Lab 3-3: Measuring and Calculating Voltage and Current
Lab
3-3: Measuring and Calculating Voltage and Current
Names:______________________________________________________________
Equipment for this
lab - per team
1 digital multimeter
3 9 volt batteries and 3 connectors
wire nut connectors
1 breadboard
Three 9 Volt
Batteries Connected in Series
Connect the batteries as shown below
For part B of the lab, this configuration will be
connected to the breadboard with resistor constructed in the previous lab
Section A: Voltage of Individual batteries and
batteries in series and Kirkoff's Law
1. Use the digital voltmeter to measure the voltage
of the three individual 9 V batteries and record those
values below.
battery 1:______
battery 2:______
battery 3: ______
2. Use the digital voltmeter to measure the total
voltage, in series, of the three 9 volt batteries you
measured individually above.
Record the value measured below.
total voltage: ______
3. Using the individual measurements in part 1 above
and Kirckoff's law, calculate the expected total
voltage in series. Show your answer and calculations below.
4. Compare the measured total voltage from part 2
with the calculated total voltage from part 3 and explain and differences
found between measured and calculated voltage.
Section B: Current of Batteries in Series and
Kirkoff's Law
1. Connect
the three 9-volt batteries in series to the breadboard containing the
resistor used in the previous lab.
2. Measure the current on each side of the resistor and
record those values below.
Current on one side:_____________
Current on other side: ________________
3. What does
Kirchoff's law say about the two readings? Should they be the same?
4. If there
was a difference in the readings, provide an estimate of the reason below.
Section C:
Batteries in Series and Ampere's Law
1.
According the Ampere's law, VTotal = ITotalxRTotal
2. Use the
total voltage measured from part A2 above and the total current frm B2 above
and compare the calculated resistance (R = V/I) with the value of the
resistance from the previous
lab. Are they the same? If not, provide an estimate of the reason below.