Pre Lab
This week's lab will explore basic series and parallel circuits. The goal in this week's lab is to first develop a qualitative understanding of several concepts about circuits, and then to explore them in greater depth both conceptually and mathematically. In a closed electrical circuit, a battery or generator creates a potential difference or voltage that pushes charged particles through the circuit. Within a circuit, we describe a variety of aspects like current, voltage, resistance, power, etc, across a variety of different electrical components (resistors, capacitors, batteries, diodes, swtches, etc.). We often draw circuits schematically to represent these various components. The funny picture below shows the schematic representation of a resistor. You should check the videos to the right for more details.
The top video on the right has a nice description of the basics of electrical circuits. The bottom video goes into some detail regarding additional concepts that we will be covering like Ohm's Law which relates voltage, current, and resistance in a circuit. It also provides a good description of and introduction to electric circuits and their components. The picture to the right shows the color key used to label the manufacturer's specs for resistance of resistors. Next time you see a resistor, check for this color code.
How the circuit is put together determines how the charges will flow through the circuit. In lab this week, we will create several different circuit configurations to see how they impact the way current flows qualitatively y lighting a light bulb. Specifically, you will make 1) a circuit with 1 bulb, 2) a circuit with 2 bulbs in series, 3) a circuit with 2 bulbs in parallel, and 4) a combination of series and parallel bulbs. The video below provides a brief description of this week's simulation and the qualitative portion of this week's lab. Prior to lab please complete the following:
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Some videos on basic electric circuits
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Pre Lab Video
Simulation
Use the simulation available at the following link to explore the construction of basic circuits.
Simulation: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc
You may use the simulation to answer the pre lab quiz questions as well.
Pre-Lab Quiz is available at the course Blackboard website
Simulation: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc
You may use the simulation to answer the pre lab quiz questions as well.
Pre-Lab Quiz is available at the course Blackboard website
Lab
This week you will be completing the Circuits lab (pg. 31) found your lab manual.
We will be using the snap circuits kits, bread boards, multimeters, and Capstone software to complete this lab.
We will be using the snap circuits kits, bread boards, multimeters, and Capstone software to complete this lab.
Post Lab
Please post a reflection on the lab experience on the Circuits Reflection discussion board on the course Blackboard site.
Be sure to include:
Be sure to include:
- What you did
- Why you did it
- Any interesting observations
- What you learned from doing the lab