Required Practical

Resistance in Electrical Circuits

 Ohm’s Law
Ohm’s Law tells us that: V=IR
where
V=voltage (potential difference)
I=current
R=resistance

We can rearrange this to find any of the components.

Resistance in Electrical Circuits

What is resistance?

Measured in ohms, it is the opposition to the movement

of electrical charge through a component...

...or, how difficult it is for electricity to flow through a part!

 Resistance…

...should increase if the length of a wire increases,

Resistance… or the thickness decreases.
 Aim

To investigate whether the resistance in an

electrical circuit changes depending on:

1. wire length
2. use of a parallel or series circuit
 Prediction

I predict that when the length of a wire increases, the resistance

will ...

I predict that with a series circuit, the resistance will ...

I predict that when the length of a wire increases,

the resistance will ...
 Risk Assessment

Hazard Risk Emergency procedure

Wire (short) getting hot Burns Run under cold water,

report to teacher

Electricity Shocks Centre should have

checked beforehand
Experiment 1: Investigating the length of
a wire and resistance
Apparatus

• Risk assessment – please read before collecting your equipment

• Power pack – to allow electrons to flow
• Multimeter or ammeter – to measure current in amps
• Multimeter or voltmeter – to measure voltage in volts
• Crocodile clips – to connect leads to wire
• Length of resistance wire (just over 1m) – to measure resistance
• Meter ruler – to measure length of wire
• Connecting leads – to connect circuit
 Experiment 1: Method
1. Attach the wire to the meter rule.
2. Put a crocodile clip on to the wire at zero and another at 10cm.
3. Connect the circuit (positive side is usually red and negative is usually black).
Connect a lead to the positive side of the battery and the positive side of the ammeter.
Connect the negative side of the ammeter to the crocodile clip at zero. Connect a lead
from the negative side of the battery to the crocodile clip at 10cm – this should create
a complete circuit.
4. Insert a voltmeter across the wire – connect a lead from the positive side of the
voltmeter to the crocodile clip at zero (the ammeter is connected to this). Connect the
negative side to the other crocodile clip (currently at 10cm).
5. In between readings, use the lead between the negative side of the battery and the
crocodile clip at 10cm as a switch to break the circuit.
6. Turn battery on and take readings from the voltmeter and ammeter at 10cm intervals
up to one meter.
7. Record results on the results table.
 Results Table
Length of wire Potential Current (A) Resistance (Ω)
(cm) Difference (V)
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
 Plotting a graph

• Decide what type of graph you will plot

Hint: is your data continuous or categorical?

• Choose suitable scales and labels for the axes

Hint: look at the range of your data

• What are your variables and which axis will each go on?
Hint: which is dependent and which is independent?

• Plot the resistance against the length of wire

• Draw a line of best fit

 Experiment 2: Investigating series and
parallel circuits with resistors
Apparatus

• Risk assessment – please read before collecting your equipment

• Power pack – to allow electrons to flow
• Multimeter or ammeter – to measure current in amps
• Multimeter or voltmeter – to measure voltage in volts
• Crocodile clips – to connect resistors
• 2 different resistors – to provide resistance
• Connecting leads – to connect circuit
• Switch – to open and close circuit
 Experiment 2: Method
1. Connect a circuit in parallel
series with
withammeter
ammeter(or(ormultimeter),
multimeter),two
tworesistors,
resistors,voltmeter
voltmeterand
switch
and switch,
as shown
as shown
below.below.
2. Turn on the circuit.
3. Record results in table.
4. Calculate total resistance of the circuit.
 Results Table
Circuitt Potential Current (A) Resistance (Ω)
Difference (V)
Series
Parallel

Calculate resistance as follows: resistance (Ω) = potential difference (V)

current (A)
 Series
In a series circuit:
•The current is the same at all points (I 1=I2=I3)

• The total potential difference is the sum of the

voltage readings (VT = V1 + V2 + V3)

• The total resistance is the sum of the

resistance readings (RT = R1 + R2 + R3)
 Parallel
In a parallel circuit:
•The total current is the sum of the current
at all points (IT = I1 + I2 + I3)

• The potential difference is the same

at all points (V1 = V2 = V3)

The resistance is:

•If resistors are the same 1÷Rx (x is number of resistors)

• If resistors are different: 1÷RT = 1÷R1 + 1÷R2 + 1÷R3

 Conclusions
What conclusions can you make from the two activities?

What happens to resistance as the length of the wire changes?

What happens to resistance in a series circuit as opposed to a

parallel one?(HINT: what happens to one variable as the other variable changes?)

Did your conclusions match your predictions?

 Evaluation
What went well with your experiments?

If you did this again, how could you improve the method?