Electric Pressure, Current and Resistance

General Instructions: You may accomplish the task alone or by pair. Printed copy of the task is due on
April 8 morning by 11:30AM.
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to determine the mathematical relationship between battery
voltage (∆V), current (I), and resistance (R) for a simply circuit.

Getting Ready:
Navigate to the DC Circuit Builder Interactive at The Physics Classroom:
www.physicsclassroom.com => Physics Interactives => Electric Circuits => DC Circuit Builder

or http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Physics-Interactives/Electric-Circuits/Circuit- Builder.

Resize the Interactive using the small handles in the bottom right corner or go full-screen by
tapping the icon in the upper left corner. Observe the tools in the Toolbox region below the red
Workspace area. Experiment with these tools to create a circuit. Simply select a circuit
component and tap on the workspace to add it to the circuit; add wires, resistors, bulbs and
ammeters as desired. Tap on a component in the workspace to remove it.

Build, Measure, Analyze

1. Clear your Workspace by clicking on all components; only the battery should remain.
Using the tools in the Toolbox area, create a simple circuit consisting of a
battery, a bulb, an ammeter (for measuring current in amps), and wires.
2. Select the Modify icon (shown at right); observe that the magnifying glass
Modify
appears over the battery. This indicates that you can change the voltage of
the battery. Use the arrows to lower the battery voltage to 6.0 Volts.
3. The ammeter reads the current (I) in amps. Record the ammeter reading in Table 1.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until Table 1 is complete. Use the Modify icon to increase the
voltage of the battery (∆V) for each of these trials.
5. Tap the Modify icon and then tap on the light bulb. The resistance (R) of the light bulb is
displayed. Record this resistance value above Table 1. Then double the value of the light
bulb's resistance and repeat the experiment for Table 2. Complete Table 3 with a
resistance value that is three times as large.

Table 1 Table 2 Table 3

R= 10 Ω R= 20 Ω R= 30 Ω
∆V (volts) I (amps) ∆V (volts) I (amps) ∆V (volts) I (amps)
1 4.0 0.4 A 0.2 A 0.13 A
7 4.0 13 4.0
2 8.0 0.8 A 0.4 A 0.27 A
8 8.0 14 8.0
3 12.0 1.2 A 0.6 A 0.4 A
9 12.0 15 12.0
16.0 1.6 A 0.8 A 0.53 A
4 10 16.0 16 16.0
20.0 2A 1A 0.67 A
5 11 20.0 17 20.0
30.0 3A 1.5 A 1A
6 12 30.0 18 30.0

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For the following questions, make a claim (answer) and support it with evidence (reference to
specific trials) and reasoning that explain why those specific trials support the claim.

7. Observe your data tables. What effect does a doubling of the battery voltage (∆V) have
upon the current (I)? (Be sure to use claim-evidence-reasoning format.)

Based on the concepts of Ohm’s Law, voltage and current are directly proportional.
With that, increasing the battery voltage (V) will also increases the current (I). For instance,
display a rising value of volts in table 1, ranging from 4 V to 8 V, as shown. The result of
the current also improves from 0.4 A to 0.8 A, and its value doubles. The relationship
between voltage and current is linear, meaning to that is if you double the value in voltage
will also result in a double of value in the current, as long as the resistance remains constant.
The higher higher the voltage provides more energy to overcome the resistance and allows a
greater current to flow.

8. What effect does a tripling of the battery voltage (∆V) have upon the current (I)? (Be sure
to use claim-evidence-reasoning format.)

Based on the concepts of Ohm’s Law, voltage and current are directly proportional.
With that, tripling the battery voltage (V) will also results to increasing the value of the
current (I) in triples. For instance, display a rising value of volts in table 1, ranging from 4 V
to 12 V, as shown. The result of the current also improves from 0.4 A to 1.2 A, and showing
triples in value. The relationship between voltage and current is linear, meaning to that is if
you triples the value in voltage will also result in tripling the value in the current, as long as
the resistance remains constant. The higher higher the voltage provides more energy to
overcome the resistance and allows a greater current to flow.

9. What effect does a doubling of the resistance (R) have upon the current? (Remember: CER)

Based on the concepts of Ohm’s Law, resistance and current are inversely
proportional. With that, if increasing the value in resistance (R), it will result in reducing the
value of the current (I). As seen in tables 1 and 2, as the resistance increases or doubles in
value from 10 ohm to 20 ohm and the voltage increases as well from 4 V to 8 V, the current
steadily decreases in value from 0.4 (table 1) to 0.2 (table 2) and 0.8 (table 1) to 0.4 (table
2). When resistance increases, it becomes more difficult for the current to flow through the
circuit. This is similar to a narrow pipe that restricts the flow of water. As the resistance
increases, the flow of electrons in the circuit encounters more obstacles, resulting in a
decrease in the current. This explanation is consistent with Ohm’s Law and the inverse
relationship between resistance and current.

10. What effect does a tripling of the resistance (R) have upon the current? (Remember: CER)

A tripling of the resistance (R) will result in a decrease in the current (I) flowing
through the circuit. As evidence, we have Ohm's Law which states that the current (I)
flowing through a conductor between two points is inversely proportional to the resistance
(R). When resistance is tripled, it means that the value of R also becomes three times
larger. In table 1,2, and 3, for example, the resistance increases from 10 to 30 as the
voltage increases while the current steadily decreases to 1/2 of its original value in table 2
and 1/3 of its original value in table 3. In the equation I=VR, a larger value for R in the
denominator will result in a smaller value for the current (I). This is because a higher
resistance restricts the flow of electric current, making it more difficult for charges to pass
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 through the circuit. As a result, the current flowing through the circuit decreases when the
resistance is tripled. This relationship between resistance and current is consistent with
Ohm's Law, which describes the behavior of electric circuits.

11. Inspect your data and write an equation that relates the ∆V to the I and R values. Support
your claim with evidence and reasoning.

V=IR
Based on the data obtained from the experiment, the relationship between the
change in voltage (∆V), current (I), and resistance (R) can be described by Ohm's Law,
which states that Voltage(∆V) is equal to the product of current(I) and resistance (R).
Ohm’s law states the relationship between electric current and potential difference. The
current that flows through most conductors is directly proportional to the voltage applied to
it. The experiment involved varying the battery voltage (∆V) while measuring the current (I)
and changing the resistance (R) of the circuit. In the experient, the formula for ∆V, I, and R
was represented as I=VR. This equation indicates that current is directly proportional to
voltage and inversely proportional to resistance. The reasoning behind this relationship is
that as the voltage increases, more electric potential is available to drive the current
through the circuit, while an increase in resistance restricts the flow of current. Therefore,
the equation I=VR accurately relates the current to the voltage and resistance based on our
solution.

12. Predict the missing values if the following trials were performed. (No CER required)

∆V = 24 V R = 10 Ω I= 2.4 A
∆V = 12 V R = 40 Ω I= 0.3 A
∆V = 6 V I = 4.0 A R= 1.5 Ω

Pictures of DC Circuit:

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