Circuit Lab #1 and Circuit Lab #2

Today we first went over the symbols used in circuit diagrams as bellwork:

Bellwork/Notes: Circuit Diagrams

Then we completed Circuit Lab #1 and Circuit Lab #2. Both need to be completed in your lab notebook and only checked, not turned in. You may also finish at home and have them checked Wednesday.

Circuit Lab #1

Purpose: Find 4 different arrangements of a single bulb, single battery, and single wire that result in a lit bulb.

The following needs to be in your lab notebook:
Sketches or circuit diagrams of every arrangement you try, even the ones that don't work.
Answers to the following:What do the arrangements that worked have in common? What do the arrangements that didn't work have in common?

Caution: some arrangements may result in rapid overheating. If an arrangement gets hot, STOP IMMEDIATELY. Lighting the bulb and getting hot are mutually exclusive arrangements, so just holding onto a overheating arrangement in the hope that it will start to work eventually is not a smart idea.

You may also be able to complete this lab with the online simulator PhET Circuit Construction Kit.

Circuit Lab #2

Purpose: Find the relationship between voltage difference, resistance, and current in a circuit.
Materials: resistors of various value, battery, wire/alligator clips, ammeter (measures current).

The following needs to be in your notebook:
A brief procedure for taking data
Data table
Graph (linearized if necessary)
Slope calculation
Speculation on what the slope represents
Final equation using proper variables (not x and y)
Description of one error and how it could be reduced/eliminated.

You can also use the online simulator PhET: Ohm's Law to take data at home to complete this lab.

You also have homework tonight: a worksheet titled "Concept-Development 34-1" on the front and some hand-drawn diagrams on the back. This again contains copyrighted material, so I cannot post it here, but email me at miss.volkening@gmail.com and I will email you back a scanned PDF.