Title: Resistance of different temperature of 20mm Nickel- Chromium (SWG)

Introduction
Research Question:
How does changing the temperature of the wire affect the resistance of the 20mm
nickel chromium swg wire?
Hypothesis:
I hypothesis that by increasing the temperature of the wire the resistance will increase
because it will cause more collision between the electrons, by decreasing the temperature of the wire
the resistance will decrease because it will cause less collision between the electrons.
Variables
Variables

Factors Description
Independent

Temperature Temperature will be changed
by putting the wire inside
different temperature waters.
Dependent

Resistance
Fixed (1)

Length of the wire I will have separate wires with
the same length.
Fixed (2)

Thickness of the wire I will have separate wires with
the same thickness.
Fixed (3)

Voltage of the Batteries The battery I will use will have
the same voltage for every try I
do.
Fixed (4)

Amount of time spent on
measuring
I will spend the same time
measuring the current of the
wire.
Fixed (5)

Amount of time heating or
cooling the wire
I will a hot or cold pack around
my wire.
Fixed (6)

Amount of water used to heat
and cool the wire
I will put in the same amount of
water in my pack
Fixed (7)

Volume of the container to hold
the water
I will use different packs for
each temperature.
Fixed (8)

Shape of the wire The shape of my wire will be
the same.

Materials
- 4 plastic packs
- 1 Heating plate
- 4 same volume measuring beaker
- 5, 5cm length, width ,shape 20mm nickel chromium wire
- 1 Thermometer
- 1 Stop watch
- 1 Ammeter
- 1 Voltmeter
- 1 Power source
- 2 Alligator clips
- 1 pipet
Method
1. Setup the experiment like the graph below

2. Put 40ml of cold water from the sink into the beaker
3. Use the pipet to make accurate measurement
4. Measure the temperature of the water using a thermometer
5. Write the temperature on a data graph
6. Put the cold water in the beaker into the plastic bag
7. Wrap the wire with the cold water filled plastic bag for 15seconds
8. Place the cooled wire in the circuit
9. Turn the Power source to 2 volts
10. After 5 seconds look at the ammeter and write the current onto the data graph
11. Repeat step 2-10, 3times
12. Throw away the wire after use
13. Get a new wire
14. Insert it into the circuit
15. Turn the Power source to 2 volts
16. After 5seconds look at the ammeter and write the current onto the data graph
17. Repeats step 13-16, 3 times
18. Throw away the used wire
19. Take a new beaker
20. Put in 40ml of sink water into the beaker
21. Use a pipet to make accurate measurements
22. Heat the water by using the heating plate
23. Heat the water until it reaches 40 degrees Celsius
24. Put the heated warm water into a new plastic bag
25. Wrap a new wire with the warm water filled plastic bag
26. After 15seconds of wrapping(warming the wire) put the wire into the circuit
27. Turn the Power source to 2 volts
28. After 5seconds look at the ammeter and write the current onto the data graph
29. Repeats steps 20-28, 3 times
30. Throw away the used wire
31. Take a new beaker
32. Put in 40ml of sink water
33. Use a pipet to make accurate measurements
34. Heat the water by using the heating plate
35. Heat the water until it reaches 65 degrees Celsius
36. Put the heated hot water into a new plastic bag
37. Wrap a new wire with the hot water filled plastic page
38. After 15seconds of wrapping(heating the wire) put the wire into the circuit
39. Turn the Power source to 2 volts
40. After 5seconds look at the ammeter and write the current onto the data graph
41. Repeat steps 31-41, 3times
42. Throw away the used wire
43. Put in 40ml of sink water
44. Use a pipet to make accurate measurements
45. Heat the water by using the heating plate
46. Heat the water until it reaches 85 degrees Celsius
47. Put the heated very hot water into a new plastic bag
48. Wrap a new wire with the very hot water filled plastic page
49. After 15seconds of wrapping(heating the wire) put the wire into the circuit
50. Turn the Power source to 2 volts
51. After 5seconds look at the ammeter and write the current onto the data graph
52. Repeat steps 31-41, 3times
53. Throw away the used wire


Data
Raw Data
Temperature Trial 1 Trial2 Trial3
Voltage(V) Current(A) Voltage(V) Current(A) Voltage(V) Current(V)
Wire cooled
with a cold
water of 26C
2 2.1 2 2 2 2.1
Room
temperature
wire 28C
2 2 2 2 2 2.1
Wire
warmed
with a warm
water of 40C
2 2 2 1.99 2 1.99
Wire heated
with a hot
water of 65C
2 1.96 2 1.98 2 1.97
Wire heated
with a hot
water of 85C
2 1.94 2 1.95 2 1.97

Observations
- I experimented for 2 days so the temperature of the room cooled down the wires
- For the warm water since the wire wasnt hot it got cooled really easily
- I didnt check the voltmeter and only checked the volts on the power source
- The wire will get hot so it needs caution
Processed Data
Temperature Resistance (Ohms )
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Average
Wire cooled with a
cold water of (26C)
0.95 0.98 0.95 0.96
Room temperature
wire
1 1.0 0.98 0.99
Wire warmed with a
warm water of (40C)
1 1.01 1.01 1.01
Wire heated with a
hot water of (65C)
1.02 1.01 1.02 1.02
Wire heated with a
hot water of (85C)
1.03 1.03 1.02 1.03





Data Analysis


My graph has a linear trend line that best fits a positive gradient (y = 0.0009x + 0.9562).
Conclusion
From my lab experiment I have found that as I increase the temperature of my wire there were
more resistance. I know from my lab experiment because as seen on the graph the trend line (resistance)
increases as the x axis (temperature) increases.
1. Yes my data is very close to the trend line. My trend line has a positive gradient and as shown
above on the graph as the temperature of the wire increases so does the resistance.
2. 2 of my points are on the trend line and 3 of my points are not on my trend line. Points 4 and 5
are on the trend line however points 1, 2 and 3 are not on the trend line. The reason all the
points are not on the trend line is because of the unequal integers of the temperature of the
wire. The temperatures goes from 26C, 28C, 40C, 65C, 85C. If there were an equal integer
for example every 20C all my points would have been on the trend line.
3. Dont understand
As the temperature of the wire increases the resistance increased in the circuit. This is because as
the wire gets hotter the atomic lattice in the material vibrates more due to the heat. When the atomic
y = 0.0009x + 0.9562
R = 0.7439
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0 30.0 35.0 40.0 45.0 50.0 55.0 60.0 65.0 70.0 75.0 80.0 85.0
R
e
s
i
s
t
a
n
c
e

(

)
Temeperature of water used to warm/cool the wire (C)
Resistance of wire of different Temperatures
lattice vibrates more in makes it more difficult for the electrons to move without bumping into an atom
and increasing the resistance.
"Factors That Affect the Resistance of a Wire." Cyberphysics. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.cyberphysics.co.uk/topics/electricity/higher_electricity/resistance.htm>.

Validity of Hypothesis
My hypothesis fits well with my lab experiment results. In my hypothesis I have said I
hypothesis that by increasing the temperature of the wire the resistance will increase because it will
cause more collision between the electrons, by decreasing the temperature of the wire the resistance
will decrease because it will cause less collision between the electrons. And by looking at my results my
hypothesis is accurate. However my accuracy of the hypothesis could be even more clearly seen if the
temperature of the wire were in a larger scale. By increasing/decreasing the temperature of the wire by
10C - 20C the resistance only increased by 1 or less than 1 and makes it really hard to tell by looking
at the graph. On the other hand if I increased/decreased the temperature of my wires by 50C the
resistance would have been 5 or more making the resistance of the wire increasing seen very clearly
on the graph.
Evaluation
Improvements
Issue Impact Improvement
Didnt check the voltmeter for
the volts
Inaccurate results because the
volts of the power source were
not precise
Next time check the voltmeter
for precise measurement of the
volts
Sometimes the wires got cooled
down because of the
temperature of the room
The resistance could have
differed for same temperature
wire if the wire was cooled
down.
Be in a room where it is warm
and not cold to prevent the wire
from cooling down.
Didnt have enough plastic bags
because some of them got holes
during the experiment.
Made the experiment take
longer because I had to wait for
the plastic bags to come back to
room temperature.
Bring extra plastic bags to make
sure to have enough for the
experiment.
Used an analog ammeter The analog ammeter isnt as
precise as the digital ammeter so
the analog ammeter doesnt give
precise results
Get a digital ammeter to do the
whole experiment in order to get
precise amps.
The temperature of my wire
doesnt have the same integer
Doesnt form a nice and even
graph or trend line
Use the same integer for
example every 20C so 20C,
40C, 50C and etc

Extensions
The only extension that needs to be added is to collect the data over a wider range of
temperature. The temperature of the wires needs to have a greater difference between them to get a
clear result of the changes of the resistance in the circuit.