An Investigation to Discover Factors That Can Affect The Resistance of a Wire

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An Investigation to Discover Factors That Can Affect The Resistance of a Wire

Aim

I shall be investigating factors that can affect the resistance of a

wire.

The possible variables I could choose are Length, Thickness, type of

metal, Shape, Temperature and Density of Metal.

I will choose Length because I can choose from a free range of lengths

and can get many different readings, to create a final graph at the

end of my investigation.

I will not choose thickness because the wires only come in set

thicknesses and do not go up in a uniform rate, so I would not have a

free range to choose from.

I will not chose types of metals because I only have 3 types of metal

available to me and could not develop a conclusion as I would not be

able to link the variables.

I will not choose shape as I would only be able to choose two sets of

results, straight and not straight.

I will not choose temperature as it would be very hard to measure the

temperature of a piece of metal and would be hard to keep at a certain

temperature.

I also will not choose density of metal as I do not have a range of

densities available to myself and would not have a choice.

Prediction

I predict that when the length of a wire gets longer, the resistance

will become greater.

I predict this because I know that resistance is when a flow of

electrons, (a current) flows through a wire and collides with the

metal ions that create the wire.

The more times they collide with the metal ions the less energy the

electrons have to go through the wire with so more collisions and more

energy lost. As the energy from the electrons is lost in collisions it

is gained by the metal ions. (This is then transferred into heat.)

The more resistance in a wire, the higher voltage it would have, and

lower energy the current, would have.

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