Experiment#2 EGR320L FrankJamison September28,2013

Ohm'sLawinRegardtoResistorsinSeriesandinParallel
Introduction Inthisseriesoffiveexperimentswewillverifythroughthatthetotalresistanceofresistorsinseriesand inparallelfollowformula's5.7and5.8inourtextbook[1].Theformulaforthetotalresistanceofresistors inseriesbeing Rt=R1+R2+R3+...+RN andtheformulaforthetotalresistanceofresistorsinparallelbeing Rt=1/(1/R1+1/R2+1/R3+...+1/RN). Afterverifyingtheseformulas,wewillrunacurrentthroughcircuitswithresistorsbothinseriesandin parallelandmeasurethevoltageacrosseachresistortoseeifourexperimentalresultsmatchthe theoreticalresultsderivedfromOhm'sLaw[2] V=IR andKirchhoff'sVoltageLaw[3] V=0aroundaloop. ExperimentalProcedure UsingtheDigitalMultimeterapplicationofNationalInstrumentsMyDAQequipment[4],andresistors obtainedfromNationalUniversity,weranaseriesoffiveexperiments. InthefirstexperimentweplacedatotaloffourresistorsintothebreadboardoftheMyDAQandused theohmmeterfunctionofitsdigitalmultimeterapplicationtomeasuretheirindividualresistances. Usingdataobtainedfromhobbyhour.com[5],wereadtheresistorcodesprintedoneachresistorand evaluatedtheiraccuracyusingpercentdifference.Precisionwasmeasuredbyseveralstudents measuringsimilarlycodedresistorsandcalculatingthestandarddeviationofallmeasurements. Inthesecondexperiment,weplacedseveralcombinationsofourresistorsinseriesontheMyAQ breadboard,headtotail,andmeasuredtheirtotalresistance.Accuracywasmeasuredbycalculatingthe percentdifferencebetweenthemeasuredtotalresistancesandthetheoreticaltotalresistances calculatedusingthetotalresistanceformulaforresistorsinseriesandthecolorcodesonthe

appropriateresistors.Precisionwasmeasuredbyseveralstudentsperformingthisexperimenton similarlycodedresistorsandthencalculatingthestandarddeviation. Thethirdexperimentwassimilartoexperiment2exceptthattheresistorswereplacedinparallelonthe MyDAQbreadboard.Theheadsoftheresistorsinonerowandthetailsoftheresistorsinanotherrow. Accuracywasmeasuredbycalculatingpercentdifferencebetweenthemeasuredvaluesandthe theoreticalvaluescalculatedusingthetotalresistanceformulaforresistorsinparallelandthecolor codesontheappropriateresistors.Precisionwascalculatedusingstandarddeviationforexperiments runbymyselfandotherstudentsonsimilarlycodedresistors. Forthefourthexperiment,IcreatedaDCcircuitwithresistorsinseriesontheMyDAQbreadboardusing a9Vbatteryasthevoltagesourceandresistorscodedas8.2kand18kresistances.Knowingthat therearedifferencesinmeasuredandtheoreticalvaluedforvoltageandresistance,Imadecalculations usingbothpuretheoreticalvaluesandwhereIcalculatedsometheoreticalvaluesusingactualmeasured valuesforthebatteryandR1andR2.Voltagesacrosseachresistorweremeasuredaswellasthevoltage acrossbothresistors,andaccuracywascalculatedusingthepercentdifferencemethodforboththe puretheoreticalandmeasuredtheoreticalinstances. ForExperiment5,IcreatedaDCcircuitwiththesametworesistorsfromexperiment4inparallelonthe MyDAQbreadboard.Sinceresistorsinparallelmakeacurrentdivider,theexpectedvoltageacrosseach resistorisexpectedtobethesame.Sincetherearenoresistorsinseries,Iexpectthevoltagetobethe sameasthevoltagesource.Voltagewasthenmeasuredacrosseachresistorandacrossbothresistorsin parallel.Theaccuracyoftheexperimentwasthenevaluatedagainstbothapurelytheoreticalvalueof 9Vforthebatteryandagainsttheactualmeasuredvoltageoutputofthebattery. Data Experiment1ResistorsStudentDataFile28Sept20131300 Resistor R1 R2 R3 R4 Experiment2ResistorsinSeriesStudentDataFile28Sept20131300 Resistor R1+R2 R2+R3 R3+R4 R1+R2+R3+R4 Theoretical(k) 26.2 100 412 438 Frank(k) 26.3 99.6 417 444 Cristela(k) 26.0 99.8 416 443 Kresta(k) 25.8 98.2 399 433 Theoretical(k) 8.2 18 82 330 Frank(k) 8.10 17.9 81.7 336 Cristela(k) 8.14 17.9 81.9 335 Kresta(k) 8.11 18.1 81.3 325

Experiment3ResistorsinParallelStudentDataFile28Sept20131300 Resistor R1+R2 R2+R3 R3+R4 R1+R2+R3+R4 Experiment4DCCircuit,ResistorsinSeries VTotal V1 V2 RTotal R1 R2 ITotal Experiment5DCCircuit,ResistorsinParallel VTotal V1 V2 Results&Discussion Lookingatthetablebelow,wecandeterminehowaccuratethemeasurementsarebyevaluatingits percentdifferencefromthetheoreticalvalueandhowprecisethemeasurementisbyitsstandard deviation.Forthe8.2kresistorsourmeasurementswereveryprecise,havingastandarddeviationof 0.0208,butwastheleastaccurateoftheresistors,havingapercentdifferenceof1.02%.Theaccuracy doesfallwithinthestatedvarianceoftheresistor,however,whichis5%.The18kand82kresistors arebothverypreciseandveryaccurate,beinglessthan0.5standarddeviationsandlessthan0.5% difference.The330kresistorsareveryaccurate,havinga%differenceof0.606%,butnotveryprecise, withastandarddeviationof6.08. Resistor R1 R2 R3 R4 Theoretical (k) 8.2 18 82 330 Frank (k) 8.10 17.9 81.7 336 Cristela (k) 8.14 17.9 81.9 335 Kresta (k) 8.11 18.1 81.3 325 Mean (k) 8.12 18.0 81.6 332 Std. Dev. 0.0208 0.115 0.306 6.08 %Diff. 1.02 0.185 0.447 0.606 PureTheoretical 9.0V 9.0V 9.0V MeasuredBattery 9.49V 9.49V 9.49V MeasuredResistors 9.48V 9.48V 9.48V PureTheoretical 9.00V 2.82V 6.18V 26.2k 8.2k 18.0k .344mA MeasuredTheoretical 9.49V 2.96V 6.53V 26.0k 8.10k 17.9k .365mA MeasuredResistors 9.49V 2.94V 6.53V Theoretical(k) 5.63 14.8 65.7 5.19 Frank(k) 5.59 14.7 65.7 5.15 Cristela(k) 5.59 14.7 65.7 5.15 Kresta(k) 5.54 14.3 59.7 5.08

Lookingattheresistorsinseries,weseethatallofourmeasuredvaluesareveryaccurate,havinga% differencewithin0.800%foreachcombinationmeasured.Ourfirsttwocombinationsareveryprecise, asexpectedfromourindividualprecisionsmeasuredinexperiment1.Ourthirdandfourth combinations,however,containresistor4.Thepreviousexperimentshowstheprecisionofresistor4is quitepoor,andthatcarriesthroughtotheprecisionoftheresistorsinseries. Theoretical (k) R1+R2 26.2 R2+R3 100 R3+R4 412 R1+R2+R3+R4 438 Resistor Frank (k) 26.3 99.6 417 444 Cristela (k) 26.0 99.8 416 443 Kresta (k) 25.8 98.2 399 433 Mean (k) 26.0 99.2 411 440 Std. Dev. 0.252 0.872 10.1 6.08 %Diff. 0.636 0.800 0.324 0.411

Thedatafromexperiment3presentstwoquestions.Whyistheprecisionnotablybetterforthe combinationstestedinparallelthaninseries?Andwhyarethereadingslessaccurate?Well,sincethere aremultiplelanesforthecurrenttoflowthrough,thetotalresistancewillbelessthantheresistancein anyonelane.Thefactthatthecurrentfollowsthepathofleastresistancemeansthatthestandard deviationleansmoretowardthatoftheresistorwiththelowerresistance.Inthiscase,moretowardR1 thanR2.MoretowardR2thanR3.MoretowardR3thanR4.Inthecasewherealltheresistorsarein parallelmostofthecurrentisgoingthroughR1andsothestandarddeviationofthetotalcircuitisgoing toskewtowardthestandarddeviationofR1.Asforaccuracy,thetotalresistanceofresistorsinparallel islessthanthatofresistorsinseries.Thismeansthateachpercentagepointrepresentsconsiderably fewerohmsofresistanceandthusraisesthe%differencebetweenthemeasuredamountandthe theoreticalamount. Theoretical (k) R1+R2 5.63 R2+R3 14.8 R3+R4 65.7 R1+R2+R3+R4 5.19 Resistor Frank(k) Cristela(k) Kresta(k) 5.59 14.7 65.7 5.15 5.59 14.7 65.7 5.15 5.54 14.3 59.7 5.08 Mean (k) 5.57 14.6 63.7 5.13 Std. Dev. 0.0289 0.231 3.46 0.0404 %Diff. 1.07 1.31 3.01 1.19

Inthefollowingtwoexperiments,Iusedtwodifferentsetsofnumberstocomeupwithmyresults.The firstsetofnumbersisthepurelytheoreticalset.A9Vbatteryproduces9volts.An8.2kresistor produces8.2kofresistance,etc.Inthesecondsetofnumbers,Imeasuredtheactualvoltagecoming outofthebatteryandtheactualresistancesoftheresistorsandusedthemtocalculateatheoretical currentandthuspredictatheoreticalvalueofthevoltageacrosseachresistor.Whilethefirstsetof valuesistechnicallywhatthelabexperimentcallsfor,Ifeltthesecondsetofnumbersmoreclosely reflectsandthenatureofwhatwearetryingtodeterminewiththeseexperiments. Ascanbeseen,thevoltagesareafull4%to5%offfromthetheoreticallypredictedvalues.Thisisdue largelyinparttothefactthatthebatteryisproducing5.16%morevoltagethanadvertised.More voltageoverthesameresistancesmeanshighervoltagesacrosseachresistor.Asystematicerror.

Byusingtheactualmeasuredvoltageandresistances,Iwasabletoproducetheoreticalvaluesthat reflectmoreaccuratelythenatureofOhm'sLawandKirchhoff'sCurrentLaw.ByusingI=V/RIwasable todetermineatheoreticalcurrent,andfromthatIwasabletocalculatetheoreticalvaluesforthe voltageacrosseachresistor.Theaccuracyofmymeasurementswiththesecalculationswaswithin 0.56%.Amarkedimprovementoverthepurelytheoreticalvalues. VTotal V1 V2 Thefinalexperimentwasfairlyeasy.Kirchhoff'sCurrentLawtellsusitisthecurrentthatgetsdividedin aparallelcircuitwhileKirchhoff'sVoltageLawindicatesthatthevoltagewillremainequalacrossall resistorsconnectedinparallel.Thevoltagemeasuredacrosseachresistorandacrossthetworesistorsin paralleldidindeedallreportthesamevoltage9.48V.Thiswas5.06%overthepurelytheoretical9.00V thatthebatteryissupposedtooutputand0.105%underthemeasured9.49Vthatthebatteryactually putout.This0.01Vlosscouldbeduetoresistanceinthewires. VTotal V1 V2 Conclusion Ibelievethisexperimentsuccessfullyshowsthatthetotalresistanceofresistorsinseriesisthealgebraic sumoftheresistancesandthatthetotalresistanceofresistorsinparallelistheinverseofthesumof thereciprocalsoftheindividualresistances.Wehavefurtherproventhatresistorsinseriesforma voltagedivider. Whilewedidnotactuallymeasurethecurrentthroughtheresistorsinparallel,ourvoltageswere consistentwithKirchhoff'sVoltageLaw.Byusingthemeasuredvoltageacrosseachresistorinparallel,I amconfidentwewouldderiveanaccuratepredictionofwhatthecurrentthrougheachresistorwould be. Futureexperimentsofthisnaturemightbenefitfromawaytotestthecalibrationoftheequipmentas wellasknowledgeastowhetherornotalltheresistorscamefromthesamebatch. Pure Theoretical 9.00V 9.00V 9.00V Measured Theoretical 9.49V 9.49V 9.49V Measured Resistors 9.48V 9.48V 9.48V %Diff.from %Diff.fromMeasured Theoretical Theoretical 5.06 0.105 5.06 0.105 5.06 0.105 Pure Theoretical 9.00V 2.82V 6.18V Measured Theoretical 9.49V 2.96V 6.53V Measured Resistors 9.49V 2.94V 6.53V %Diff.from %Diff.fromMeasured Theoretical Theoretical 5.16 0.00 4.19 0.558 5.31 0.0536

References
1 2

IntroductiontoEngineeringAnalysis,3rdEdition,page156. IntroductiontoEngineeringAnalysis,3rdEdition,page159. 3 IntroductiontoEngineeringAnalysis,3rdEdition,page170. 4 NationalInstrumentsMyDAQwebsite(http://www.ni.com/mydaq/) 5 HobbyHourelectronicswebsite(http://www.hobbyhour.com/electronics/resistor_color_code.php)