Laboratory Exercise No.

2
Ohm’s Law
John Clement Husain, Kayla Millicent Plazo, Mark Allan Antipuesto
Department of Computer Engineering
School of Engineering, University of San Carlos
Nasipit, Talamban, Cebu City, Philippines
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract — In this laboratory exercise, the group explored Ohm’s of the material between two points measured in Ohms (Ω). It
law. The exercise aimed to prove the validity of Ohm’s law. The is important to note that since the resistance is a constant of
group created a circuit with one voltage source, a resistor, and a two proportional quantities, it remains a constant even in this
ground using a computer application LtSpice XVII. The current formula. In other words, the resistance does not vary with
of the circuit was measured three times with varying resistors of 1 current.
kΩ, 6.8 kΩ, and 33 kΩ resistance values. The measured current
values were plotted against the voltage. The graph showed a linear Interpreting the formula, we understand that whenever the
line, proving Ohm’s law. resistance is increased, the current decreases. Also, as the
voltage increases, the current increases. In graph form,
Keywords — Ohm’s law, electricity, resistance, current, voltage plotting current against voltage should yield a linear line
I. INTRODUCTION since we have a direct proportion, 𝑦 = 𝑘𝑥, where 𝑘 is our
resistance. As 𝑥 varies, 𝑦 varies proportionally with the angle
In 1781, Henry Cavendish, an English physicist measured of the line changing according to the constant 𝑘. This means
the current produced with Leyden jars with his own body, that whenever there is a large resistance, the graph should
completing the circuit. He measured it by noting how strong lean towards a near-horizontal appearance or the x-axis.
the shock he felt. He noted that velocity varied directly as the Likewise, a small resistance should have the graph lean
degree of electrification [1]. Velocity in this case, is the towards the y-axis.
current. The degree of electrification would be the voltage.
He showed that the current is directly proportional to voltage.
However, he did not publish this finding until James Clerk
Maxwell did in 1879, 98 years later [2].
Georg Simon Ohm, a German physicist and
mathematician, have done multiple experiments with
electrical resistance [4]. Through his experiments, he has
produced a law, an empirical law, that defined the
relationship between voltage, current, and resistance in his
book published in 1827 titled Die galvanische Kette,
mathematisch bearbeitet (ENG: The galvanic circuit
investigated mathematically) [3].
Ohm’s law is the name of the law that states that a current
passing through a conductor between two points is directly
proportional to the voltage across the two points [5]. Figure 1: Using the online graphing tool, Desmos. In red, 𝐼1 , is the
current-voltage graph with a resistance of 1. In blue, 𝐼2, is the current-
Whenever there are two proportional quantities, there exist a voltage graph with a resistance of 20. From this, the red leans towards
constant from their ratio [6]. This constant is the resistance of vertically and the blue horizontally.
the circuit. All in all, in formula form:
From Figure 1 we see that, theoretically, a higher
𝑉 resistance would pull the line to the x-axis. A lower
𝐼=
𝑅 resistance would pull the line to the y-axis. Voltage is the
independent variable, 𝑥.
Where 𝐼 is the current passing between two points
measured in Amperes (A), 𝑉 is the voltage measured across In this laboratory exercise, we will aim to validate
the two points measured in Volts (V), and 𝑅 is the resistance Ohm’s law by considering its claims.
 II. PROCEDURE Table 3: Circuit with 33 kΩ resistor
I measured
E (volts) I theory (mA) Deviation
(mA)
0 0 0 0
2 0.06 0.06 0
4 0.12 0.12 0
6 0.18 0.18 0
8 0.24 0.24 0
10 0.30 0.30 0
12 0.36 0.36 0

Figure 2: Schematic of the circuit.

1. Build the circuit of Figure 1 using the 1 kΩ resistor using

LtSpice XVII or Tinkercad. Set the source for zero volts.
Measure and record the current in Table 1. Note that the
theoretical current is 0 and any measured value other than
0 would produce an undefined percent deviation.
2. Setting E at 2 volts, determine the theoretical current
based on Ohm’s law and record this in Table 1. Measure
the actual current, determine the deviation, and record
these in Table 1. Note that Deviation = 100 * (measured
– theory) / theory.
3. Repeat step 2 for the remaining source voltages in Table
1.
4. Remove the 1 kΩ and replace it with the 6.8 kΩ. Repeat
steps 1 through 3 using Table 2.
Figure 3: The same circuit but with resistor variation simulated in
5. Remove the 6.8 kΩ and replace it with the 33 kΩ. Repeat LtSpice XVII. From top to bottom, the order of resistance values: 1 kΩ,
steps 1 through 3 using Table 3. 6.8 kΩ, and 33 kΩ.

6. Using the measured currents from Tables 1, 2, and 3, Table 1 shows the values of the current 𝐼 both theoretical
create a plot of current versus voltage. Plot all three and measured of the circuit with 1 kΩ resistor. The currents
curves on the same graph. Voltage is the horizontal axis were measured/valued at milliamperes (mA). The
and current is the vertical axis. measurements coincided with the theory, with 0 deviation
across all rows. The graph of the measured 𝐼 against the
III. RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS voltage is shown in Figure 4. The graph shows a linear line
Table 1: Circuit with 1 kΩ resistor or a direct proportionality.
I measured
E (volts) I theory (mA)
(mA)
Deviation Table 2 shows the values of 𝐼 both theoretical and
0 0 0 0 measured of the circuit with 6.8 kΩ resistor. The currents
2 2 2 0 were measured/valued at mA. The measurements coincided
4 4 4 0 with the theory, with 0 deviation across all rows. The graph
6 6 6 0
of the measured 𝐼 against the voltage is shown in Figure 5.
8 8 8 0
10 10 10 0 The graph shows a linear line or a direct proportionality.
12 12 12 0 However, unlike in Figure 4 for Table 1, this graph is near
horizontal. Looking at the y-axis, the range is lower than in
Table 2: Circuit with 6.8 kΩ resistor Figure 4.
I measured
E (volts) I theory (mA) Deviation
(mA) Table 3 shows the values of 𝐼 both theoretical and
0 0 0 0
2 0.29 0.29 0
measured of the circuit with 33 kΩ resistor. The currents were
4 0.58 0.58 0 measured/valued at mA. The measurements coincided with
6 0.88 0.88 0 the theory, with 0 deviation across all rows. The graph of the
8 1.17 1.17 0 measured 𝐼 against the voltage is shown in Figure 6. The
10 1.47 1.47 0 graph shows a linear line or a direct proportionality.
12 1.76 1.76 0
However, unlike in Figure 4 for Table 1 and Figure 5 for it only took 6 V for the circuit with a resistor of 1 kΩ
Table 2, this graph is most near-horizontal. Looking at the y- resistance.
axis, the range is lower than both in Figure 4 and 5, from 0 to
0.4 mA. In conclusion, Ohm’s law albeit the criticisms it faced in
its initial inception [7], is validated and is true for circuits
14
with resistors. However, Ohm’s law does not consider other
factors such as temperature. What the law really describes
12 well is the behavior of resistors. Looking at the results, by
10
increasing the resistors of every instance of the circuit, the
y=x current has a harder time moving up considering an
8 independent or constantly increasing voltage. This is the main
6 point of Ohm’s law.

4 V. REFERENCES
2 [1] Fleming, J. A. (1911). Electricity. In Encyclopædia Britannica (Vol. 9,
pp. 179–193). 1911. Retrieved September 23, 2021, from https://en.wiki
0 source.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Electricity.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 [2] Bordeau, S. P. (1982). Volts to Hertz --- The Rise of Electricity: From
the Compass to the Radio Through the Works of Sixteen Great Men of
Figure 4: I measured v.s V. Values from Table 1, R = 1 kΩ Science. Google Books. Burgess Pub. Co. Retrieved September 23,
2021, from https://books.google.com.ph/books?id=3XMIAAAAIAAJ
2 &q=isbn:0808749080&dq=isbn:0808749080&hl=en&a
mp;sa=X&redir_esc=y.
1.8
[3] Ohm, G. S. (1827). Die galvanische Kette, mathematisch bearbeitet.
1.6 [4] Horace Everett Hooper. (1911). Ohm, Georg Simon. In Encyclopædia
y = 0.147x - 0.0032 Britannica (Vol. 20, pp. 34–34). Retrieved September 23, 2021, from
1.4
1.2 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911
_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Ohm, Georg_Simon.
1 [5] Consoliver, E. L., & Mitchell, G. I. (1920). Automative Ignition
0.8 Systems. archive.org. McGraw-Hill. Retrieved September 20, 2021,
0.6 from https://archive.org/details/automotiveignit03divigoog.
0.4 [6] Constant of Proportionality with example. Cuemath. (n.d.). Retrieved
September 23, 2021, from https://www.cuemath.com/commercial-
0.2
math/constant-of-proportionality/.
0 [7] Hart, I. B. (1968). Makers of science: Mathematics, physics, astronomy.
-0.2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Books for Libraries Pr.

Figure 5: I measured v.s V. Values from Table 2, R = 6.8 kΩ

0.4
0.35
0.3
y = 0.03x - 7E-17
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-0.05

Figure 6: I measured v.s V. Values from Table 3, R = 33 kΩ

IV. CONCLUSION
The graph showed linear lines. The behavior of the graph
when changing the resistance values validates Ohm’s law. An
increase in resistance results in a decrease in voltage. With
the voltage as independent variable, looking at Figure 6
shows that it takes a higher voltage to reach, say 6 mA where