Of A Wire Essay, Research Paper
Introduction In this piece of coursework, I have been set the task of
investigating factors that affect the resistance of a wire. There are many
things that affect the resistance of a wire but I have only got the chance to
do one of these. The one I will choose will depend on it being the most
effective and on its ease to do. ???? Firstly, I will give an explanation of how
resistance works. Resistance is when travelling electrons in a wire collide with
the atoms of the wire. The collisions between the electrons and the atoms cause
the electrons to move slower, which in effect causes resistance. So, resistance
is how hard it is to move electrons through a wire. ???? Now, the factors that affect the resistance
of a wire are going to be described. ???? Firstly, temperature is a factor. If the
wire is heated, the atoms will move around more because there will be an
increase in energy. This would cause more collisions between the atoms and the
electrons. The increase in collisions would cause the resistance to rise. ???? This would be very hard to do, because the
equipment needed to do this experiment effectively has not been given to us. ???? Secondly, the width of the wire is a
factor. This will cause resistance to decrease
because of the increase in space in the wire. The increase in space means
that there is more space for the electrons to flow freely because there would
be fewer collisions with atoms. ???? I could do this by using different widths
of a wire; for example thin, medium, or thick copper could be used. ???? Thirdly, the material used would be a
factor. If the material being used contains atoms with a large number of
electrons on the outer shells, then this means there are more electrons
available. So, in theory, if the material has a large number of atoms, there
should be less resistance, because of the higher number of electrons .If the
atoms in the wire are closely packed, then this will cause an increase in resistance, due to frequent
collisions. ???? To do this I would use the same length and
width of many different wire materials, using the same amount of voltage each
time. ???? Finally, the length of the wire is a
factor. The longer the wire, the longer it will take electrons to get to the
end of the wire. This is because there will be more collisions between
electrons and atoms. So, in theory, the length of the wire should be directly
proportional to the resistance. ???? This would be very easy to do, and give
accurate results. Because of the length being proportional to the resistance, I
could link the length of a wire with the resistance of the wire, which would
make my graph more interesting. ???? Due to the effectiveness of this method, I
have decided to use the length of the wire as the factor that I am going to
use.Prediction I predict that, the longer the wire is, the more
resistance there will be due to more collisions between the electrons and
atoms. The length of the wire should be approximately proportionally the same
as the resistance. In theory, if the wire is doubled, then so will the
resistance. If the length is twice as much, then there will be twice as much
collisions, which would increase the resistance.Method Apparatus ·
Crocodile
clips ·
Ammeter ·
Voltmeter ·
Power
supply ·
Meter
ruler ·
Connecting
wires ·
sticky
tape ·
Thin
Constantine wire Diagram The reason I have chose to use Constantine wire is
because of its high resistance. This makes it a lot easier to record the
results, as it gives me higher numbers to work with. ???? The resistance
is going to be recorded
results at this amount of lengths, as it will give me a much more accurate
result at the end of the experiment. ???? As you can see
in the diagram, I have chose to use a digital voltmeter instead of a
conventional analogue voltmeter, as this can give me a much more precise result
than an analogue meter. This is because the needle on an analogue meter could
be bent and give me the wrong reading, but a digital meter does not involve
needles, so would give a much clearer reading. ???? The way to
calculate the Resistance relies on this formula: ??????????????????????????????? Resistance =
Voltage/current I will use the Voltmeter provided to get the voltage, and
the ammeter provided to get the current (in amps).ResultsHere
is a result table from my main experiment:?????? 20 cm V I R 1 0.27 3.70 1.5 0.39 3.85 2 0.52 3.85 2.5 0.60 4.17 3 0.70 4.29 3.5 0.80 4.38 4 0.91 4.39 ?????? 30 cm V I R 1 0.17 5.88 1.5 0.25 6.00 2 0.33 6.06 2.5 0.41 6.09 3 0.48 6.25 3.5 0.55 6.36 4 0.71 6.67 ???? ? 40
cm V I R 1 0.14 7.14 1.5 0.21 7.14 2 0.28 7.14 2.5 0.34 7.35 3 0.40 7.50 3.5 0.46 7.61 4 0.52 7.69 ??? 50 cm V I R 1 0.11 9.09 1.5 0.16 9.38 2 0.21 9.52 2.5 0.25 10.00 3 0.29 10.34 3.5 0.33 10.61 4 0.37 10.82 ??? ??60 cm V I R 1 0.09 11.11 1.5 0.13 11.54 2 0.18 11.11 2.5 0.21 11.91 3 0.25 12.00 3.5 0.29 12.07 4 0.33 12.12 ????? 70 cm V I R 1 0.08 12.50 1.5 0.12 12.50 2 0.16 12.50 2.5 0.20 12.50 3 0.23 13.04 3.5 0.26 13.46 4 0.29 13.79 ???? ?80 cm V I R 1 0.07 14.29 1.5 0.10 15.00 2 0.13 15.38 2.5 0.16 15.63 3 0.19 15.79 3.5 0.22 15.91 4 0.26 16.00 ???? 90 cm V I R 1 0.06 16.67 1.5 0.09 16.67 2 0.12 16.67 2.5 0.14 17.86 3 0.16 18.75 3.5 0.18 19.44 4 0.20 20.00 ?? 100 cm V I R 1 0.05 20.00 1.5 0.07 21.43 2 0.09 22.22 2.5 0.11 22.73 3 0.13 23.08 3.5 0.15 23.33 4 0.17 23.52 Average resistance Length of wire (cm) Average resistance (ohms) 20 4.09 30 6.19 40 7.37 50 9.97 60 11.69 70 12.89 80 15.43 90 18.01 100 22.33 Conclusion In conclusion, I have found that my prediction was
correct. I said that the resistance will increase approximately proportionally
to the length, and as you can see from the graph, this was correct. This is
emphasised because the line of best fit is a straight line, which means the
resistance is proportional to the length. This proves the fact that the longer
the wire is, the more collisions there are between atoms and electrons. So if
the wire increases in length, so does the resistance. If the wire decreases in
length, so does the resistance. This can be shown in the diagram below:As you can see in the diagram, the wire on the top is
twice as big as the one below it, so it has twice the electrons too.EvaluationThis experiment has gone satisfactory, but there have
been certain things in the experiment that I have not been pleased with. ???? Some of my
results have turned out anomalous. This mainly being:60cm???????? ??????????????????? ?Anomalous V I R 1 0.09 11.11 1.5 0.13 11.54 2 0.18 11.11 2.5 0.21 11.91 3 0.25 12.00 3.5 0.29 12.07 4 0.33 12.12 I have probably ended up with this anomalous result
because of an error in recording my results. ???? However, as you
can see from my average resistance graph, the results are roughly on the same
line, so this anomalous result did not do much harm when the results are
averaged. ???? I have noticed,
now that I have finished my coursework, that there are a number of things I
could have done to get more accurate results. ???? Firstly, I
would do the experiment using the width and the material used as a factor too,
just to make sure that my averages are as correct as possible. ???? The next thing
I would have done is to use pointers instead of the crocodile clips which I
used. This is because pointers are a lot more accurate, because they have a
smaller surface area on their tips than crocodile clips. This in effect would
give much more accurate measurements.
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