PURPOSE
The purpose of this experiment was to become familiar with equipment that will be used in the experiments throughout the semester.
PROCEDURES
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| Figure 1: Resistance between two holes in the same hole |
We began this experiment by measuring the resistance between two holes in the same row of the breadboard with a multimeter, shown in Figure 1 within the blue circle. We found this value to 0.50 Ω.
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| Figure 2: Resistance between two holes on opposite sides of the channel |
We then measured the resistance between two holes on opposite sides of the central channel of the breadboard, which was 2.21 MΩ. This process is displayed above in Figure 2.
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| Figure 3: Resistance between two holes in different rows |
Next, we found the resistance between two arbitrary holes not in the same row (Figure 3). The measured value was 1.80 MΩ.
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| Figure 4: Resistance between two holes connected by a wire |
Afterwards, we connected two holes in different rows and on opposite sides of the central channel with a jumper wire. Then, we measured the resistance between these two holes. We found this resistance to be very low: 0.60 Ω. This step is illustrated above in Figure 4.
All the measured values are shown above in Figure 5. We labeled each case as either an open or a closed circuit. We characterized the second and the third cases as open circuits because their resistances were very large (approaching infinity). On the other hand, we concluded that the first and the last cases were closed circuits because their resistances were nearly zero.
CONCLUSION
From this lab, we learned how to use two pieces of equipment that we will be using extensively in this class. We also learned the concepts of open and closed circuits. We learned that open circuits theoretically have infinite resistance. In reality, their resistances will not be infinity because almost everything conducts electricity to a certain extent. Furthermore, we learned that closed circuits theoretically have zero resistance. Again, their actual resistances will be somewhat higher because nothing can conduct electricity perfectly.
