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Lab6

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

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