PHYSICS LABORATORY REPORT

OHM’S LAW

Johanes Valerio Rahardjo

2702407003

BINUS-ASO SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

AUTOMOTIVE AND ROBOTICS ENGINEERING
17TH November 2022
 EXPERIMENT
OHM’S LAW

I. OBJECTIVE
At the end of this topic students can understand and explain:
 Relationship between voltage and current

II. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this experiment is to verify Ohm’s Law. The equivalent resistance of
series/parallel circuits is also examined. This may be performed as a single lab or two
short stand-alone labs.

In metals and some other materials (in particular, commercially manufactured resistors),
one finds experimentally that the voltage drop, V, across the material is directly
proportional to the current, I, through the material (provided the temperature remains
relatively constant):

VI

which is referred to as Ohm’s Law. It is convenient to define a proportionality constant

called the resistance (unit: Ohm [Ω] = V/A) such that

V = IR (1)

A resistor generally means a device that obeys Ohm’s Law (many devices do not) and
has a resistance R. Two (or more) resistors can be connected in series (as in Figure 1), or
in parallel (as in Figure 2). Resistors could also be connected in a series/parallel circuit
like Figure 3. An equivalent resistor is a single resistor that could replace a more
complex circuit and produce the same total current when the same total voltage is
applied. For a series circuit, the resistances are additive:

Req = R1 + R2 (2)
where Req is the equivalent resistance. For a parallel circuit, the resistances add as
reciprocals

1 1 1
= + (3)
R eq R1 R2

A more complex circuit like Figure 3 can be handled by noting that R 1 and R2 are in
parallel and can be reduced to an equivalent resistance using Equation 3. That equivalent
resistance is then in series with R3 and can be treated using Equation 2 to find the
equivalent resistance of the entire series/parallel circuit.

Figure 1: Series Figure 2:

Parallel Figure 3: Series/Parallel
III. EQUIPMENT
A. Included
No Quantity Name Code
1 1 Resistive/Capacitive/Inductive Network UI - 5210
1 1 Short Patch Cords (Set of 8) SE - 7123

B. Not Included, but Required

No Quantity Name Code
1 1 850 Universal Interface UI - 5000
1 1 PASCO Capstone

IV. OHM’S LAW

A. Procedure / Setup

Figure 4: Ohm’s Law Setup

1. Setup the circuit shown in Figure 4 using the 3.3 kΩ resistor.

2. In PASCO Capstone, open the Hardware Setup and click on Signal Generator #1
and select the Output Voltage Current Sensor. Set the Common Sample Rate to
100 Hz.
3. Click open the Signal Generator at the left of the screen. Set Output 1 for a DC
Waveform with a DC Voltage of 1V. Click On.

4. Open the Calculator and create the following calculations:

 Iavg = avg [(Output Current)] * 1000 Units of mA

 True Current = [Measured Current] - [Zero Current] Units of mA

5. Create two digits displays and select the Output Voltage and the Average
Current.

6. Create a table with four columns: Create user-entered data sets called “Voltage”
with units of V, “Zero Current” with units of mA, and “Measured Current” with
units of mA. In the fourth column, select the calculation “True Current”.

Voltage (V) Zero Current Measured Current True Current

(mA) (mA) (mA)

1 3.87 4.14 0.27

3 4.03 4.96 0.93

6 4.31 6.18 1.87

9 4.61 7.47 2.86

12 4.96 8.72 3.76

15 5.25 9.92 4.67

7. The 850 Universal Interface can read currents with a resolution of about 0.01
mA. However, this is a small current and the instantaneous value fluctuates quite
a bit. Fortunately, by taking an average over several seconds, we get a value with
a precision of 0.01 - 0.02 mA. However, the noise can produce a systematic error
 up to about 5 mA with a variation across the range of almost 1 mA, so we must
calibrate the system to get accurate values (± 0.1 mA due to variation in zero
noise).

8. Calibration Run: Unplug the red lead from the 850 Universal Interface. The
current should now be zero for all voltage, but is not. Click RECORD. Wait a few
seconds until the Average current reading stop drifting. Record the Average
Current value in the Zero Current column of Table I. If the Actual Voltage is
different from the Voltage shown in the first column of the table, change the table
to match the actual voltage. Click STOP.

9. Change the Signal Generator to 3V and repeat step 4. Repeat again for voltages
of 6 V, 9 V, 12 V, & 15 V.

10. Set the Signal Generator back to 1 V.

11. Experiment Run: plug the red lead back into the 850 Output 1 jack. Repeat steps
4 & 5 except record the values for Average current in the Measured Current
column. The True Current is the difference between the Measured Current and
the Zero Current.

12. Turn off the Signal Generator.

B. Analysis
1. Create a graph of Voltage (user-entered data) vs. True Current
2.

3. Select a Linear fit

 4. Open the properties on the graph and select to show horizontal error bars for a
fixed range of ± 0.1 mA. This is the uncertainty in the True Current which was
achieved by calibrating the system. The uncertainty in the Voltage is much too
small to show.

5. The uncertainties in the slope and intercept arise from the spread of the data
points but do not include the uncertainty in the True Current. This means that the
quoted uncertainties are too small. You can get a good approximation to the
actual uncertainties in slope and intercept (without elaborate math) by holding a
transparent ruler up to the screen (or printing off the graph) and seeing how much
you can vary the slope and intercept with a straight line that still fits the data
(including error bars) reasonably well.

C. Conclusion
1. How well does your data support Ohm’s Law? Explain fully!
In Ohm’s Law theory, there is a connection between the V (Voltage), I (current),
and R (Resistence). The ohm’s law theory said that V=I.R, based on the data
collected , the voltage in the circuit is always proportional to the current and
resistance. So we can say that the data can prove the ohm’s law theory.

2. What is the physical meaning of the slope of the Linear Fit to the data on the
Ohm’s Law graph? Hint: What are the units of the slope?
Based on the graph, we can say that the slope pictured the formula of Resistence
(R= V/I) , it sis also meaning the number of resistance value between the
conductor and other conductor so the slope give us the value of the resistance in
the form of Ohm (Ω=V/A).
 V.

EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT
A. Equivalent Circuit Setup

Figure 1: Series Figure 2: Parallel

Figure 3: Series/Parallel

Figure 5: Series Figure 6: Parallel Figure 7: Series/Parallel

B. Equivalent Resistance
1. Create two tables: “Resistor”, “Resistance”, “Circuit”, and “Theory Resistance”
are user - entered data sets.

Resistor Resistence (Ω)

1 R1 3000
2 R2 1000
3 R3 1000

Circuit Theory Resistence (kΩ

1 Series 4.3
2 Parallel 0.767
3 Sries/Parallel 1.767

2. Resistor Check (Optional): The resistors on the UI-5210 circuit board are accurate
to within ±5%. This can be improved substantially if a multimeter is available.
These will generally measure resistance ±1%.

a. Disconnect all the wires from the circuit board.

b. Use a multimeter (if available) to measure the resistance of resistors R2,
R3, & R4 on the circuit board. Enter the values in Table II.

3. Theory Resistance: Using Equivalent Circuits and the values for the resistors from
Table II, calculate the equivalent resistance for each of the three circuits shown on
the previous page. Enter the values in the Theory Resistance column of Table III.

C. Equivalent Circuit Procedure

1. Create a new table: Select “Circuit” for the first column. Except for the
calculations “True Cur” and “% Diff”, the rest of the columns are all user-entered
 data sets.

Open the calculator and make the calculations:

 True Cur = [Av. Current] - [Zero Cur.] Units of mA
 % Diff = 100*([Exp. Resist] - [Theory Resistance]) / [Theory Resistance]

Circuit Output 1 Zero Cur. Av.Current True Exp. Theory %Diff

Voltage (mA) Cur Resist Resistance
(mA) (%)
(V) (kΩ)
(mA) (kΩ)

Series 15.00 5.06 8.62 3.56 4.213 4.3 2.04

Parallel 15.00 5.07 25.41 20.34 0.737 0.767 4

Series/ 15.00 4.92 13.00 8.88 1.689 1.767 4.51

Parallel

2. Click open the Signal Generator. Set Output 1 for a DC waveform with a DC
Voltage of 15 V. Click On. Close the Signal Generator panel.

3. Calibrate Check: With nothing attached to Output 1 of the 850 Universal

Interface, click RECORD and record until the Average Current stops changing (a
few seconds). Record the value of the Average Current in the Zero Cur. column of
the Table IV. Enter the same value in each of the three rows. If the Output 1
Voltage reading is different from 15.00 V, enter the value in column 1, replacing
the 15.00 values.

4. Set up the circuit shown in Figures 1 & 5.

5. Click RECORD and record until the Average Current stops changing. Record the
value of the Average Current in the Av. Current column of Table IV. “True Cur”
 = “Av. Current” – “Zero Current”.

6. Using the “True Cur” values and Equation 1 from Theory, calculate the total
resistance (experimental) of the circuit. Enter the value in the Exp. Resist. column
of the table.

7. Set up the circuit shown in Figures 2 & 6. Repeat steps 5 & 6.

8. Set up the circuit shown in Figures 3 & 7. Repeat steps 5 & 6.

D. Equivalent Circuit Conclusion

1. How well does the method of equivalent circuits work?
Based on the data collected, we can say that we can prove the ohm’s law equation
theory about a connection between V,I,and R . We also can see that there are a
slight difference between the theory resistance and experiment resistance about
2.89%. We can observe the relationship between voltage and resistance in these
circuits. Constant voltage across the three circuit variations, we find that the
parallel circuit has the highest current because it has the lowest expected
resistance. On the other hand, the series circuit has the lowest current because the
resistance keeps increasing, reducing the current to maintain the same voltage.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
In this experiment, we prove the theory of Ohm’s Law. We couldn’t say that the
experiment is 100% perfect,it is because of a lot of external variables that caused some
difference from the experiment and the theory, Nevertheless in this experiment can prove
the ohm’s law theory. We can see the connection between rhe V,I,and R (V=I.Rwhere
the voltage that pass the resistor is proportional to the current.
We also can see that there are a slight difference between theory and experiment
resistance around 2.89%. We can observe the relationship between voltage and
resistance in these circuits. Constant voltage across the three circuit variations, we find
that the parallel circuit has the highest current because it has the lowest expected
resistance. On the other hand, the series circuit has the lowest current because the
 resistance keeps increasing, reducing the current to maintain the same voltage.
VII. REFERENCES
PASCO Scientific. [Online]. Instruction Manual and Experiment Guide for the PASCO
scientific model for Ohm’s model experiment
https://d2n0lz049icia2.cloudfront.net/product_document/EX-5535-Ohms-Law.zip

VIII. APPENDICES