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physics report
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- Laboratory science
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- The University Of Bradford (UoB)
this module was based on laboratory work, at the end a summary has to be done for all the physics related labs I got a high grade for this work
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Electrical resistivity of wires experimentPhysics report
21005866
Aims/objectives of the experiment
Aims of each experiment:
1. Aimed to calculate the resistance of single wires and identify the wires and why they are
different.
2. Aimed to obtain the resistance of wires in series and plot graph 1 of resistance against the
number of wires.
3. Aimed to work out the resistance and conductance of wires in parallel then plot resistance
against conductance against the number of wires in graphs 2 and 3.
4. Aimed to do the calculations for the resistivity of similar and different wires.
The overall objective of the experiments was to determine the conductivity of similar and different
wires and determine why the results might be different.
Introduction
The experiments done were used to calculate the resistivity of the circuit, resistivity is the resisting
power of a material and how this affects the flow of current (Shahat 2017). To continue, resistivity
is a characteristic of the material and can be affected by temperature and pressure on metals
(Meaden 1965). Experiments 1, 2 and 3 all looked at and calculated resistances, resistance is an
influence on a flow of electrons which causes the flow to delay and scatters the electrons in the
process (Meaden 1965). To continue, resistance is caused by the colliding of electrons when moving
through a material and good conducting materials (such as copper and other metal alloys) will have
low resistance as they readily allow a current to flow (Rex 2018). Experiment 4 looks at electrical
conduction, which is the movements of electrons in a solid material, with an electric field affecting
them (Dyos 2012).
This experiment was done using a voltmeter (a device that measures the potential difference in a
circuit in volts (French 2016)), and an ammeter (a device that measures the current flow in a circuit
in amps (French 2016)). The current and potential differences were then used to calculate the
resistance using the ohms law equation I = V/R rearranged (Rex 2018). The experiment also looks at
electrical conduction which is the movements of electrons in a solid material, with an electric field
affecting them (Dyos 2012).
All resistances were calculated using the ohms law equation (Resistance = voltage divided by
current).
, Methodology
Experiment 1
This experiment was done to calculate the resistance of single wires and to identify the different
wires (noting why this may be), the wires were each connected to the circuit including a voltmeter
and ammeter to give the voltage and current (as seen in figure 1 below). For each wire the voltage
and current were noted in table 1. 3 voltage and current readings were taken at 3 different currents
(3 different points along the dial on the ammeter). For each reading the resistance was calculated
(see calculations section below), which then gave 3 resistance readings, a single mean resistance
was calculated for each wire (see calculations section below) and noted in table 1. The different
wire was then determined (see results and discussion below).
Figure 1: shows the circuit setup used in the first experiment
Table 1
Wire number voltage current resistance Mean resistance
units volts amps ohms ohms
1 1.28 0.15 8.53 8.70
2.20 0.25 8.80
3.07 0.35 8.78
2 1.22 0.15 8.13 8.22
2.06 0.25 8.24
2.90 0.35 8.29
3 1.28 0.15 8.53 8.63
2.17 0.25 8.68
3.04 0.35 8.69
4 1.30 0.15 8.70 8.66
2.17 0.25 8.68
3.01 0.35 8.60
5 3.30 0.14 2.14 2.13
0.56 0.26 2.15
0.76 0.36 2.10
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