CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

6 Electric current,
potential difference
and resistance
CHAPTER OUTLINE
This chapter relates to Chapter 8: Electric current, potential difference and resistance and
Chapter 9: Kirchhoff’s laws, in the Coursebook.
In this chapter learners will complete investigations on:
• 6.1 Power and resistance of a lamp
• 6.2 Resistors in series
• 6.3 Resistors in parallel.

Practical investigation 6.1: Power and resistance of

a lamp
Skills focus
See the Skills grids for details of the skills developed and used in this investigation.

Duration
The practical work will take about 30 minutes; the analysis and evaluation questions will take about 30 minutes.

Preparing for the investigation

• Learners should know the equations linking current, potential difference, resistance and power.
• Learners should be able to set up a circuit from a circuit diagram.
• Learners should be able to draw a curve of best fit through plotted points.
• Learners will measure the potential difference across and the current in a lamp.
• Learners will calculate resistance and power and investigate how they vary with potential difference.

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 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

You will need

Equipment
• low resistance power supply variable up to 12 V • five connecting leads
• 6 V 60 mA lamp with holder • switch.
• two digital multimeters

Safety considerations
• Encourage learners to switch the circuit off between readings using either the circuit switch or the switch on
the power supply.
• Learners should not apply a voltage of more than 6 V across the lamp.

Carrying out the investigation

• Learners may get negative readings on their meters because the meters are connected into the circuit the
wrong way round.
• If the power supply has several outputs, advise learners which outputs give a variable voltage of up to 6 V.
If a 6 V 60 mA lamp is not available and an alternative such as 2.5 V 0.3 W or 12 V 24 W is used, the values
of R and P on the axes of the graphs should be changed as shown in Table 6.1.

R–V graph P–V graph

Lamp y-axis x-axis y-axis x-axis
2.5 V 0.3 W 0−25 Ω 0−2.5 V 0−0.3 W 0−2.5 V
12 V 24 W 0–6 Ω 0−12 V 0−24 W 0–12 V
Table 6.1

You will need to remind some learners to include a quantity and correct unit for the column headings in all
their tables.
If more confident learners have finished the investigation, suggest they help other learners who
may be struggling.

Sample results
The data in Table 6.2 gives an example of the results learners should obtain from the investigation.

V/V I / mA I/A R/Ω P/W

1.00 24.2 0.0242 41.3 0.0242
2.00 33.4 0.0334 59.9 0.0668
3.00 41.5 0.0415 72.3 0.125
4.00 48.9 0.0489 81.8 0.196
5.00 55.4 0.0554 90.3 0.277
6.00 61.2 0.0612 98.0 0.367
Table 6.2

Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Jones, Field, Hewlett & Styles
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 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

Answers to the workbook questions (using the sample results)

a See Table 6.1 (unshaded section).
b, c See Figure 6.1.
120

100

80

R / Ω 60

40

20

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
V/V

Figure 6.1

d, e See Figure 6.2.

0.4

0.3

P / W 0.2

0.1

0.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
V/V

Figure 6.2

f R increases with V. The rate of increase decreases as V increases.

g P increases with V. The rate of increase increases as V increases.
h The R–V graph should not go through the point (0, 0) because when V = 0 the resistance has a
non-zero value.
The P–V graph should go through the point (0, 0) because when V = 0 there is no current in
the resistor so
P = VI = 0
i The two graphs should have the same shapes as the plotted ones in Figures 6.1 and 6.2. The y-axis of the
R–V graph should go up to 600 Ω. The y-axis of the P–V graph should go up to 100 W.

Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Jones, Field, Hewlett & Styles
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 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

Practical investigation 6.2: Resistors in series

Skills focus
See the Skills grids for details of the skills developed and used in this investigation.

Duration
The practical work will take about 30 minutes; the analysis and evaluation questions will take about 30 minutes.

Preparing for the investigation

• Learners should know the formula for resistors in series.
• Learners should be able to set up a circuit from a circuit diagram.
• Learners should be able to draw graphs.
• Learners should know the equation of a straight line: y = mx + c.
• Learners will connect a circuit with two resistors in series and investigate how the current in the circuit
changes when the value of one of the resistors is changed.

You will need

Equipment
• 1.5 V cell with terminals • digital multimeter with a 0–200 mA scale
• switch • resistors clearly labelled with the following
• five connecting leads values: 18 Ω, 22 Ω, 27 Ω, 33 Ω and 2 × 15 Ω.
• two component holders suitable for resistors

Safety considerations
Encourage learners to switch the circuit off between readings using the circuit switch.

Carrying out the investigation

• Learners may get a negative reading on the meter because it is connected into the circuit the wrong
way round.
You will need to remind some learners to include a quantity and correct unit for the column headings in all
their tables.
If more confident learners have finished the investigation, suggest they help other learners who
may be struggling.

Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Jones, Field, Hewlett & Styles
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 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

Sample results
These should give an idea of the results learners should end the investigation with.
E = 1.49 V

R/Ω I / mA I/A 1
I
/ A−1
15 45.7 0.0457 21.9
18 41.9 0.0419 23.9
22 37.4 0.0374 26.7
27 33.5 0.0335 29.9
33 29.4 0.0294 34.0
Table 6.3

Answers to the workbook questions (using the sample results)

a I decreases as R increases.
b See Table 6.2 (unshaded section).
c, d See Figure 6.3.

40

30
Y
1
/ A −1 20
I

10

−20 −10 0 10 20 30 40
R/Ω

Figure 6.3

e 0.672
1
f E= = 1.49 V
0.672
g y-intercept = 11.8
X
h 11.8 =
1.49
X = 11.8 × 1.49 = 17.6 Ω
i −17.6
j X = 17.6 Ω

k Smaller Same Bigger

Gradient ✓
y-intercept ✓
x-intercept ✓

Table 6.3

Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Jones, Field, Hewlett & Styles
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 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

l X / E = 6.7
m E = 1.49 V so percentage difference = 0%
n Plotted points are too far away from the x-intercept.

Practical investigation 6.3: Resistors in parallel

Skills focus
See the Skills grids for details of the skills developed and used in this investigation.

Duration
The practical work will take 30 minutes; the analysis and evaluation questions will take 30 minutes.

Preparing for the investigation

• Learners should know the formula for resistors in series.
• Learners should be able to set up a circuit from a circuit diagram.
• Learners should be able to draw graphs.
• Learners should know the equation of a straight line: y = mx + c.
• Learners will connect a circuit with two resistors in parallel. They will investigate how the current in the
circuit changes when the value of one of the resistors is changed.

You will need

Equipment
• 1.5 V cell with terminals • digital multimeter with a 0–200 mA scale
• switch • resistors clearly labelled with the following
• six connecting leads values: 120 Ω, 150 Ω, 180 Ω, 220 Ω and 2 × 100 Ω.
• two component holders suitable for resistors

Safety considerations
Encourage learners to switch the circuit off between readings using the circuit switch.

Carrying out the investigation

• Learners may get a negative reading on the meter because it is connected into the circuit the wrong
way round.
If more confident learners have finished the investigation, suggest they help other learners who
may be struggling.

Sample results
These should give an idea of the results the learners should end the investigation with.
E = 1.49 V

Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Jones, Field, Hewlett & Styles
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 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL AS & A LEVEL PHYSICS: PRACTICAL TEACHER’S GUIDE

R/Ω I / mA I/A IR / V
100 28.3 0.0283 2.83
120 26.2 0.0262 3.14
150 23.8 0.0238 3.57
180 22.3 0.0223 4.01
220 20.9 0.0209 4.60
Table 6.5

Answers to the workbook questions (using the sample results)

a I decreases as R increases.
b See Table 6.4 (unshaded section).
c, d See Figure 6.4.
5

IR / V
2

−200 −100 0 100 200 300

R/Ω

Figure 6.4

e Gradient = 0.0147
f y-intercept = E = 1.37 V
1.37
g Gradient = 0.0147 = so X = 93 Ω
X
h X = −93 Ω
i
Smaller Same Bigger
Gradient ✓
y-intercept ✓
x-intercept ✓

Table 6.5

j Line drawn with bigger gradient and same y-intercept.

 1.49 − 1.37 
k Percentage difference =   × 100 = 8.4%
 0.5 × (1.49 + 1.37 ) 
l Plotted points are too far away from the x-intercept.

Cambridge International AS & A Level Physics – Jones, Field, Hewlett & Styles
7 © Cambridge University Press 2020