Physics 2020, Spring 2009 Lab 4 Page 1 of 8 Your name: ___________________ Lab section: M Tu Wed Th F TA name: _____________________ 8 10 12 2 4 Lab 4. Current, Voltage, and the Circuit Construction Kit The Circuit Construction Kit (CCK) is a computer simulation that allows you to build electrical circuits that behave like real circuits. We’ll be using this simulation to learn more about circuits and the concepts of voltage and current. The simulation is available on the web at http://phet.colorado.edu if you’d like to try it out. Note that it can be used to solve CAPA and other physics problems. The above screenshot shows the CCK workspace. In the white box towards the right, you can find wires, resistors, batteries, light bulbs, and switches. Drag them out onto the workspace and connect them as needed. You can change the length or the orientation of a wire by dragging at its ends. The dots in the wire represent charges, and they will move to show current flow. On the far right you can find options panels and measurement tools. We’ll be using the voltmeter and the ammeter in this lab. We will not be using the non-contact ammeter. In some cases, the lab will ask you to draw a schematic of your circuit. By “schematic” we mean that you should use symbols to represent resistors, light bulbs, and batteries rather than literal pictures. We will be using the following symbols: resistor R battery (+) side (–) side light bulbPhysics 2020, Spring 2009 Lab 4 Page 2 of 8 I. Lighting up light bulbs 1) Suppose you are given a battery, a light bulb, and a few pieces of wire. Without using CCK, how would you connect the light bulb to the battery to make the bulb light up? Draw a picture showing your solution (not necessarily a schematic), and make sure to check with your group. When you’re satisfied with your answer, check it with your TA. 2) Now use CCK to light up one light bulb with one battery. Once you’ve gotten it to work, compare it to your picture. Are they the same? If not, how are they different and why? 3) Next, use CCK to light up two bulbs at the same time using one battery. Try to find at least two different ways to make it work. Do the bulbs have the same brightness in either case? Make a schematic (symbols and whatnot) of each of your solutions.Physics 2020, Spring 2009 Lab 4 Page 3 of 8 II. Measuring current and voltage We can measure current with a device called an ammeter. The ammeter has to be part of the circuit for this to work; that is, we need to hook it up so that current can come in one end and go out the other. We can measure voltage differences with a voltmeter. The voltmeter has a black and a red lead. To find out the voltage difference between two points on a circuit, put one lead on one point and the other lead on the other point. 4) In CCK, set up a circuit that has one light bulb and one battery. Measure and record the current going into the light bulb and the current coming out of the light bulb. How do these two numbers compare? Does that make sense? Why or why not? Current going in: Current going out: 5) Next, measure and record the voltage difference across the light bulb. After you measure the voltage difference, swap the red and black leads (put the black lead on the point on the circuit where the red one was, and vice versa) and record the new reading. What happened to your measurement? Why? Voltage difference: Voltage difference (swapped):Physics 2020, Spring 2009 Lab 4 Page 4 of 8 6) Now measure the voltage difference across the battery. It should be slightly different from the voltage difference across the bulb. Why is this? (this isn’t necessarily something you’ve been taught; take your best shot) Voltage difference: 7) See if you can find the ‘missing’ voltage using your voltmeter. If you find it, say where. III. Ohm’s Law Ohm’s Law tells us that in most circuits, voltage, current, and resistance are related through a simple formula: V = IR (actually ∆V = IR) Let’s check to make sure our simulation follows this rule. Build a circuit with one resistor and one battery. You get to choose the resistance of the resistor and the voltage of the battery. If your circuit catches fire, turn down the battery voltage until it stops burning. 8) Write down the resistance of the resistor, and then measure and record the voltage difference across the resistor and the current through the resistor. Is Ohm’s Law satisfied? Don’t just say yes or no; show your reasoning. Resistance: Current: Voltage difference:Physics 2020, Spring 2009 Lab 4 Page 5 of 8 9) Next, use Ohm’s Law to figure out the default resistance of one of the CCK light bulbs. Build whatever circuit is necessary to do so. Include a schematic of your circuit with your answer. Light bulb resistance: IV. The series circuit We’ve mostly been working with the simplest possible circuit so far: one with a single battery and a single light bulb or resistor. A more complicated circuit is the series circuit, which has two or more resistors in a row. If we have a few resistors in series with resistances R1, R2, etc, we can treat them as being equivalent to one resistor with resistance Reff. Your next task is to determine the rule for how resistors in series combine. For example, if you have two resistors in series with resistances R1 and R2, what is Reff? What if you have three resistors (R1, R2, R3) in a row? 10) Build some series circuits and make whatever measurements you need to determine the rule for combining resistors in series. Write down the rule, and draw pictures of two circuits that you used to determine it. Also write down some relevant measurements that you made, and show that they obey Ohm’s Law. Rule for combining resistors in series: Circuit 1: Circuit 2:Physics 2020, Spring 2009 Lab 4 Page 6 of 8 V. The parallel circuit A circuit that has two resistors parallel (with the right and left ends connected together) is called a parallel circuit because the current can flow in two parallel paths around the circuit. If we have a few resistors in parallel with resistances R1, R2, etc, we can also treat them as being equivalent
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