Pre Lab
This week's lab will put together several ideas from previous weeks as we use Ohm's Law and equivalent resistance to analyze circuits with resistors in series and in parallel. The videos to the right will walk you through the process for calculating equivalent resistance. It is similar to what we did with capacitors, except reversing the relationships for series and parallel. For capacitors in parallel, equivalent capacitance was found through Cp = C1 + C2 + ...
For capacitors in series, 1/Cs = 1/C1 + 1/C2 + ... For resistors in series, equivalent resistance is found through Rs = R1 + R2 + ... For resistors in Parallel, 1/Rp = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + ... In other word, you can replace a more complicated set of resistors in a circuit with a single, equivalent resistor with a value found through the equations above.
In the lab this week we will apply this principle to calculate and measure equivalent resistance for series, parallel, and combination circuits. Prior to lab please complete the following:
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Some videos on Series and Parallel 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. 37) found your lab manual.
We will be using the Snap Circuits/Bread boards and multimeters to complete this lab.
We will be using the Snap Circuits/Bread boards and multimeters to complete this lab.
Post Lab
Please post a reflection on the lab experience on the Series and Parallel Circuits Lab 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