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Resistors in Series Parallel Wheatstone Bridge

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Objective: Within this experiment, students were provided with a method to measure the resistance of a resistor directly. In order to accomplish this task, it was necessary to successfully construc... t a Wheatstone bridge. It was expected that, through the implementation of the bridge, the resistance of any unknown resistor could be ascertained. In the second portion of the lab, the purpose was to demonstrate the characteristics of circuits with resistors in series and then in parallel. The goal was to test the validity of both KCL and KVL in the two different circuits. Theoretical Background: There were two major sections incorporated within this lab, the first pertained to the Wheatstone bridge. In the case of the bridge, the idea was to find the resistance of an unknown resistor through comparison. Since the circuit has a parallel component, the voltage across the two segments is the same as that provided by the voltage source. The circuit is then enhanced by establishing a known resistance in series with a rheostat and another known resistance in series with the unknown resistor. The series aspect creates voltage dividers that are used for comparison. As the resistance in the rheostat is increased, the voltage output of the bridge changes until it reaches zero meaning that the unknown resistance can now be found in the balanced bridge. The second section of the lab was grounded on the principles of KVL and KCL. In the series circuit, KVL applies as the sum of the voltages across the resistor must be equivalent to the voltage from the source. The parallel circuit demonstrated KCL as the sum of the currents across the different branches is equal to the total current of the circuit. [Show More]

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