Resistance of a Wire
Aim
Which factors affect the resistance of a wire?
Prediction
I believe the factors which affect the resistance of a wire are:
1. The length- the increase in length could increase the resistance.
2. The thickness of the core.
3. The material of which the wire is made up of- e.g. Copper,
constantan and nichrone.
4. The number of strands within a wire:
5. The amount of current flowing through the wire.
For this experiment, the factors which will be tested and measured
will be the length of the wire, the material of which the wire is made
from to see whether it affects the resistance, and seeing whether the
variable resistor also affects the wire in any way.
Apparatus
* Power pack
* 9 strands of copper wire, 0.193 mm thick, 30 cm long.
* 9 strands of nichrone wire, 0.193 mm thick, 30 cm long.
* 9 strands of constantan wire, 0.193 mm thick, 30 cm long.
* Ammeter, 10 amps max.
* Voltmeter, 20 volts max.
* Variable resister
* Heat proof matt.
* 7 wire leads.
* 2 crocodile clips.
* Ruler.
* Scissors.
Diagram:
Method
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Firstly collect all the apparatus needed to complete the investigation
and set the right apparatus into the correct positions.
Start of by measuring the volts and amps of one of the wires at a low
resistance, whilst always keeping the current the same for each time
at 6v. This wire should be 30 cm to start of with. When the volts and
amps have been measured, switch off the power pack between each
measurement so that the current is cut off. When this is done, cut off
5 cm of the wire and measure the volts and amps of the now 15 cm long
Finish off the circuit by connecting the output of the multimeter to the positive of the battery clip (if this is completely correctly, it should look like the image
equation V = IR. V - volts, I - current and R - resistance. I plotted
it to a 5V power supply as a more convenient way of measure. As the
Step 2: I will attach a piece of thin wire to a meter long ruler.
Ø I read from the ammeter each time I cut down the length by using
and making sure that the length of wire I use stay the same length. I
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Factors Affecting the Resistance of a Wire The aim of this experiment is to investigate one factor that affect the resistance of a wire. I will do this by performing an experiment. First I will need to identify the factors that effect resistance. There are a few factors that affect the resistance, it is determined by the properties an object has.
The factor I am going to change is the length of the wire. To measure
The aim of this investigation is to find out how the length of a wire
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