demonstrations:ohms_law
Ohm's Law
Materials: ★★☆ Available in most school laboratories or specialist stores
Difficulty: ★☆☆ Can be easily done by most teenagers
Safety: ★★☆ Some safety precautions required to perform safely
Categories: Electricity
Alternative titles: Voltage, Current, and Resistance Relationship
Summary
This demonstration uses a simple resistor circuit to verify the relationship ( V = IR ).
Procedure
- Gather equipment: a low-voltage DC power supply, a fixed resistor (e.g., 100 Ω), a voltmeter, an ammeter, and connecting leads.
- Connect the resistor in series with the ammeter, and place the voltmeter across the resistor.
- Switch on the power supply at a low voltage (e.g., 1 V). Record the current from the ammeter and the voltage from the voltmeter.
- Increase the voltage step by step (e.g., in 1 V increments), recording the corresponding current at each step.
- Plot a graph of voltage (y-axis) against current (x-axis). A straight line through the origin indicates ohmic behavior, with the slope equal to the resistance.
- Repeat with different resistors to compare resistance values.
Links
Ohm's Law I - TeachEngineering:
Ohm's Law with practical demonstration - Kitronik:
📄 Ohm's Law I - ncwit.org: https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/ohm1_act_joy
Variations
- Try with a variable resistor to show how changing resistance affects the current at a fixed voltage.
Safety Precautions
- Use a low-voltage DC power supply (typically under 12 V) to avoid electric shock.
- Do not exceed the power rating of the resistor to prevent overheating.
- Switch off the supply before changing connections.
- Allow bulbs or resistors to cool before handling if they become hot.
Questions to Consider
- What does the gradient of the voltage-current graph represent? (The resistance of the component.)
- Why does a straight-line graph through the origin indicate ohmic behavior? (Because voltage is directly proportional to current.)
- How does the graph for a filament bulb differ from a fixed resistor, and why? (It curves because resistance increases as the filament gets hotter.)
- What happens to current if voltage is doubled across an ohmic resistor? (Current also doubles, provided the resistance stays constant.)
- Why is it important to keep the temperature constant when testing Ohm’s law? (Because resistance can change with temperature, altering the relationship.)