EE4001 Assigment 2

Title: Resistor Networks

Student: Octavian Enachi
Lab partner: David OConnor
ID: 12089885
1. Objectives
Further familiarisation with D.C measurements.
Verification of the fundamental laws of Electrical Science
Introduce Students to the operation of the Wheatstone Bridge.
Familiarise Students with the concept of Power Transfer.
Qualitative Introduction to the concept of Superposition.
2. Theory
The Superposition Theorem: When more than one energy source is used in a linear circuit, currents and
voltages can be determined by the analysis of the effect of each source working on its own. The overall effect
will then be the algebraic sum of the effect of each individual energy source taken together.
3. Procedure
For each of the following circuits experimentally will be determined the voltage at the Node A
and the relevant currents that highlighted in each circuit.




For each circuit, all results are presented in tabular form.

V
A
(V)
Theory
V
A
(V)
Practical
V
B
(V)
Theory
V
B
(V)
Practical
I
TOTAL
(mA)
Theory
I
TOTAL
(mA)
Practical
I
R1
(mA)
Theory
I
R1
(mA)
Practical
Circuit 1(Rx=1k) 5 5,086 5 5,116 10 10,25 5 5,17
(Rx=900) 5 5,086 4,74 4,852 10,26 10,25 5 5,17
Circuit 2(Rx=1k) 2,5 2,541 2,5 2,552 5 5,1 2,5 2,58
(Rx=900) 2,47 2,509 2,34 2,393 5,06 5,16 2,47 2,55

V
A
(V)
Theory
V
A
(V)
Practical
I
TOTAL
(mA)
Theory
I
TOTAL
(mA)
Practical
I
Rx
(mA)
Theory
I
Rx
(mA)
Practical
Circuit 4 4 3,61 90,90 92,5 181,81 211
Left DCVS 2 1,55 181,8 205 90,90 133
Circuit 5 0 0 272,2 298 0 0
Right DCVS -2 -2,329 181,8 191 90,9 145

4. Results Calculus:
Circuit 1;2:
V
A
=10V*(R3 / (R1+R3)) = 10*(1/2) = 5.0V
V
B
=10V*(Rx/Rx+R2) = 5.0V
I

=10V / ((R1+R3) || (R2+Rx)) = 10/1=10mA
I
R1
=10V / 2 =5mA

Circuit 4;5 :
V
A
= V
A1
+ V
A2
I = I
R11
+ I
2
I
Rx =
I
Rx1 +
I
Rx2
V
A
= 2+2=4 V
I= 181,8 90,9 = 90,9 mA
I
Rx
= 90,9+90,9 = 181,8 mA









5. Observations:
Figure 1 illustrates the first circuit made of 3 resistors 1K and one potentiometer.

When the value of Rx is changed to 900, the current through Rx has been increased, and the voltage
decreased, however there is no current change in the R1 & R3 branch.
Figure 2 shows the 4
th
circuit, with the light bulb and two voltage sources.

Both V
A
& I
RX
are significant because if there is no voltage , is no current too.
While one voltage source is switched off, the bulbs light intensity is less bright than in case of working
together.



6. Answering the Questions:
The current delivered by each supply increased because of the resistors temperature, structure of
resistor start to vibrate more vigorously as a result of this, mobile electrons inside may collide more
often with vibrating ions, which makes to increase the total resistance, and more electrical work is
been done, sources need to give additional current to keep the same voltage in the circuit.

7. Conclusions:
The successful experiment that has been carried out on resistors networks lead to the following conclusions:
Both Kirchhoffs Voltage and Current Law have been validated in this lab in every experimental circuit. The
current splitting law has been demonstrated in circuits 1, 2, 4, 5. The Wheatstone Bridge allow to determine
an unknown value of resistor by knowing the other resistances in the bridge and applying Ohms law or the
yields rule (R1/R3 = R2/Rx). The Energy sources can work in two different ways: against each other, where
the negative side of one source is 12V down than the positive side of the other energy source, and together
where the current flows mostly in the middle branch. The law of conservation of Energy has been
demonstrated in the last circuit, where the voltage energy has been transformed in heat.