2020

Going to the current

Physics MYP 5

Mazen Ahmed
Mr. Michel
11/22/2020
 Research Question
How do different arrangements of the circuit components affect the
brightness of the lamps?
Background Information
A circuit is a closed loop that electrons can travel in. A source of electricity, such as a battery,
provides electrical energy in the circuit. Unless it’s an open circuit, that is making a full circle to
the electrical source, no electrons will move. (northwestern,2019)

An electric circuit contains components like batteries, switches, bulbs, resistors connected in a
loop. This allows electricity to flow and power the components.

There are 2 different types of circuits they are parallel and series circuit. In a parallel the
current divides and only part of it flows through any of the branches. The voltage, or potential
difference, across each branch of a parallel circuit is the same, but the currents can change.

The current in a series circuit goes through every component in the circuit. So all of the
components in a series connection carry the same current. A series circuit has only one path in
which its current can flow in.

Factors that affect the brightness of the lamp are

 Current
 Voltage
 Resistance
 Type of circuit
1. Current: The higher the voltage v the higher the current. If the brightness is
caused by a flow of electrons through the filament, a higher voltage will--all
things being equal drive more electrons to flow through the filament. So the
brightness is a function of both current and voltage, and can be said to
depend on both.
2. Voltage: Increasing the voltage increases the brightness of the bulb. When a
bulb in a series circuit is unscrewed all bulbs in the circuit go out. Increasing
the number of bulbs in a series circuit decreases the brightness of the bulbs.
Voltage applied to a series circuit is equal to the sum of the individual
voltage drops. The voltage drop across a resistor in a series circuit is directly
proportional to the size of the resistor.
 3. Resistance: How does this affect the brightness of the two bulbs? The
relationship between brightness and resistance of bulbs connected in a series
is directly proportional. Therefore, the bulb with the higher resistance will
shine brighter in the condition of a series circuit. The relationship between
brightness and resistance of bulbs connected in parallel is proportional.
Therefore, the bulb with the lower resistance will shine brighter. This
happens because bulbs in parallel both have the same voltage across them,
and therefore, more current will flow through the bulb with less resistance.
(zingpath,2018)

4. Type of circuit: there are 2 different types of circuits which are parallel
and series. The following are the differences between them:

(Byjus, 2020)
In my investigation I will be testing how different type of circuits can affect the
brightness of the lamp. So I will be testing it in a parallel and series circuit.

Different type of circuits can affect the brightness of the lamps are different in In
this investigation I would like to discover how the parallel and series circuit would
affect the brightness of the lamp I have, which so interesting for me because this
make me wonder: can only a type of circuit affect the brightness of a lamp? This is
an open ended really interesting topic for me!

Hypothesis
For my investigation, I hypothesize that in a parallel circuit, the lamp is brighter
than lamps in a series circuit. The voltage for each lamp in a parallel circuit is the
same as the voltage for the whole circuit. And in a series circuit, unscrewing a
lamp will turn off all lamps that are switched on, so the lamp in a parallel circuit
would be brighter than the one in a series. There will be a lower voltage around
each individual bulb for the series bulbs and they will appear dimmer. If the power
input to the circuit is a constant, the total power output from all the bulbs is also
constant, and all the bulbs will appear the same the power source in a standard
simple circuit is a battery that attempts to maintain a constant voltage throughout
the circuit. The voltage across the bulbs in parallel will be equal to the battery
voltage in this case and the current through the bulb will be determined by V= IR
where R is the resistance. This implies that more current (and thus more power)
will be drawn into the parallel circuit from a battery than a series one and the
parallel circuit will appear brighter (but the battery will drain faster). This will be
performed of course while controlling the type of lamp, so only a filament lamp
will be used in the experiment. The voltage of the power source will remain 9v
throughout the experiment because changing the voltage would affect everything
else in the experiment so the results will change because the current will change so
the brightness of the lamps will change. There has to be one type of wire used in
the experiment so it will stay copper. The direction of the current will stay moving
from positive to negative through the whole experiment, and the resistance will
stay the same 3 Ω for both of the lamps because the lamps are identical, so they
have the same resistance.
 Variables

Independent: Type of circuit, the type of circuit will be changed as I will do 3 trials
for the parallel circuit and another 3 for the series, so the type of circuit will be
changed.

Dependent: The brightness of the lamp will be measured in Luminous flux which
is the total amount of light emitted by a lamp. P = I2R (Luminous flux) (lm) the
brightness of a lightbulb is given by its power. P = I2R, and so the brightness of the
lamps depends on current and resistance. If the bulbs are identical, they have the
same resistance which is 3 Ω. So, the higher the power (Wattage) the higher the
brightness of the lamp but also the more power it uses.

Controlled:

Controlled Variable How it will be controlled

 Type of lamp By using only one type of lamp which is
filament lamp
 Voltage Source By using a AC power source
 Voltage from Power Source The voltage of power source will stay 9v
throughout the whole experiment
 type of wire (category) The type of wire used in the experiment will
stay copper
 Direction of current As the direction of the current will move from
positive to negative throughout the whole
experiment
 Resistance The resistance will stay 3Ω for both of
the lamps.

Materials
  2 connecting Wires (copper) to connect the filament lamps with the power
Source (30 cm length and 4.5 ml width)
 Power Source as the voltage source for the experiment.
 2 Filament Lamps to connect them to the power Source in a parallel and
series circuit
 Ammeter to measure the current
 Voltmeter to measure the voltage
 Insulating glove for safety and prevention of any electrifying
 Goggles in case of a short circuit or a spark happening
 Clipper to connect the wires to the Power Source

Example of a parallel circuit:

(Sciencing, 2020)

Example of a series Circuit:

(Sciencing,2020)

Procedure
1. Start by putting on the insulating glove and the goggles for safety

2. Prepare the voltage source which will be 9v from the power source

3. Get the 2 copper wires, weld them to the power source (9v) using the
Clipper. This will be the series circuit therefore the power of both
lamps will be 10W.

4. Connect the clips to the lamp using the glove and connect the clips to
the nail that’s in the holder of the lamp

5. Measure the current before each lamp using an Ammeter. When using
the Ammeter you have to break the circuit open and insert an
“ammeter” in series with the circuit so that all electrons flowing
through the circuit also have to go through the meter.

6. Measure the voltage between the 2 lamps using a voltmeter to

determine the voltage drop. When using a Voltmeter, connect the
black wire to the negative side and the red wire connects to positive
side of the terminal. Then connect the clips to the power source that
you have to determine the voltage.

7. Weld the 2 lamps together (both should be 5W as it is a series circuit.)

8. Use the clipper to connect the second lamp to the clips from the
power Source

9. In a parallel circuit, get the 9v Power source

10.Weld 2 wires to it.

 11. Arrange the 2 lamps and make them parallel to each other. (each of
the lamps’ power is 5W

(Wikihow, 2018)

12. Connect the clips to the 2 lamps (you can also weld to it the copper
wire,)
 Design

Circuit designed on Circuit Diagram - A Circuit Diagram Maker (circuit-diagram.org)

 Raw Data Table

SERIES CIRCUIT

Raw Data Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

Voltage drop
(series)
Current before
each lamp
Voltage in both
circuits
Current in both
circuits

PARALLEL CIRCUIT

Raw Data Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

Current before
each lamp
Voltage in both
circuits
Current in both
circuits
 References

Applications of Ohm’s Law on Closed Circuits | Electricity and Magnetism | Uzinggo. Retrieved 23
November 2020, from https://www.uzinggo.com/brightness-resistance/capacitors-resistors/
physics#:~:text=How%20does%20this%20affect%20the,higher%20resistance%20will%20shine
%20brighter.&text=Therefore%2C%20the%20bulb%20with%20the%20lower%20resistance%20will
%20shine%20brighter.

Batteries and Bulbs. Retrieved 23 November 2020, from

http://www.ric.edu/faculty/PSCI103/electricity/bulbs_answers.pdf

Conceptual Circuit II - Physics - University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. (2020). Retrieved 23 November

2020, from https://www.uwgb.edu/fenclh/problems/electricity-magnetism/12/

Difference Between Series and Parallel Circuits with its Practical Applications in Real Life. Retrieved 23
November 2020, from https://byjus.com/physics/difference-between-series-and-parallel-circuits/

Parallel circuit | electronics. (2018). Retrieved 23 November 2020, from

https://www.britannica.com/technology/parallel-circuit

Singh, K. (2018). Why do bulbs glow brighter when connected in parallel?. Retrieved 23 November 2020,
from https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/154925/why-do-bulbs-glow-brighter-when-connected-
in-parallel

Tables, R. (2019). What is Electric Power (P). Retrieved 23 November 2020, from
https://www.rapidtables.com/electric/electric_power.html
 Criterion C

Data table

4.61
4.48 8.88

0.04
0.27

Voltage (V) Current (A) Power (J)

Parallel 8.88 0.27 2.40
Series 4.48 0.04 0.18

Different Circuits

Parallel

Series

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Power Current Voltage

The table above shows the results that I got after doing the experiment. From the results above I
can conclude that I was able to discover how different arrangements of circuits can affect the
brightness of the filament lamp. My conclusion is that both series and parallel and series circuits
affect the brightness of a lamp but the parallel circuit gives more power to the lamp, therefore the
lamps in a parallel circuit are brighter than those in a series circuit. The voltage for each lamp in
a parallel circuit is the same as the voltage for the whole circuit so this implies that more current
(and thus more power) will be drawn into the parallel circuit from the power source than a series
one and the lamps in the parallel circuit appeared brighter. So the parallel lamp appeared brighter
as the voltage and current in the parallel circuit are higher than the series circuit and so the
parallel circuit gave more power to the lamps. Therefore, they were brighter.

The bar graph above represents my results, including the power that determines the brightness of
the lamps. The bar graph shows how the different circuits affected the brightness of the lamp
clearly, as in the parallel circuit, the voltage is 8.88 V and the current is 0.27 A, and P=IV so the
voltage multiplied by the current gets the power which is 2.40 J. on the other hand, the voltage of
the series circuit is 4.48 V and the current 0.04 A, so the power is equal to 0.18 J, so the bar
graph shows that the parallel circuit gives more energy to the lamps due to the higher voltage and
current, and so the lamps in the parallel circuit appear brighter than the series circuit. My results
are reliable to a great extent, as they show and prove my hypothesis to be correct, and the lamps
in the parallel circuit actually are brighter than those in a series.

The results I obtained in my experiment totally support my hypothesis. As my hypothesis was

that in a parallel circuit, the lamp is brighter than lamps in a series circuit because more current
and power is drawn in a parallel circuit from the power source than a series so the lamps in the
parallel one would appear brighter, which is exactly what happened in my experiment. I applied
the same voltage to both the series and the parallel circuit which is 9v and the parallel circuit
appeared brighter due to the increased current and power on it. This shows that the type of circuit
actually affected the brightness of the lamps, as according to my results, the average voltage in a
series circuit is 4.48 V, on the other hand the average voltage in a parallel circuit is 8.88 V,
which means that the voltage of the lamps in a parallel circuit is almost double the voltage in a
series circuit. And so the average current in a series is 0.04 A and in a parallel 0.27 A, which
means the current is also greater in the parallel circuit, therefore it gives more power to the lamps
due to voltage and current because as voltage increases, the energy of the electrons increases and
so it’s velocity increases so the rate of the electrons passing through the conductor increases, and
this is basically why the current flows, so due to the increase in the rate of flowing the current
also increases, so the lamps in the parallel circuit were brighter! There was something in the
results that doesn’t happen regularly but it’s not an anomaly. The current in the parallel circuit
was the same, that’s because the resistance on it is the same but that doesn’t happen usually so
it’s not an anomaly.
The method I used in the experiment is a logical and complete method because all the steps are
easy and understood, all the safety measures and precautions are taken into consideration and
written down in the method which are to wear goggles in case of a short circuit or some kind of
spark happening and wearing an insulating glove to prevent my hand from getting electrified or
harmed in any way. My method helped me in proving my hypothesis correct because when
performing the method, I got values that prove my hypothesis is correct. For example, in the
series circuit, the voltages of the 2 lamps where 4.83 V, 4.31V, and another trial 4.61V and
4.29V, and 4.61V, 4.29V in the last trial. But in the parallel circuit the voltage was 8.92 V and
8.83V for the first trial, 9.05 and 8.93 for the second and 8.98V, 8.57 V for the last trial. This
shows that the voltage in the parallel circuit is greater than the voltage in a series circuit which
then affects the current so the current is increased due to an increase in voltage. So the current
passing in the series circuit is 0.04 A. On the other hand, the currents passing in the parallel
circuit are 0.05A and 0.05A, which is clearly more than the current passing in the series circuit.
There weren’t any limitations in the method that led to inaccuracies in the results but there was
one problem, that the voltage I designed my experiment for was 12v but the filament lamps in
the lab weren’t going to resist 12 volts and would ruin the experiment by exploding so I had to
decrease the voltage to 9 volts. The following table shows the controlled variables in my
experiment.

Controlled Variable How it will be controlled

 Type of lamp By using only one type of lamp which is
filament lamp
 Voltage Source By using a AC power source
 Voltage from Power Source The voltage of power source will stay 9v
throughout the whole experiment
 type of wire (category) The type of wire used in the experiment will
stay copper
 Direction of current As the direction of the current will move from
positive to negative throughout the whole
experiment
 Resistance The resistance will stay 3Ω for both of
the lamps.

The type of lamp used in the experiment was the same as I only used filament lamps in all trials
of my experiment. There was only one voltage source used which was the power source and the
voltage from it was controlled throughout the whole experiment as it stayed 9v. I used in the
experiment only one type of wire which is the copper wire which was in the lab, the direction of
the current stayed from positive to negative throughout the whole experiment, and the resistance
was the same for all the trials in the experiment, which shows that all my controlled variables
were controlled in the best method possible.
The method I used was repeated enough times as I repeated the method 3 times so I can get the
most accurate results possible. After finishing the experiment the results were quite precise and
helped me in deciding if my hypothesis is correct or not which turned out to be correct. But the
multimeter wasn’t adjusted when I first used it so many values turned out to be incorrect which
forced me to repeat the values many times because the multimeter wasn’t adjusted. My
independent variable was tested accurately in the experiment as I changed the type of circuit
from series to parallel and this proved my hypothesis correct as the parallel increased the
brightness of the lamps.

Improvements I would do for my next experiment is to choose the right amount of volts and take
into consideration all the factors that can affect the circuit so that I don’t have to change the
voltage I prepared for the experiment. So this would give me more time for the experiment so I
can perform more trials and don’t have to do the experiment all over again because I have a
wrong voltage. If I used the 12V the lamps would explode that’s why I decreased it to 9. I can
also repeat the experiment 5 times and increase the number of trials to 5 trials because this gives
me more accurate results if I have time to do that though. I can also adjust the multimeter before
starting to use it because it confused me and I got many values incorrect and had to repeat
because the multimeter wasn’t adjusted. So I adjust the multimeter because when adjusting it, of
course it will give me more time to do all the trials I want to do, and It will also give me accurate
correct results from the start so I don’t have to repeat due to that the multimeter isn’t adjusted.