Experiment 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE INSTRUMENTS

Why ammeter is connected in series and voltmeter in parallel?

Because ammeter has very low resistance and voltmeter has high
resistance .and if we place ammeter in parallel it may be damaged and if
voltmeter is connected in series , current wouldn’t pass through it and it will
result in wrong readings.
OBJECTIVES:

 An ammeter
 A voltmeter
 An ohmmeter

PART-1

BACKGROUND

The two most important commonly used quantities are the current and the voltage. The current is a
serial quantity and measured by using ammeter. The voltage is defined between two nodes and
measured by connecting a voltmeter across those two nodes.

(a) The electronic circuit, (b) measuring current and (c) voltage: Current is measured by
connecting the ammeter in series to the resistor; the voltage is measured by connecting the
voltmeter in parallel to it. Ohmmeter is used just as voltmeter.

EQUIPMENT:

 Digital Multimeter
 12V Battery
  1x 1k ohm
 1x 100 ohm
 2x 10 k ohm
 Connecting wires

PROCEDURE:

1. Connect the circuit as shown in figure.

2. Calculate the current and the voltages across the resistors R1 and R2 of figure for (1) R2=10
kΩ and (2) R2=100Ω
3. Open one end of R1. Connect the analog ammeter in series and measure the current
4. Open one end of R2. Connect the analog ammeter in series and measure the current
5. Connect the analog voltmeter across the resistor R1 and measure V1.
6. Connect the analog voltmeter across the resistor R2 and measure V2.
7. Connect the ohmmeter across the resistor R1 and measure R1.
8. Connect the ohmmeter across the resistor R2 and measure R2.
9. Now theoretically calculate both current and voltage and compare both results.

FOR R2=10 kΩ

FOR R2=100 Ω
 For R2= 10 kΩ For R2= 100 Ω
Theoretical Practical Theoretical Practical
Current 2.14 mA 1.967 mA 10.9 mA 10.67 mA
R1 2.5 V 1.93 V 10.9 V 10.81 V
Voltage
Current 1.02 mA 0.95 mA 11.2mA 10.59 mA
R2 10.00 V 9.88 V 1.15 V 0.98 V
Voltage

Circuit:

PART-B

MEASUREMENTS AND ERROR

  To learn how to record measurements of physical quantities with uncertainties involved
 To analyze random errors in measurements and uncertainty propagation in calculations.

DISCUSSION
No physical quantity can be measured with perfect certainty; there are always errors in any
measurement. This means that if we measure some quantity and, then, repeat the measurement,
we will almost certainly measure a different value the second time. How, then, can we know the true
value of a physical quantity? The short answer is that we can’t. However, as we take greater care in
our measurements and apply refined experimental methods, we can reduce the errors and,
thereby, gain greater confidence that our measurements approximate more closely the true
value.

When a measurement is repeated several times, we see the measured values are grouped around
some central value. This grouping or distribution can be described with two numbers: the mean,
which measures the central value, average deviation or standard deviation which describes the
spread or deviation of the measured values about the mean.

Mean

For a set of N measured values for some quantity x, the mean of x is represented by the symbol 𝑋
and is calculated by the following formula:

Variance (S2)

Average squared deviation of values from mean.

Standard Deviation

Spread or deviation of the measured values about the mean is called SD. Positive square root of the
variance and is defined as:

INSTRUMENTS AND COMPONENTS

15 x Resistors
1 x Digital Multimeter
PROCEDURE

1.Obtain a sample of 10 resistors at random ,Using your digital multimeter measure the values of the
entire set of 10 resistors
2. Measure and record their values under Sample 1 in Table 1.1.
3. After that, obtain a second sample of 5 resistors. Ensure that your selection is random. Repeat
step 3 for Sample 2.

S# Sample 1 Var SD Sample 2 Var SD

1 97.689 kΩ 2.7556 1.66 6.731 kΩ 2.304 x10-3 0.048
2 2.116 kΩ 3.481 x10-3 0.059 1.971 kΩ 0.4202 x10-3 0.0205
3 1.927 kΩ 0.676 x10-3 0.026 4.547 kΩ 1.39 x10-3 0.03747
4 1.989 kΩ 0.0592x10-3 7.778 x10-3 2.218 kΩ 0.3584 0.5798
5 7.982 kΩ 0.1612 x10-3 0.0127 5.61 kΩ 4.4044 x10-3 0.0363
6 8.687 kΩ 6.38 x10-3 0.0799 10.971 kΩ 0,7022 x10-3 0.0365
7 2.432 kΩ 0.0359 0.1895 98.139 kΩ 1.730 1.3156
8 4.578 kΩ 0.24 x10-3 0.0155 2.9713 kΩ 0.0409 0.02023
9 4.09 kΩ 5.92 x10-3 0.077 4.231 kΩ 8.445 x10-3 0.0919
10 6.18 kΩ 7.2 x10-3 0.084 9.13 kΩ 2.45 x10-3 0.049

Table 1.1

4 Calculate the required statistical parameters of each set of resistance values obtained in Table 1.1.
Record these values in Table 1.2

Trial Mean Variance Standard Deviation

Sample 1 14.15 0.01024 0.1011
Sample 2 14.27 4.84 x10-3 0.069
Table 1.2

5. With regard to these statistical parameters, which sample of resistors matches best with the main
set? Record your findings in Table 1.3 given below. (Tick ✓ the appropriate box in each row.)

Statistical Parameters Sample 1 Sample 2

Mean ✓
×
Variance ✓
×
Standard Deviation ✓
×
Table 1.3

Post Lab

1. Does a greater value of uncertainty affect your confidence in your results? Why?
Certainly, higher uncertainty influences trust in outcomes by signalling inconsistency and major
fluctuations in the data, raising the possibility of erroneous readings.

2. If three resistors from Sample 1 are connected in series, what would be the total resistance?
(Hint: Uncertainty propagates)

The overall resistance is the sum of the three resistors. It's important to note that this might bring
the values closer to the average which would lead to an increase in uncertainty. The reasoning
behind this is that the uncertainty of a single resistor is reduced within the larger dataset, the
contribution of that dataset to the overall result is equally significant, potentially increasing errors in
the readings. As a result, uncertainty propogates.

3. If two resistors from Sample 2 are connected in parallel, what would be the total resistance?

The combined resistance will be lower than the resistance of each individual resistor.

4. Draw table of part 2 with calculated values.