Computer Science and

Mechatronics Department
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Partial 1 – Lab assignment 1: Current, voltage and resistance

NAME: Juan Luis Ramírez Sánchez ID: A01705151
NAME: ___________________________________________ ID: ____________________
NAME: ___________________________________________ ID: ____________________
NAME: ___________________________________________ ID: ____________________

INSTRUCTIONS: Work in groups of 3 people in this assignment (check out your group in Canvas). Whenever asked, explain your
solution in detail, including formulas diagrams and calculations, as well as the corresponding units in the final answers, otherwise
your work will not be considered.

 Official deadline: see in Canvas

ATTENTION! Points will be deducted in the following situations:

a) If the detailed solution is not included in the required situations (analysis and calculations)
b) If electric diagrams are not included (when required)
c) If COMPLETE data (name, ID, date, etc.) is not included above
d) If corresponding units are not included in the answers

OBJECTIVE: to design and implement a simple electric circuit to measure current, voltage and resistance.
Part 1 - Design
Consider the circuit shown in figure 1, where some resistors are connected together. Consider that you
connect a 6V DC power supply to terminals A (+) and B (-). When the power is on, current starts flowing from
the source from the positive pole, and goes through the set of resistors back to the source and on and on
continuously.

Figure 1. Resistive circuit for this assignment.

1.1. (3 pts.) What is be the voltage drop in the resistor R1? Why?

The answer is 6v because the circuit is connected in parallel it has the same potential difference
at its ends

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 Computer Science and
Mechatronics Department
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

1.2. (5 pts.) What is be the voltage in the resistor Rx? Why?

The answer is 6v because the resistor Rx is directly connected to the 6v voltage

1.3. (6 pts.) What is the current flowing through R1? Write here the analysis to find such value:

The answer is 0.06 Amp this because we solve our formula for V = IR (Ohm's Law) where we
solve for and divide the voltage of R1 by the value of R1 (6/100)

1.4. If we want the current flowing through Rx to be 50 mA,

1.4.1. (6 pts.) What should the value of Rx be? Put your calculations here and write down your
answer:

The answer is 120 this because the resistance measured in ohms equivalent to the voltage in
volts divided by the electric current in amps (6 v ÷ 0.05amp)

1.4.2. (6 pts.) What is the power dissipated through this resistor? Include your analysis and
calculations:

The answer is 0.3 w this due to the formula P = V ^ 2 / R, this formula tells us that we have to
square the voltage and divide it by the value of the resistance (6 ^ 2 ÷ 120)

1.5. (5 pts.) The resistor found in question 1.4 (Rx), what are the colors of the bands? Search the
internet for a “resistor color code calculator” and verify such colors. Paste here a screenshot of the
application you used for the verification (in the image the colors and the final value of the resistor must
be clearly visible):

Part 2 – Simulation
Often times we would like our circuits tested before going to the implementation of a prototype or even
production; doing so can save us a lot of time and it’s easier to check for errors and make the proper
corrections. Nowadays, there are a lot of different options to do such simulations, and many of them are
online and free! For this part, please use the falstad simulator (https://www.falstad.com/circuit/), which is a
powerful, free and really intuitive circuit simulator. There, build the circuit to test it (literally, just connect the
components as they are in the electrical diagram in fig. 1). As a summary, you can easily find the components

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 Computer Science and
Mechatronics Department
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

in the simulator menu, and setting the corresponding values by double-clicking on them once they are in the
board. Some shortcuts that you may find useful are given in Appendix 1.
Once you have built the circuit, fill in the following table with the asked measurements (in the Falstad
simulator, hover the mouse over the desired components to get its values, and then take a screenshot –
NOTE: the screenshots MUST BE LEGIBLE and the pictures width must FIT the width of the columns in the
table):

Measurement 1 - The voltage in R1 Measurement 2 - The current in Rx

Picture of the measurement (5 pts.): Picture of the measurement (5 pts.):

Measurement 3 - The power in R3 Measurement 4 - The current flowing from the

Picture of the measurement (5 pts.): power supply
Picture of the measurement (5 pts.):

Measurement 5 - The voltage in R5 Measurement 6 - The current in R5

Picture of the measurement (5 pts.): Picture of the measurement (5 pts.):

Part 3 – Implementation
Just before you go into production, normally you would like to implement your circuits in a breadboard with
real physical components, to look for any last undesirable, unexpected behaviors. In this case, our “physical”
implementations will be done through Tinkercad, so go ahead and implement this circuit, and once it’s done,
take the multimeter to test and measure the following values:

Measurement 1 - The voltage in R1 Measurement 2 - The current in Rx

Picture of the measurement (5 pts.): Picture of the measurement (5 pts.):

Measurement 3 - The power in R3 Measurement 4 - The current flowing from the

Picture of the measurement (10 pts.): power supply

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 Computer Science and
Mechatronics Department
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Picture of the measurement (5 pts.):

Measurement 5 - The voltage in R5 Measurement 6 - The current in R5

Picture of the measurement (5 pts.): Picture of the measurement (5 pts.):

Part 3 – Conclusions
(5 pts.) In this part, write your conclusions on this assignment, including what challenges you and your team
found as well as how you managed to solve them. Also, elaborate on the errors.

Submission. Convert your report to PDF format upload it to the corresponding section in Canvas.

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 Computer Science and
Mechatronics Department
Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Appendix 1 – Shortcuts in Falstad simulator

HINTS if you are using Falstad simulator:
 In the DRAW menu you can find the components you need (resistors, logic gates, DC voltage
sources, switches, etc.)
 Shortcuts to add components:
o Resistor: press r
o Wire: press w
o Switch: press s
o LED: press l
o Ground: press g
o Voltage (1 terminal): press V
o Voltage (2 terminals): press v
o Logical input: press i
o Logical output: press o
 To DELETE a component, right click and delete (or select (hover the mouse) and delete)
 To UNDO one action, CTRL+Z
 To see the value of any of the three main electrical variables in a component, just hover the mouse
on it
 To run/stop the simulation, just press the corresponding button

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