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TheWheatstoneBridge
September29,2016
TA:Malkinski,Leszek
PHYS1065
ZacharyFerger
Introduction
InthislabwedivedeeperintoOhmsLawtoanalyzeaslightly
morecomplexcircuitknownasTheWheatstonebridgetomeasure
resistances of several different wire lengths. After some
measurements,theWheatstonebridgewasappliedtodeterminean
unknownresistance.
Thislabrequiredaclearunderstandingofresistanceincludinghow
resistanceiscalculatedandwhatresistanceiscomposedof.Weare
givenanewequationforcalculatingresistanceofawire.Touse
thisequationwemeasurewirelength,theareaofacrosssectionof
thewire,andtheresistivityofthematerialthatmakesupthewire.
Theory
ResistanceofaWire:Resistanceofawire
canbecalculatedfromformula(1)where:
L=lengthofthewire.
A=crosssectionalareaofthewire.
=resistivityofthemetalofthe
wire.
OhmsLaw:Resistanceinacircuitis
calculatedbymeasuringthevoltageacross
aresistoranddividingitbyournumberof
amps.
BASIC
FORMULA
(1)
R=?
L
A
R=V/I
WheatstoneBridge:
Thisisadeviceforprecisemeasurementsofresistances.Itisbasedonthe
diagraminFig.1.AtpointA,anincomingcurrentsplitsintotwocurrents,
IxandI.Ingeneral,therecouldexistacrossovercurrentbetweenpointsC
andD,whichwillbedetectedbythegalvanometer.However,ifthe
resistancesR1andR2areproperlychosen,thecrossovercurrentwillbe
zero(asthegalvanometerwillshow).Thishappenswhenthefour
resistancesinFig.1satisfytherelation(2).
BALANCED
BRIDGE
BASIC
RELATION
(2)
RXR1
=
R0R2
Inthisexperiment,theresistancesR1andR2stemfromtwopiecesof
auniformwire(samemetal,samecrosssection).
Therefore,theratioR1/R2isthesameastheratioL1/L2oftheir
lengths.Then,ifR0isknown,theunknownresistancecanbefound
from(2).
Calculations
Table6.1:DataTableforWheatstoneBridge
Trial
1
2
3
4
5
Metal
Coppe
r
Coppe
r
Coppe
r
Coppe
r
Ni/Ag
AWG L(cm)
22
100
L1(cm)
51.4
L2(cm)
48.6
R3( )
0.60
28
100
51.4
48.6
2.00
20
100
51
49
1.05
20
100
51
49
4.15
10
100
51
49
8.4
Analysis
Table6.1:DataTableforWheatstoneBridge
Trial
Metal
AWG
RX( )
1
2
3
4
5
Copper
Copper
Copper
Copper
Ni/Ag
22
28
20
20
10
0.60
2.00
1.05
4.15
8.4
exp(cm)
Questions
1. Whyshouldtheammeterandvoltmeterbereadsimultaneouslytodetermine
theresistanceofacircuitcomponent?
Ammeterandvoltmetershouldbereadsimultaneouslytodeterminethe
resistanceofacomponent.Tofindtheresistanceweshoulduseohms
law.Thevoltageonthevoltmetershouldberecordedforeachcurrent
valueandthemeasurementshouldbesimultaneous.inanycasethevoltage
ischangedaftertakingthemeasurement,thecorrespondingchangewillbe
inthecurrentvalue.Ineffectthecurrentmeasuredisnotforthatparticular
voltage.Thiswillendupinthewrongcalculation.Somaking
measurementssimultaneouslyisimportanttofindtheresistance
2. Comparetheerrorinvolvedineachtwochoicesofmeasurementwithnon
idealmeters.
Ouranalysisdidnotpointtoanymajorerrors.
3. TheconductanceGisequaltothereciprocalofresistance,i.e.,G=1/R.
Usingthisdefinition,rewriteOhmsLaw,theformulafortheequivalent
resistanceofseriesresistors,andtheformulafortheequivalentresistanceof
parallelresistorsintermsofconductance.TheSIunitforconductanceisin
theSiemen(S).
V*G=i(ohmslaw).
InParallel:Geq=G1+G2+G3....
4. Ifalamphasaresistanceof25ohms,whatmusttheresistanceofasecond
lamp,whichisconnectedinparalleltothefirst,beforthetotalresistanceto
be18.75ohms?
NeteffectiveresistanceRofaparallelconnectionisgivenbyR=R1xR2/
(R1+R2)
R=18.75ohms,R1=25ohms,R2=?
18.75=25xR2/(25+R2)
18.75*25+18.75R2=25R2
468.75=6.25R2
R2=468.75/6.25
R2=75ohms
5. Aradiowitharesistanceof40ohmsandaclockwitharesistanceof20ohms
areconnectedinseriesona120V.
a)Whatistheequivalentresistance?
eq.res=40+20=60ohms
b)Whatisthecurrent?
I=V/R=120/60=2A
c)Supposetheradioandtheclockwereconnectedinparallel.Whatisthe
equivalentresistance?
eq.resforparallel=20*40/(20+40)=13.33ohms
d)Inthecasethattheyareconnectedinparallel,whatisthecurrentinthe
radio,thecurrentintheclock,andthecurrentthroughthesource?
Currentthroughsource=V/R(equivalent)=120/(13.33)=9Amp
Currentthroughradio=V/R(radio)=120/(40)=3Amp
Currentthroughclock=V/R(clock)=120/20=6Amp
e)Whatiseachpowersuppliedtothecircuitintheparallelcase?Howmuch
powerisdissipatedbyeachcomponent?
Powersuppliedtotal=V*I(total)=120*9=1080Watt
Powerforradio=V*I(radio)=120*3=360Watt
Powerforclock=V*I(clock)=120*6=720Watt