EXPERIMENT: Factors that affect the resistance of a conductor

Inference: Length of wire affects the resistance.

Hyphothesis : When the length of wire increases, the resistance of wire increases. Aim : To investigate the relationship between the length of wire and the resistance.

Variables;
Manipulated variable : Length of wire, l

Responding variable : Resistance, R Fixed variable : Type of wire, thickness of wire

Apparatus : Battery (3.0 V), ammeter (0-3 A), Voltmeter( 0-5V), rheostat, switch , connecting wires, constantant wire (s.w.g 28)

Procedure:
1. The same electrical circuit as shown in figure is used. 2. Wire (20.0 cm long constantant wire with s.w.g 26) is connected across the terminal X and Y. 3. The length of the wire is adjusted until l = 100.0 cm 4. The switch is closed and the rheostat is

Switch
6.0 V

Rheostat A X Constantant wire Y

Adjusted to fix the ammeter reading for the current, I = 0.5 A.

5. The reading of the voltmeter for potential different, V is recorded in table. 6. Steps 3 and 4 are repeated for l= 40.0 cm, 60.0 cm, 80.0 cm, 100.0 cm. 7. The value for the resistance R = V/I is calculated for each value of the wire, l. 8. Graph of R against l is plotted.

Tabulation of result

l/cm
20.0 40.0

I/A
0.5 0.5

V/V

R= V/I /

60.0
80.0 100.0

0.5
0.5 0.5

Graph R against l
R