Internal Resistance, EMF

and Oscilloscopes

What we are going to achieve

today
Creating power from lemons
Find out about internal resistance of
batteries
Know what is the electromotive force
is
Use an oscilloscope to measure the
frequency and voltage from an
signal generator

Using lemons, limes and

potatoes to power an LED
zinc

copper

Making Batteries
Rl

There is nothing special about batteries but these have a high internal

What do you think the best way to minimise the internal resistance of you
Think about resistivity (lemon is a poor conductor)

Batteries
What is the main energy transfer in a battery?
Electrical energy
This is powered by two 1.5 V AA cells in series - what is the supply
voltage?
After a while the battery needs to be
replaced; why?
What determines how quickly it runs down?
What determines how much current is
drawn from the supply?

What is the emf of the supply?

EMF Electromotive Force

EMF is the external work expended per
unit of charge to produce an electric
potential difference across two opencircuited terminals
This is the same definition as voltage but
on an open circuit (no current flow)
Why is this definition important?

Batteries have internal

resistance
The circuit now has two
resistors in
The internal resistance of the
battery, r is very small.
R is much larger
The total resistance of this
circuit is
Rtotal = R +r
I = E / (R+r)

Batteries have internal

resistance
As charge goes around the
circuit the sum of emfs must
equal the sum of voltage
drops leading to
EMF = I R + I r
The terminal voltage is equal
to I R so this can be
rearranged to give:
V=EIr
and interpreted as terminal
voltage = emf lost volts

Rtotal = r + R

-small

The current will now be

larger as the total
resistance of the circuit is
much lower
The voltage lost across r
V = I(large)r

R -small

The voltage lost will now

be a problem

This case is of a small load resistance connected to a battery is seen

in a starter motor on a car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al6Yz3Nv7dY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut7yBdIehY
Y&NR=1

Starter motor on a
conventional car

12V

The headlamps are connected in

parallel across a twelve-volt
battery.
The starter motor is also in
parallel controlled by the ignition
switch.

Lamp

Ignition switch
R
Starter motor

Since the starter motor has a

very low resistance it demands a
very high current (say 60 A).
The battery itself has a low
internal resistance (say 0.01 ).
The headlamps themselves draw
a much lower current (they have
a higher resistance)
What will happen to the lights?

V = E IQuick
r
1.
(a)

Questions V = IR

E = I(R +r)

A 9.0 V battery has an internal resistance of 12.0 .

What is the potential difference across its terminals when it is supplying a
current of 50.0 mA?

(b)What is the maximum current this battery could supply?

(c)Draw a sketch graph to show how the terminal potential difference varies with the
current supplied if the internal resistance remains constant. How could the internal
resistance be obtained from the graph?
2.
A cell in a deaf aid supplies a current of 25.0 mA through a resistance of 400 .
When the wearer turns up the volume, the resistance is changed to 100 and the
current rises to 60 mA. What is the emf and internal resistance of the cell?
You need to set up a simultaneous equation

Answers
1. (a)
(b)

pd = E I r = 9 (50 x 10-3 x 12) = 8.4 V

Max current = E/r = 9 / 12 = 0.75 A
I

2. E = I(R +r)
E = 25 x 10-3 (400 + r)

and

E = 60 x 10-3 (100

r)
So
25 x 10-3 (400 + r) = 60 x 10-3 (100 + r) so r =
114.3

Oscilloscope
Use the signal generator to create A/C (alternating current) on the Oscilloscope
Draw 2 signals of 2 different frequencies

Work out the frequency of the

Oscilloscope
Add the magnitude of the wave
height