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Honors Physics Circuits Activity I

The document describes steps for an experiment using a power supply, multimeter, light bulbs, motor, capacitor and LED. Students are instructed to connect components in various configurations, measure voltages, observe behaviors, then answer questions about the voltage differences and electron flows in the circuits.

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Cory Cook
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34 views2 pages

Honors Physics Circuits Activity I

The document describes steps for an experiment using a power supply, multimeter, light bulbs, motor, capacitor and LED. Students are instructed to connect components in various configurations, measure voltages, observe behaviors, then answer questions about the voltage differences and electron flows in the circuits.

Uploaded by

Cory Cook
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Honors Physics Name ____________________

Keller
Circuits activity I

Complete this in groups of three or four. Answer the following on separate paper and turn in
individually when finished.

1. Plug in the power supply but do not turn it on. Then plug in a red wire to the red output of the
power supply and plug in a black wire to the black output of the power supply. On the other end
of those wires are alligator clips. Clip those onto two strips of aluminum foil (about 2cm by
30cm) which are about 2cm apart. Tape the aluminum strips down to the table to secure them.
Turn the power supply on and turn the dial to six volts.

2. To connect the multimeter, plug the red cord into the lower right terminal and the black cord
into the lower left terminal. Uncap the cords. Measure the voltage step (the electric potential
created by the power supply) with the multimeter by turning the multimeter dial to 10 in the white
V-- range of the dial, touching the red power supply terminal (the exposed metal portion of the
power supply output) with the red multimeter cord tip, touching the black power supply terminal
with the black multimeter cord tip, and seeing where the needle settles (on the 0 to 10 range).
Record that value.

3. What does a voltage step of 6.0V mean in terms of the electrons that will be driven out of the
power supply?

4. Take a Christmas bulb and touch one wire end to one aluminum strip and the other wire end to
the other aluminum strip. Record what happens. Does reversing the Christmas bulb’s direction
change the result?

5. To find the voltage drop (or the change in potential across the bulb) with the bulb still lit, touch
the red multimeter tip to the bulb wire end touching the positive foil strip, touch the black
multimeter tip to the bulb wire end touching the negative foil strip, and record this multimeter
reading.

6. What does this voltage drop mean for the electrons which cross the lightbulb?

7. What is relationship between the voltage step of the power supply recorded in two and the
voltage drop across the light bulb measured in step five?

8. With the bulb still lit, bridge the two aluminum strips with a short green wire and record what
happens. Does it matter if this wire is on the near side of the lights or the far side of the bulb?
This is called shorting the circuit.
9. Take two Christmas bulbs and connect them to each other and to the aluminum strips as
diagramed above. Record what is true of the of bulb brightnesses compared to number four.

10. For this situation, find the voltage step of the power supply the same way as in number two.
Find the voltage drop across each Christmas bulb individually using the same process as in step
five. Record these three values.

11. If the power supply’s voltage step is positive and the voltage drops across the light bulbs are
negative, what is true of the overall potential difference (sum of the voltages) of the entire circuit?

12. Now connect the two bulbs separately as diagrammed above. Record what is true of the bulb
brightnesses compared to numbers four and nine.

13. Remove one bulb and then touch it again. Does adding a second bulb like this change the
brightness of the first bulb?

14. As before, find the voltage step of the power supply and the voltage drop across each bulb
individually. Record these.

15. If an electron takes a path through the power supply and through the near bulb, what is the
overall potential difference of that path? If an electron takes a path through the power supply
and through the far bulb, what is the overall potential difference of that path?

16. Remove the wire and lights and turn the power supply down to 2.2V. Put a small piece of
tape on the motor axle (to see which way it turns) and touch the terminals of the motor to the two
aluminum strips and record what happens. What happens to the direction of turning when the
two motor terminals are reversed on the aluminum strips?

17. Turn the power supply back to 6V. Touch the capacitor (small black cylinder) terminals to
the two aluminum strips, remove the capacitor, and then touch the capacitor terminals to the two
terminals of the LED (small red bulb). LEDs are diodes which means they only work in one
direction, so you may need to flip it to get a result. Record what happens.

18. Capacitors are very similar to two metal plates parallel to each other. Describe what is
happening in terms of the electrons when the capacitor touches the foil strips and then when the
capacitor is touched to the LED.

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