
can write the %difference and results below.

Theoretical Resistance: Measured Resistance: Within Tolerance:

10 ohm 11.9 ohm No
100 ohm 101 ohm Yes
1,000 ohm 1066 ohm Yes
10,000 ohm 9,870 ohm Yes
1,000,000 ohm 900,000 ohm Yes

2. Connect two flash light bulbs in series with a battery and switch. Press the switch and make sure both
light bulbs work. Disconnect one of the bulbs and press the switch. The other bulb will not work. Why?
Explain your answer.

The bulb will not turn on because the circuit is broken. This is due to the bulbs being in
series. The circuit is no longer closed when one of the bulbs is disconnected.

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 3. Connect two flash light bulbs in parallel with a battery and switch. Press the switch and make sure both
light bulbs work. Disconnect one of the bulbs and press the switch. The other bulb still works. Why?
Explain your answer.

The bulb is still on because the circuit is not broken. This is due to the bulbs being in
parallel. The circuit is still closed when one of the bulbs is disconnected.

Resistor color codes

Black—0; Brown—1; Red—2; Orange—3; Yellow—4; Green—5; Blue—6;
Violet—7; Gray—8; White—9: Gold -1 or 5%tolerance; Silver -2 or 10% tolerance;
No color 20% tolerance

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Part 2: This can be done later at home
Procedure
Required Simulation: You will use the simulation that is found at the following weblink.
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/circuit-construction-kit-dc/latest/circuit-construction-kit-dc_en.html
During class, you will be shown various features available to build DC circuits. However, you should also
spend time exploring the features on your own before you start the Lab.

Figure 1. DC Circuit Construction Kit- Simulation

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Activity 1: Build the following circuit. Keep the bulb resistance to 10Ω.

After closing the switch, find out the equivalent resistance of the Circuit. Show your work not just the
answer.
V=IR
50v=4.68A(R)
R=50v/4.68A
R=10.68 Ohms

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Activity 2: Consider the circuit as shown here.

Let the power source on left be 32 V, and the current be I1. Let the current on the right be I2 and the
power source be ε. Let the current in the middle branch be 5.00A. The resistance color codes are
sown in the circuit. Use Kirchhoff’s rule to calculate the current I1, I2 and power source ε. Insert a
snapshot of your calculations in the space provide here. Include the hand calculations details not just
the answer.

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Now build the circuit in the PhET simulation. Use appropriate measuring instruments to measure
current I1, i2 and power source ε. Your simulation circuit results should agree with the hand
calculations with 10% tolerance. Take a snap shot of the circuit and past it in the box provided here.