Power in DC Circuits

Objective

The objective of this lab were to gain a greater understanding of ohms law and to learn about
the relationship between power, current and resistance based on variable voltages in series circuits.

Procedure

Two separate resistors (1000 ohms and 2200 ohms) were connected in series with a power
source and an ammeter. The power source was increased from 0 to 10 volts in increments of 1 and the
current flowing through the resistors were recorded. The power values in watts were calculated based
on the currents and the voltages.

Figure 1, Schematic

Data

These are the recorded values for the voltages and currents and the resultant power values.
Power is calculated using the formula Volts*Current = Power. Resistance values were measured using
a multimeter to ensure accuracy.

Table 1 Recorded resistance values

1000 Ohms 2200 Ohms

980 Ohms recorded 2140 Ohms recorded

Table 2 Recorded and Calculated Values, Resistance 980 Ohms

Volts Current Power

0v 0mA 0W
1v 1.01mA 1.01W
2v 2.23mA 4.46W
3v 3.05mA 9.15W
 4v 4.07mA 16.28W
5v 5.11mA 25.55W
6v 6.1mA 36.6W
7v 7.12mA 49.84W
8v 8.15mA 65.2W
9v 9.17mA 82.53W
10v 10.20mA 102W

Table 3, Recorded and Calculated Values, Resistance 2140 Ohms

Volts Current Power

0v 0mA 0W
1v .46mA .46W
2v .94mA 1.88W
3v 1.4mA 4.2W
4v 1.87mA 7.48W
5v 2.33mA 11.65W
6v 2.8mA 16.8W
7v 3.27mA 22.89W
8v 3.74mA 29.92W
9v 4.20mA 37.8W
10v 4.66mA 46.6W

Figure 2, Power versus Voltage 980 Ohms

Figure 3, Power versus Current 980 Ohms
Figure 4, Power versus Voltage 2140 Ohms

Figure 5, Power versus Current 2140 Ohms

 Figure 6, Current versus Voltage 2140 Ohms

Figure 7, Current versus Voltage 940 Ohms

Conclusions

The results of this lab verify Ohm's law (V = RI). If a person were to go through and do the
calculations for each of the resistance and current values, they come very close to values calculated
using Ohms in relation to the graphs above.

Table 4, Slopes and Reciprocals of Graphs

Resistance Slopes Reciprocal

 980 ohms .001 1000
2140 ohms .0005 2000

For a fixed resistance, increasing the voltage seems to increase the power parabolically.
Resistance, whether the voltage or the current is fixed, seems to have a multiplicative effect on power.
As the resistance is doubled, power is halved, as the resistance is halved, power is doubled.