Experiment 3

Ohm’s Law

Objectives
• Become familiar with the use of a digital voltmeter
and ammeter to measure DC voltage and current.
• Construct a circuit using resistors, wires and a
breadboard from a circuit diagram.
• Test the validity of Ohm’s law.

 Theory Overview
Ohm’s law commonly written as
V=I×R  Equation 3.1
 V is the difference in electric potential (in volts) between two points in a
circuit.
 I is the current flowing along the path between those two points (in amber).
The meaning of Ohm’s Law is that voltage V is proportional to current I.
 R is the proportionality constant between the voltage V and the current I.
Where R called the resistance (measured in ohm, Ω).
That is, for a given current, an increase in resistance will result in a greater voltage.
Alternately, for a given voltage, an increase in resistance will produce a decrease in
current. As this is a first order linear equation, plotting current versus voltage for a
fixed resistance will yield a straight line.

 Equipment
- Resistors.
- Two batteries (each one is 1.5 V).
- Wires (male/male).
- Breadboard.
- DMM.
  Schematic:

Figure 3.1: Simple circuit describing Ohm's Law.

While using the DMM as an ammeter, you must connect it in series with the
component you need to measure the current passing through it. While using the DMM
as a voltmeter, you must connect it in parallel with the component you need to
measure the voltage across it. As shown in Figure 3.2.

Figure 3.2: Voltage and current measurements.

 Experimental setup.
You will have to hook up wires to make the circuits described in the circuit diagrams.
Each line without any circuit element should correspond to a wire in your circuit. A
wire (or line in the diagram) represents a path where current can flow. All points on a
wire/line have the same voltage.
1. Connect the resistors in the breadboard as shown in the Figure 3.3: Noting that the
terminals of the resistors must connected in different nodes.

Figure 3.3: Connecting the resistor on the breadboard.

2. Connect the wires of battery, the red wire (+) to the red line in the breadboard while
the black wire (-) to the black line. Connect the red line and black line with terminals
of the resistor. As shown in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4: The experiment setup.

 Example 1:
From Equation 3.1, if I=V/R, find values of the current for the resistor values assigned
in Table 3.1. Noting that value of the input voltage is 3 V.
Note: write the values of the current in engineering notation.
Table 3.1: Example 1.
Resistor value Calculated current Measured current Percent difference
(Ω) (A) (A) (%)
5
50
500
5000
50000

Example 2:

Can you explain how electrical shock happened in Figure 3.5?

Figure 3.5: Electrical shock for human body.

 Faculty of Aviation Sciences
Electrical Fundamentals Lab (1)

Post lab (3)

Experiment (3)
Ohm’s Law

Student name:
Student ID:
Exercise 1:

Based on Figure 3.6; if input voltage is 6 V. Find:

a) Values of calculated and measured current for the assigned resistors in Table
3.2. (Noting that the battery connected in series).
b) Percent difference. Based on equation:
|𝐸1 − 𝐸2 |
𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 = × 100
1
(𝐸 + 𝐸 )
2 1 2

Table 3.2: Exercise 1.

Resistor value Calculated current Measured current Percent difference

(Ω) (A) (A) (%)
5
50
500
5000
50000
Exercise 2:

If we connect resistance with a battery, 10 V. The ammeter readings was 2 mA.

Moreover, we change the source with 20 V. The new reading of the ammeter become
4 mA.
1. Draw graph (Y- axis for the voltage, X- axis for current).
(Use the graph sheet)
2. Calculate the slope line.

3. What is the unit of the slope?

Don’t be satisfied with B when you can get A+.