Download Series and Parallel Circuits

NUE054 Applied Electricity 2
Series and Parallel Circuits Worksheet
STUDENT NAME: .............................................
DATE: .............................
RESULT: CY / CN
OBJECTIVE:
To gain an understanding of the circuit quantities, voltage, current and
resistance, and the application of ohm’s law using series and parallel circuits via
a computer simulation.
TIME ALLOWANCE:
This activity should take no more than 60 minutes.
ASSESSMENT:
Individual completion of this worksheet forms the first part of the assessment for
this WebQuest. Please follow all instructions carefully and complete all questions
in legible handwriting. Once completed, hand your worksheet to your assessor
who will mark it. Assessment grades will be either CY (Competent Yes) or CN
(Not yet competent).
INSTRUCTIONS:
a. If not already loaded, follow the link on the Process & Resources page to the
Ohm Zone site, or paste the following URL into your web browser:
http://www.article19.com/shockwave/oz.htm
Note: You must have Adobe Shockwave loaded on your computer for the
simulation to work. If not, follow the link on the WebQuest site to download a free
copy. You will require a calculator as well to perform calculations.
b. Experiment with the Ohm Zone user interface. Read the introduction on the
left-hand side and experiment with each of the menus at the bottom. Move the
components around using your mouse on the right-hand side and experiment by
building a basic circuit. Press the clear button when you have finished
experimenting, which will clear the work area.
c. Click on the visualize button and the popups buttons on the bottom menu.
Now click on ‘the hand’ symbol on the lower menu and a new sub-menu
appears.
d. You will now complete all of the activities; however you will only answer
questions on a few of them. Follow the instruction sequence below.
BE AWARE: Due to the internal resistance of the simulation battery, measured
battery voltage values will be slightly lower than expected. Let’s start the prac.
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Exhibit 1. Building a simple circuit.
a. Read the introduction on the left, then connect the voltmeter (V) across the
resistor and measure the voltage across the resistor. Now measure the voltage
across the battery. Write your results below.
V r = _______
V Batt = ______
When we measure voltage, we place the meter __________ the component.
b. Referring back to the video you watched previously, what is another name we
use for voltage?
c. Name the direction the current flows from the battery? _____________
Is this current flow electron or conventional current flow? ____________
d. Now place the ammeter (A) in the circuit and measure the current. Current is
measured _____________ with the circuit.
Write the measured current here__________
e. Fill out the missing sections in the table below by substituting the resistor
values and take the measurements by placing the voltmeter and ammeter in the
correct places.
Resistance Value
Green - 10 Ω
Yellow - 20 Ω
Blue - 100 Ω
Purple – 200 Ω
Voltage
Current
From your observations above, in this circuit the ______remains the same no
matter what the value of resistance is and as the _________increases in value,
the_________decreases in value.
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Exhibit 2. Building a series circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Exhibit 3. Building a parallel circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
If you remove either light bulb, what happens to the remaining current?
________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
Exhibit 4. Building a combination circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Why is it that if I remove the light bulb at A, the circuit ceases to work, yet if I
remove either B or C the circuit continues working?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Exhibit 5. Ohm’s Law.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Exhibit 6. Equivalent resistance in a series circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity. Add a 100 ohm resistor (blue)
to the circuit.
What is the equivalent series resistance of the circuit now?___________
Exhibit 7. Equivalent resistance in a parallel circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity. Replace R2 with a 100 ohm
resistor (blue) in the circuit.
What is the equivalent parallel resistance of the circuit now? ___________
If I have two resistors of equal value and I place them in parallel, the equivalent
parallel resistance is ______ of the value of one of the original resistors.
Exhibit 9. Current in a series circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Exhibit 10. Current in a parallel circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Exhibit 8. Kirchoff’s Current Law.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity. Replace the 200 ohm resistor
with a 100 ohm resistor (blue) in the circuit. Measure I1, I2 and I3 again.
Is I3 equal to I1 + I2? ___________
3
Exhibit 12. Voltage in a series circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Exhibit 13. Voltage in a parallel circuit.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Exhibit 11. Kirchoff’s Voltage Law.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity. If I changed the battery
voltage to 20V and the voltage across R3 was 6.66V, what should the voltage be
across R2? ___________
Exhibit 14. Short circuits.
a. Read the introduction and complete the activity.
Final Assessment. Construct a circuit and calculate and measure circuit
quantities.
a. Click the clear menu to create a blank slate.
b. Build a circuit containing the battery, a 100 ohm resistor (blue) in series with
the battery, a lamp in parallel with the battery, then a 10 ohm, 20 ohm and 200
ohm resistor all connected in a series branch, yet in parallel to the lamp as per
the diagram below:
c. Calculate the equivalent resistance of the circuit, then using ohm’s law,
calculate the circuit current. Place your results in the table below. Move your
mouse over the battery to discover the equivalent resistance of the circuit and
measure the overall circuit current using the ammeter as shown above.
Calculated equivalent resistance
(show all working)
Measured equivalent resistance
Calculated circuit current(show all
working)
Measured circuit current
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Are there any discrepancies in the above results? If so, why?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
d. Measure the current through the lamp and the 200 ohm resistor. Write your
results below:
I Lamp =_________
I 200ohm=________
Does the addition of these values equal the overall circuit current from your table
above? ________
e. Calculate the voltage drop across all of the resistors in the circuit using ohm’s
law. Write your results in the table below:
Calculated Value
Measured Value
V 100ohm
V200ohm
V 20ohm
V10ohm
e. Measure the voltage across all of the resistors in the circuit. Write your results
in the table above:
Does the addition of either the calculated or measured values equal the overall
battery voltage? ________ If not, why not?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
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