An investigation into the factors that affect resistance.

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TITLE: An investigation into the factors that affect resistance.

AIM:

 The aim of this investigation is to see, if different length of wire will affect the resistance. I also have to work out three length needed to create a resistance of 5 ohms, 10 ohms and 15 ohms.

PLANNING:

In this investigation, I am going to work out how the length of a wire made up in a circuit, will effect the resistance.

    If the resistance is low, then it will show as that the efficiency is high. But if the resistance is high, then is will show that the circuit has less efficiency.  

BACKGROUNG INFORMATION:

The following information that I will write will be on my background knowledge for this investigation.

RESISTANCE: 

In a circuit the energy source like a battery, the amount of current that flows, which is allowed by the resistance of the circuit. All conductors resist the flow of electric charge to some degree. The bigger the resistance of the conductor, the harder it is for the electric charge to flow through it. If a given voltage were applied, then the current would be less.

 VOLTAGE:

Voltage means when, in a circuit, the voltage pushes the current away. And another name for voltage is potential difference. An instrument that is used to measure voltage is called a voltmeter. And they are measured in volts.  

CURRENT:

Current means, the amount of charge that flows in a circuit per second. An electric current is a flow of charged particles as well. Current is measured in amperes, and the instrument that we use to measure current is called an ammeter.  

 ELECTRICITY:

Electricity means the flow of electrons that flow in one direction. And this flow on electrons can only flow in one direction in a circuit.  

HOW TO MEASURE RESISTANCE:

Resistance is measured in units called ohms. The symbol of this unit is Ω. The potential difference is measured in volts. The symbol for this unit is V. Also the current is measured in amps. The symbol for this unit is A.

                                       VOLTAGE (V)

RESISTANCE (Ω) ==

                                       CURRENT (A)

 

HOW TO MEASURE CURRENT AND VOLTAGE:

Current is measured with an ammeter, and the voltage is measured with a voltmeter. Both of these objects, they look the same and work the same but they measure different things, in the circuit.

      An ammeter tells as how much electric charge passes through a circuit per second. An ammeter has to be put directly in the path of the current, so that they can check everything that goes through the circuit. The ammeter is there to show as how much current has gone through the circuit.

WHAT IS LAW?

A few laws in physics are resilient. Mass energy cannot be made or destroyed. Physicians believe that I a law is broken, then it would only be because there was a better or even a stronger law that took place.

      In ohms law it is not like this. Since it does not sat what should happen, as it describes how some materials behave or change. It only applies to metals, ionic solution and maybe carbon. It also says that they’re maybe some conductors that do not obey ohms law.

   

OHMS LAW:   

For conductors there is a simple rule, which connects current, voltage and resistance. If we doubled the voltage, the current also doubled. If we halved the voltage, the current is also halved as well. This effect does not work for all conductors, but works for all metals and carbons, only if they do not get heated.

The rule is: FOR A GIVEN CONDUCTOR AT A CONSTANT TEMPERATURE          

                   THE CURRENT IN IT IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE APPLIED    

                   VOLTAGE.

SERIES AND PARALLED CONNECTIONS:

In a house lights in the rooms are connected in a parallel connection. This is because each light has to have its own switch. Also in a parallel connection, if one light goes out, then the others are not affected.

     Christmas light is series connection. This is when the lights are connected in a line, one after the other. When a connection is broken or the bulb blows, then all of the other lights would go out, because the charge will not flow any more.      

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WIRES:

Different wires have different lengths and thickness, and they also have different resistance. Some wires will allow more current to pass through, making the resistance low and some may allow less current, which will cause a higher resistance. Also the longer the wire, the bigger the resistance. The shorter the wire, the smaller the resistance. And the thicker the wire the less resistance there will be.

     For this investigation we were given two wires, and they were nichrome and constantan wires.

     I chose not to use the nichrome wire because it is ...

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