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Temple University

College of Engineering

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Lab Report Cover Page

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Introduction
In this lab we will verify the Kirchhoffs voltage law and its relationship
with ohms law. The theory is that the ( I ) in series circuit is same
throughout the circuit. The Kirchhoffs voltage rule says that the total voltage
is the sum of voltage from each component of the circuit. We will prove these
theories by calculating and measuring the current and the voltage in various
circuits. To measure the voltage, we attach DMM (choose DC V mode) in
parallel with the component and to measure current we pair the DMM
(choose DC I mode) in series with the circuit. Connect the leads properly for
each function as instructed on the DDM.
Some Formulas to remember as we do this lab
Ohms Law E(V) = I(A) * RT()
Kirchhoffs voltage law V
Voltage divider

V x =V s(

Rx
)
RT

across branches

=0

where Vx is voltage through resistor Rx, Vs id

the supplied voltage and the RT is the total resistance.

Part 1 Basic Measurements

Procedure
1. Build the circuit as shown on Figure 5.q with R1 being the 220, R2

2.
3.
4.
5.

being 330, and r3 being 470. Measure their resistance

individually using the DDM ohmmeter and record the data in table
5.1.
Apply12 V from power supply to this series circuit constructed in
previous step. Use DMM to measure voltage between each resistors
and record the data on table 5.2.
Calculate the current through each resistor using the Ohms law and
record your data on table 5.3
Now measure current at point A, B, C and D (refer to Figure 5.2) and
record your data on table 5.3
Based on data collected in previous step and ohms law (V= I*R) fill
out table 5.4 for RT in table 5.4. disconnect the power supply and
measure the total resistance from point A to D using DMM in resistance
mode.

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Results and Analysis.

Figure 5.1

Figure 5.2

Resis
tor #

Ideal
Measu
Table 5.1
resista red
nce
resista
nce
R1
220.0
220

R2 Voltage
330 (V) 326.3 Current (mA)

E3
12
V
R
466.5
470
V1
2.590 V
IR1
11.773

V2
V3

3.859 V
5.529 V

Current I
(mA)
A
B
C
D

11.884
11.884
11.884
11.884

mA
mA
mA
mA

IR2
IR3

mA
11.827
mA
11.841
mA

Table 5.2

Table 5.3

Based on our voltage readings we can see that Kirchhoffs voltage law
is satisfied. The voltage from power supply was 12 V. If we were to add
V1,V2, and V3 out total would turn out to be 11.973 V, which is very
close to 12V. This verifies Kirchhoffs voltage law which states that the
total voltage in a loop is zero. Current throughout the series circuit is
the same. We also measured the current (I) at the various points in the
circuit. Our data on table 5.3 shows that the current is this circuit
(figure 5.1) is 11.8 mA, which supports our calculated value in table
5.2.

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Part 2 Voltage Divider Rule

Procedure
1. Build the circuit as shown on Figure 5.3 with R1 being 100, R2 being
330, and R3 being 680. Measure their resistance individually using
the DMM ohmmeter and record the data on table 5.6.
2. Apply 10V to the circuit and measure the voltage (V1, V2, and V3)
using an DMM and record data in table 5.6
3. Use the voltage divider rule to calculate V3 and V4 using the
measured resistance and record data in table 5.6.
4. Calculate the percent difference between the measured and the
calculated values. Use the formula 5.1 and record the percent
difference in table 5.6
5. Construct the circuit as shown in figure 5.4 and apply 10V from the
power supply to the series circuit. Then measure the voltage through
R1 and R2.

Results
Figure 5.3

Formula 5.1

Figure 5.4

Diff =

Resist
or #

Ideal
resista
nce

R1
R2
R3

100
330
680

V calc V meas
100
V calc

Measur
ed
resista
nce
100.4
326.2
681.0

Table 5.5

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Table 5.6
V1
(measur
ed)
0.889 V

V2
(measur
ed)
2.938 V

V3
(measur
ed)
6.512 V

V3
(Calculat
ed)
6.148 V

%
Differe
nce
5.927 %

V4
(Calculat
ed)
9.094 V

V4
(measur
ed)
9.091 V

%
Differe
nce
0.0385
%
We measured the voltage trough each resistor in the circuit (Figure 5.3). If we
add up V1,V2, and V3 we would get total voltage in circuit to be 10.034 volts.
We applied 10 volts to the circuit and we got 10 volts when we added the
voltage through each individual component of the circuit. When we
compared our calculated voltage with our measured voltage we got the
percent difference of 5.927% it bit high but that is due to our faulty resistor.
V4 is the combination of V2 and V3 as we can see in Figure 5.3. The percent
difference between V4 calculated and measured is 0.0385%. This is almost
the perfect match and this satisfies the Kirchhoffs voltage law. Based on this
data we can also conclude that our desistance measurements for V1 is not
very accurate because with V4 (sum of V4 and V3) our percent difference is
almost zero. In the second circuit (Figure 5.4) we used some very high
resistance values. The voltage across R1 was 20.153 mV and the voltage
across R2 was 20.00. This is consistent with the ohms law because the
voltage is proportional to resistance. The higher the resistance, the higher
the voltage.

Part 3 Open Circuit

Procedure
1. Build the circuit as shown on Figure 5.6 with R1 being 220, R2 being 1k.
Measure their resistance individually using the DMM ohmmeter
and record the data on table 5.7.
2. Use the voltage divider rule and calculate V1, V2, and V3 and
then apply 16V to the circuit. Using an ohmmeter to measure the
voltage at V1, V2, and V3. And record the data on table 5.8.
Results
Figure 4.5

Resist
or #

Ideal
resista
nce

R1
R2

220
1 k

Measur
ed
resista
nce
219.6
1001.88

Table 5.7

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V1
V2
V3

Calculated

Measured

0V
0V
16 V

0.00 V
0.00 V
16.00 V

Table 5.8

This circuit was an open circuit but the Kirchhoff law still applies. in table 5.8
we can see that we have zero voltage between V1 and V2 is zero votes, but
the difference between V3 was 16v which the supply voltage. This satisfies
the Kirchhoff's law and the ohms law. Ohms law states that the voltage is
proportional to resistance relative to the circuit. The resistance between the
nodes of V3 is a very high number (for this circuit we will assume its
approaching infinity). Based on this theory V3 would have the highest
resistance thus having almost all of the voltage supplied by the power
supply. Our calculations using the voltage divider rule satisfies our lab data.

Discussion/Conclusion
Through this lab we tested the Kirchhoffs voltage law and the ohms law
with various circuits. We measured the current and voltage of various circuits
and collected data. We then used this data to back up our calculated values
for current and voltage that we calculated using the ohms law. in all of our
circuits we testes the Kirchhoffs law applied. The sum of the voltage drop
between each component of the circuit was equivalent to the total voltage
supplied to the circuit. In part 3 we verified the voltage divider rule with
calculations and the data we collected, satisfies our findings in this lab. This
lab helped us become more familiar with basic electronics instruments such
as digital millimeter and the DC power supply.

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