Research Question: how temperature affects the

conductivity and resistance of a wire?

Aim: To investigate how the change in temperature of the
wire affects the resistance of the wire.
Background Information: Resistance is when electrons
travelling through the wire are impeded by
the atoms within the wire. Since the electrons are charge
carriers when they collide with the atoms in the wire, less
pass through. Therefore less current passes through with
the same voltage. Simply it is how hard it is for the
electrons to pass through the wire. The main factors
responsible for affecting the resistance of a wire are
temperature of the wire, length of a wire, cross-sectional
area or width of the wire and the material of the wire.
Electrical conductivity measures the ability of a conductor
to allow current to flow in it. Therefore conductivity is the
inverse of resistance. The higher the resistance of the
wire, the lower the conductivity will be.
Resistance

= 1 / Conductivity

Ohms Law states that when a current I ampere flows

inside a conductor of resistance R ohms, the voltage V volt
across the wire will be the product of the current and the
resistance.
Voltage V = Current I x Resistance R

Hypothesis: When the metal wire is heated, more

energy s given to the atoms, therefore they vibrate more.
From this there is a greater chance of collisions with the
electrons and they are impeded more, therefore less
charge is passed by the electrons and the resulting current
is reduced. I predict that as the temperature would
increase, the kinetic energy of the atoms, of the wire,
would increase, increasing the resistance. Since there
would be more random collisions between atoms of the
wire, per unit time, there would be less space for current to
pass through, hence increasing the resistance.

Variables:
Independent- Temperature
Temperature would be kept as the independent
variable as it needs to be varied in the experiment
to now if it actually affects the resistance of the
wire. The temperature, which is the independent
variable, will be marked on the x-axis.
Dependent- Resistance
The resistance of the ire is the dependent variable
because it depends on the independent variable
which is the temperature of the wire. The
dependent variable will be marked on the y-axis.
Controlled- Material of the wire, Length of the
wire, Cross-sectional area or width of the wire

All the other factors that can affect the resistance

of the wire except temperature need to be kept
constant as, if any of them is changed, the results
will vary and we will be distracted from our aim.
Our results will become hampered.

Apparatus:
EQUIPMENT
Wire A

QUANTITY
40cm3

Connecting wires

4 to 5

Cells
Ammeter
Voltmeter
Measuring Cylinder
Switch
Beaker
Spirit Lamp
Tripod & Gauze mat
Water

4
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
200ml

Diagram:

Method:
1. Collect all the equipment and set up the apparatus in
the way shown above in the diagram.
2.First pour 200ml of water (20C) in the beaker using a
measuring cylinder.
3.Once the wire is in the water, turn the switch on.
4.Then record the readings of the ammeter and
voltmeter. Perform three trials and record these
readings as well.
5.Now, repeat these steps by changing the temperature
of the water, by heating the temperature to 30C, 50
C, 70C, and 90C.

6. Finally change the water and put ice measuring 0C in

it instead.
7.Once you get the readings , take the average of each
trial and find the resistance of the wire at each
temperature using the formula( V/I which is
Voltage/Current)

Temperature
(C)

0C

20C

30C

50C

Trial
No.
Trial
No.
1
Trial
No.
2
Trial
No.
3
Trial
No.
1
Trial
No.
2
Trial
No.
3
Trial
No.
1
Trial
No.
2
Trial
No.
3
Trial
No.
1
Trial
No.
2
Trial

Voltage
V
(Volts)
4.5

Current-I/
A
(Ampere)
8.72

4.5

8.76

Resistance (Ohms)

Average
resistance

0.516

0.513
0.514

4.5

8.73

0.515

4.5

9.82

0.458

4.5

9.78

0.460
0.459

4.5

9.81

0.459

4.5

9.43

0.477

4.5

9.36

0.481
0.479

4.5

9.42

0.478

4.5

8.81

0.511

4.5

8.84

0.509

4.5

8.79

0.512

0.511

70C

90C

No.
3
Trial
No.
1
Trial
No.
2
Trial
No.
3
Trial
No.
1
Trial
No.
2
Trial
No.
3

4.5

8.43

0.533

4.5

8.40

0.535
0.535

4.5

8.36

0.538

4.5

8.01

0.562

4.5

7.97

0.565
0.564

4.5

7.93

0.567

Analysis and Conclusion: At the end of the experiment,

after looking at the results, I know that my hypothesis was
correct. At the temperature increased, the resistance
increased due to the collision theory. But due to the same
theory, the resistance increased when the temperature was
near 0 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the wire
increases due to its power loss, which is calculated as I2x
R., where I is the current in the wire and R is the resistance.
The higher the current in the wire or the higher resistance
will cause the temperature of the wire to increase.
Therefore it is important to choose the correct wire sizes to
minimize this unwanted loss and reduce the temperature
of the conductor. When the experiment is repeated with

the coil in a water bath so that its temperature remains

constant, the characteristic graph is a straight line,
showing that the resistance remains constant. Pure metals
do obey Ohm's law when their temperature remains
constant. Wires made from alloys such as Constantan or
Eureka wire (consisting of 60% copper and 40% nickel) are
designed to have a very small temperature coefficient of
resistivity. Therefore, they do not need to be placed in a
constant temperature bath in order to show
ohmic behavior.
Evaluation:
After evaluating my hypothesis, I came to a conclusion that
my hypothesis could have been more detailed and it did
help me during the evaluation of the data that I got. The
method I used could have been expanded and written in a
safer method. Instead of using a spirit lamp, I could have
gotten heated water from the biology laboratory. This
would have saved my time as well. For better results, I
could have tried doing more trials or should have taken
more temperatures. I could have also tried adding an extra
ammeter or voltmeter to make sure that my apparatus
wasnt faulty and it wouldnt give me incorrect readings.