Ateneo de Naga University

College of Sciences and Engineering

A-C Power in a Resistive

Date Performed: November 20, 2017

Submitted by:
Lea T. Villafuerte
I. OBJECTIVE

When an electric current flow through a resistive circuit element, some electric power is
dissipated. This is of course the case with AC as well as DC. In this experiment, we shall
examine the power relationships which arise when an AC flows through a purely resistive
circuit.
II. MATERIALS
1. Oscilloscope
2. VOM
3. Variac
4. Wattmeter
5. Resistors
- 470Ω
- 220Ω
III. THEORY

When using pure resistors in AC circuits that have negligible value of inductance or
capacitance, the same principles and laws such as the Ohm’s Law and Kirchhoff’s Laws apply as
they do in a DC resistive circuits. The only difference is the use of instantaneous peak-to-peak or
RMS quantities.

The power dissipated in a purely resistive load fed from an AC rms supply is the same as
that of a resistor connected to a DC supply. In equation form:
2
𝑃 = 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑅
Where Irms is the rms supply current in amps and R is the resistance of the resistor connected in
the circuit.
The current flowing through the resistor is directly proportional to the voltage across
IV. METHOD OF EXPERIMENT / PROCEDURES

1. Connect the circuit shown in the figure (see figure on the board).
2. Using the VOM, adjust the voltage across the network to 48 volts rms.
3. Calibrate the oscilloscope, and measure and record in Date Table 1 the peak-to-peak
voltage across the network and across each resistor.
4. Using a wattmeter, measure and record the total power dissipated by the network as
well as the power dissipated by each resistor.
5. Compute the rms voltage from each oscilloscope reading and record it.
6. Compute the rms current in each case, using the rms voltage and the resistance.
Record these values.
7. Compute the average power in each case using Pave = I2rmsR and record it.
 8. Using the original oscilloscope readings, compute the instantaneous power in each
case.
9. Using the wattmeter reading of average power, compute the peak instantaneous
power for each case.
10. Compute the percent difference between the two average-power values for each case.
11. (Compute the percent difference between the two values of peak power for each
case.)
V. DATA / RESULTS
Data Table 1

Ave. Peak
P-P RMS RMS Ave. Peak % Diff % Diff
Power Power
Volts Volts Current Power Power ave Peak
(wattmeter (wattmeter
(scope) (scope) (vom) (scope) (scope) power Power
) )
220 ohms 209.7
43.2V 15.27V 9.67W 10.5W 19.35V 21V 7.90 7.86
only mA
470 ohms 0.100
90V 31.82V 4.78W 5W 9.56V 10V 4.4 4.4
only mA
220 + 470 0.068
132.5V 46.85V 3.17W 3.9W 6.34V 7.8V 18.72 18.72
ohms mA

VI. SAMPLE COMPUTATIONS

1. RMS = 2(9.6742998)
1 = 19.3485996𝑊
𝑉𝑅𝑀𝑆 = 𝑉𝑀 ( )
√2
21.6𝑉 5. % Difference Average Power
= %𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓 =
√2
= 15.2735064𝑉 𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒(𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑒) −𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒(𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟)
(| 𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒(𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟)
|) (100)
2. Average Power (scope)
9.67𝑊−10.5𝑊
𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒 = 𝐼 2 𝑅 = (| |) (100)
10.5𝑊
= (209.7𝑚𝐴)2 (220Ω) = 7.904761905%
= 9.6742998𝑊 6. % Difference Peak Power
3. Peak Power (scope) %𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓 =
2
𝑃𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 = (𝐼𝑅𝑀𝑆 √2) (𝑅) 𝑃𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘(𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑒) −𝑃𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘(𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟)
(| |) (100)
2 𝑃𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘(𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟)
= (209.7𝑚𝐴√2) (220) 19.35𝑊−21𝑊
= (| |) (100)
= 19.3485996𝑊 21𝑊
4. Peak power (wattmeter) = 7.857142857%
𝑃𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 = 2𝑃𝑎𝑣𝑒
VII. ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

1) The average power of a 100-ohm soldering iron is 200 watts. What is the peak current
that will flow in the iron?
2 2
P(√2) 200(√2)
I=√ =√ = 2A
R 100
2) What will be the reading of a 15-ohm a-c ammeter when it is connected in series with a
200-ohm load which has a peak power of 275 watts?
𝑃𝑝
𝑃(𝑎𝑐 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔) = 𝑅(𝑎𝑐 𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟)
𝑅
275
𝑃(𝑎𝑐 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔) = (15) = 20.625 𝑊
200

3) What is the wattage rating of a lamp which has a hot resistance of 75 ohms, if the lamp is
to be used on a 115-volt 50-cycle line?
𝑉
𝐼=
𝑅
115
𝐼=
75(50)
𝐼 = 0.031 𝐴
𝑃 = 𝐼2𝑅
𝑃 = (0.031)2 (3750)
𝑃 = 3.527 𝑊

VIII. ANALYSIS
In this experiment, I was able to observe the power relationships when an AC flows
through a purely resistive circuit. There were similarities between an AC and DC when doing an
analysis of the circuit due to the fact that these two follow the same principles and laws.
Moreover, the values measured with the oscilloscope and wattmeter were approximately the
same. The differences between the values may be due to the inaccurate data gathered while using
the wattmeter and the oscilloscope. In addition, the wattmeter was a new apparatus that was
introduced to us during this experiment, it took me a few minutes to get used to it and this may
have caused the inaccuracy in the data gathering.