Factors affecting the resistance of a metal wire.

Authors Avatar

Physics Investigation

Factors affecting the resistance of a metal wire

Planning

        I have been asked to consider the factors affecting the resistance of a metal wire. Resistance opposes the flow of an electric current around a circuit. So that energy is required to push the charged particles around the circuit. Resistance would occur when the electrons travelling along the wire collide with the atoms of the wire, causing the flow of electrons to slow.

 I will find out the resistance, using the equation:

Resistance (Ω) = Voltage (V)

                             Current (A)    

The key factors that will affect the resistance of a metal wire are:

Material

Temperature

Thickness

Length

Trial Results

        From my results, I can see that the Nichrome wire will be best for my experiment. It has matched my expectations with the ten times theory. The copper wire seemed very inappropriate, as two of the results came out to be the same, although in different lengths.

 

Trial Results

* The highest ammeter reading that I could get was 0.083A even with three cells. This reading was not high enough to obtain the readings for 100mA and 150mA. The wire was the thin wire; therefore I can change to the thick wire. This should have less resistance, thus obtaining higher ammeter reading. This should have less resistance because the electrons have more space to move freely.

Join now!

Experiment Plan

Prediction: I predict that as the length increases, the resistance will increase. The electrons would collide with the atoms of the wire. If the length of the wire were to be doubled or tripled, the resistance would also be doubled or tripled.

Range of measurements: I will choose the 200mA range. In previous homework, I have seen how sensitive different ranges can be. In the 10mA range, the sensitivity is every 0.01A. I feel that this is not sensitive as the 200mA range, which produces a hundred times sensitivity, 0.0001A.I have chosen the range ...

This is a preview of the whole essay