Lab Questions – Ohm’s Law and Kirchhoff’s Laws

Your Name: John Nguyen

From the data you took during the first lab exercise with the single resistor,
answer the following questions (be sure to include the appropriate units for all of
your answers):
1. What was the color code for the resistor you used in the lab exercise?

_________________ ________________ ________________ ________________

2. What is the nominal value of the resistance of this resistor based on the color code?
R = _______________

3. When you connected the resistor to the power supply, what was the exact value of the
voltage across the resistor as measured by the Multimeter? V = ___________________

4. What was the exact value of the current through the resistor as measured by the
Multimeter? I = __________________

5. What was the value of the resistance as measured by the Multimeter: R = ___________

6. Dividing your measured voltage (part 3) by the measured current (part 4) what is the
value of resistance from your measurements? R = ____________ How does this
answer compare with the direct measurement of resistance in part 5?

7. Is the measured value of resistance in part 5 within the tolerance range specified by the
color code of the resistor?
 From the data you took during the second lab exercise with three resistors,
answer the following questions (be sure to include the appropriate units for all of
your answers):

8. What were the color codes for the three resistors you used in the lab exercise?

R1 _________________ ________________ ________________ ________________

R2 _________________ ________________ ________________ ________________

R3 _________________ ________________ ________________ ________________

9. What is the nominal value of the resistance of these resistors based on the color codes:
a. R1 = ________________
b. R2 = ________________
c. R3 = ________________

10. What were the resistance values of the three resistors you measured with the
multimeter:
a. R1 = _______________
b. R2 = _______________
c. R3 = _______________

11. Does the sum of the three measured values in part 10 add up to what you measured for
the total series resistance:
a. Measured Rseries = _________________
b. Rseries = R1 + R2 +R3 = _______________
c. If not, why do you think the answer is different?

12. What were your values for the voltages measured across the series combination and
across the individual resistors?
a. Vtot = ____________
b. V1 = ____________
c. V2 = ____________
d. V3 = ____________
e. V1 + V2 + V3 = ________________
f. Does the sum of the three voltages V1 + V2 + V3 add up to Vtot? _______________
13. What was the value of the series current that you measured through the series
combination of resistors?
a. Itot = _______________

14. Calculate the three voltage drops based on your measured value of the resistances from
part 10 and your measured series current from part 13.
a. V1 = R1 x Itot = _____________________
b. V2 = R2 x Itot = _____________________
c. V3 = R3 x Itot = _____________________
d. Add these three currents to get Vtot. Vtot = _______________________
e. Do the sum of these three voltages add up to Vtot from part 12? _____________
f. Can you think of a reason for the difference in the voltages measured in part 12
and calculated in part 14?

15. What is the value you measured for the parallel combination of the three resistors?
a. Rparallel = _____________

16. What was the voltage you measured across the parallel combination of resistors?
a. Vtot = ________________

17. What was the total current you measured through the parallel combination of resistors?
a. Itot = ________________

18. What were the individual currents you measured through the three resistors connected
individually to the power supply?
a. I1 = ____________
b. I2 = ____________
c. I3 = ____________
d. I1 + I2 + I3 = ____________
e. Does the sum of the three currents I1 + I2 + I3 add up to the total current from
part 17? _________________________

19. Calculate the currents through the three resistors based on your measured value of the
resistors from part 10 and your measured value of the total voltage from part 16.
a. I1 = Vtot/R1 = ____________
b. I2 = Vtot/R2 = ____________
c. I3 = Vtot/R3 = ____________
d. Calculate the total parallel current using the voltage from part 16 and the
resistance from part 15. Itot = Vtot/Rparallel = _______________
e. Does the sum of the three calculated currents I1 + I2 + I3 add up to the total
calculated current? _________________________
20. The total resistance of a parallel combination of three resistors can be determined from
the following relationship:

1 1 1 1
= + +
𝑅𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑙 𝑅1 𝑅2 𝑅3

a. Using the measured values of the three resistors from part 10, calculate Rparallel
from this relationship Rparallel = _______________
b. Does your answer here agree with the measured value of Rparallel from part 15?
______
c. If not, why do you think the answer is different?