Experiment to Verify Ohms Law

Rolla Tyas Amalia

Grade 11

For a conductor at constant temperature, the current in the

conductor is proportional to the potential difference across it.

Introduction
Ohms law is used in electrical engineering to calculate the
relationships

between

current,

voltage

and

resistance.

The

calculations are required to design a safe circuit. Ohms law is apply

in our every-day life in electrical things that we use, such as light
bulbs, electric stoves, and others. Ohms law was discovered by a
scientist named Georg Simon Ohm. It published in his paper titled
The Galvanic Circuit Investigated Mathematically in 1827. Ohms
principal discovery was that the amount of electric current through a
metal conductor in a circuit is directly proportional to the voltage
across it, for any given temperature. Ohm expressed his discovery in
the form of a simple equation, describing how voltage, current, and
resistance related to each other:

V=IR

Hypothesis
The experiment setup consists of a simple circuit with a variable
resistance and simple power source, which are 3 batteries (1.5 Volt
each). The diagram beside shows the single circuit that we will use
for this experiment:
We could choose a Voltage range and
then vary the value of the resistance
over

the range. As expected from

Ohms law, it will be seen the voltage

range and value of the resistance
chosen will be linear and the value of
resistance will be perpendicular to the current.

Experiment
Apparatus:
1.
2.
3.
4.

4 varied value of resistors

Power supply
Connecting wires
Multimeter

Variables:

Independent: Resistance
Dependent: Current
Controlled: Electromotive force

Procedures:
1. Set up the apparatus to be the circuit as shown in diagram of
hypothesis.
2. Set the value of electromotive force into 3 V.
3. Put the 12-ohm resistor and see the value of current in the
Multimeter.
4. Change the 12-ohm resistor with 82 and 470-ohm resistor
variedly and repeat step 3.
5. Change the value of electromotive force into 6 V.
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 (use 56-ohm resistor instead of 12-ohm
resistor, because the value of 12-ohm resistor is too small for
6V of electromotive force).
7. Record the data in this table:
Current
0.215 A
0.037 A
0.007 A
0.105 A
0.073 A
0.013 A
Analysis

Experiment
Resistance
12 Ohm
82 Ohm
470 Ohm
56 Ohm
82 Ohm
470 Ohm

Voltage
3
3
3
6
6
6

V
V
V
V
V
V

In Calculation
V = IR
2.58 V
3.03 V
3.29 V
5.88 V
5.98 V
6.11 V

From this experiment, we can see that the values of voltages

depend on how big are the values of resistors. The bigger the values
of resistors, the bigger the values of electromotive force will be

resulted. This shows that the voltage range and resistor value is
linear to each other, while perpendicular with the value of current.
For more clear details, see the table of the experiment data above.
Conclusion
The value voltage range in a circuit will be linear with the value of
resistor chosen, and perpendicular with the value of current
resulted.