The Analysis of Series Dc Circuits using

Experimental Procedures
Kelsea Yarbrough, Andrew Smith, Nsilo Greene, Rashad Winston, James Daniels
EEN 201-01-131, September 17, 2013
I. Introduction
The purpose of this experiment was to measure the voltages and current of a series dc circuit, verify
Kirchhoffs voltage law, test the application of the voltage divider rule, and become increasingly familiar
with the use of the DMM and VOM meters. A direct current (DC) electrical circuit consists of a source of
DC electricity with a conducting wire going from one of the source terminals to a set of electrical devices
and then back to the other terminal, in a complete circuit. The voltage divider rule states that the voltage
across an element or across a series combination of elements in a series circuit is equal to the resistance of
the element or series combination or elements divided by the total resistance of the series circuit
multiplied by the total impressed voltage. By Ohms law, the current I is I=E/Rt , where E is the impressed
voltage and RT the total resistance.
I=E/RT
I=Current (Amperes)
E= Impressed Voltage (Voltage)
RT= Total Resistance (Ohms)
E= V1 + V2 + V3
Voltage Divider Rule= V1 = R1E/RT
Our major results/findings; were finding the Total Resistance, how many volts are in each resistor, and
also the current in each resistor. Also we were able to determine the magnitude of the percent difference
between the measured values.
II. Procedure
Part One
In this part of the experiment, fig 5.2 was constructed and using a digital multi-meter (DMM) the resistor
values for the circuit were calculated.

The voltage was then set to 12V and measured across the power supply and each resistor. Once the
voltage was calculated, the circuit was then checked to confirm that it satisfied Kirchhoffs Voltage Law
(KVL), shown below:

E=V1+V2+V3
Ohms Law was then used to calculate the current through each resistor. The next step in part one was to
calculate the total resistance of the circuit using following equation:
RT = E/I
Part Two
In part two of the experiment, circuit fig 5.4 was constructed and the resistor values were measured.

Once these values were calculated, the voltage of V 1, V2, and V3 were measured. Also V3 was manually
calculated using the voltage divider rule shown below:

V3 = R3E/RT

After getting the calculated value of V3, the magnitude of the percent difference must then be found using
the equation,

% Difference = ((Vcalc. Vmeas.)/Vcalc.) x 100

Once the % difference was calculated, the next step was to calculate the voltage of V 4 using the voltage
divider rule, then measure V4 and determine the magnitude of the percent difference.

Next, the circuit in fig 5.5 was constructed and the voltage for V 1 and V2 were calculated.

Part Three
In part three the open circuit fig 5.6 was constructed and the resistor values were measured. Voltages V 1,
V2, and V3 were calculated and then measured using the DMM.

III. Observations and Results

Part One
Figure 5.2

Figure 5.3

Part Two
Figure 5.4

Figure 5.5

Part Three
Figure 5.6

IV. Discussion
During this experiment we had to Measure the voltage and current of a series circuit, verify Kirchhoffs
voltage law (KVL) and we tested the application of the voltage divider rule.
What is displayed in Figure 5.2 is the measurement of the voltage across the supply and across the
resistors with the DMM. We calculated the current through each resistor using Ohms Law and we
measured the voltages across each resistor. Shown in table 5.1 the current was equal no matter how many
volts was applied. The current was 11.8mA. The voltages varied from 2.6V, 3.9V, and 5.5V. What we
concluded through the circuit was it was constant through the circuit that was constructed. The resistors
that were used was 218, 326, and 462.

In 5.3 we measured the currents at A, B, C, D. The currents was constant also as it is shown in table 5.2.
We also calculated the total resistor values. The results are shown in table 5.3

Figure 5.4 we constructed a new circuit and used new resistors. We calculated the V3 voltage using the
voltage divider rule and measured resistor values. It is shown in 5.4 The R2 value was about three times
of R1. As we did the experiment we had some 0% differences.

Figure 5.6 was an open circuit.

V1=IR1
V2= IR2
V3=16
For V1 and V2 there was a measured value of 0V due to the open circuit. V 3 had a measured value of 16V.

V. Conclusion
In conclusion, we constructed the circuit displayed within figure 5.2. We used a DMM to
calculate the resistor values. Our group set the voltage to twelve volts and measured it across each resistor
and the power supply. Then we used Ohms law to calculate the current through the resistors, and after
that obtained the total resistance of the circuit. In part two we constructed figure 5.4 and measured all the
resistor values. Our next step was to calculate V1, V2 and V3.
Some of our results for the lab were:

We then found the percent difference after calculating V3 and then calculated V4. For part three
we built an open circuit, measured the resistor values and found V1, V2 and V3. Finally, in our discussion
we talked about testing the application of the voltage divider rule, using Ohms law to measure the current
through each resistor.