To test the ohmic and non-ohmic behavior in a resistor and a bulb

Introduction

To test the ohmic and non-ohmic behavior in a resistor and a bulb

Ohm’s Law: When the temperature of a metallic conductor is kept constant, the current through
the conductor is proportional to the potential difference across it; I α V. This statement is known
as Ohm’s law. Materials obeying Ohm’s law thus have a constant resistance at constant
temperature. A graph of I (current) versus V (voltage) gives a straight line through the origin if
the material obeys Ohm’s law. Most materials obey Ohm’s law at low temperatures, but as
temperature increases deviations from this law are seen.

Experiment 1: Aim: To test a bulb for ohmic or non-ohmic behavior.

Hypothesis: It is presumed that the light bulb will obey Ohm’s law as long as the current
through it is small.

Middle

67.5

12.07

74.6

14.06

81.3

16.02

87.2

18.02

90.5

20.93
Calculation 1: R = V/I

1. R = 0.0736

2. R = 0.0990

3. R = 0.120

4. R = 0.135

5. R = 0.148

6. R = 0.161

7. R = 0.172

8. R = 0.183

9. R = 0.199

Experiment 2: Aim: To test a resistor for ohmic or non-ohmic behavior.

Hypothesis: It is presumed that the resistor will show an ohmic behavior i.e. the voltage across
the resistor is presumed to be proportional to the current through it.

Material:

 Resistor (Brown, black, black, brown, gold): 1000 Ω ± 5%

  Power supply

 Voltmeter

 Ammeter

 Wires

 Clamps

Variables:

Dependent variables: current

Independent variables: voltage

Controlled variables: Resistor, ammeter, voltmeter, power supply, wires

Method:

1. A wire was connected from power supply to (mA) outlet of the ammeter.

2. A second wire was connected from (com) outlet of ammeter to the resistor via a clamp.

3. A third wire was connected from power supply to the resistor with the help of another
clamp.

4. Two wires were connected from resistor to voltmeter in parallel. One to (V) outlet and
another to (com) outlet.

Conclusion

Improvement: In this experiment, the ohmic or non-ohmic behavior was tested using only one
bulb and one resistor. For a better conclusion it might be reasonable to test ohm’s law with more
than one bulb and resistor.

Conclusion: Experiment one: From the discussion and introduction, it could be concluded that
the bulb shows a non-ohmic behavior since with increasing current, the temperature inside it
increases and so does the resistance. The hypothesis is in agreement with the result, except for
the fact that in this case, the bulb does not show any ohmic behavior initially either.

Experiment two: As mentioned earlier in the discussion, the resistor shows an ohmic behavior
since increasing current does not lead to a significant increase in temperature in this case, and
hence the resistance remains constant throughout the experiment. The hypothesis holds true with
respect to the result gained from the experiment.