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INTRO TO CIRCUITS
Name
PHYS-226-LAB-A
February 15, 2024
Introduction
The purpose of the experiment is to understand the main ideas of circuits and observe the
circuit types according to a resistor (light-bulb) position in a circuit.
Procedure
Part 1: Complete Circuits
Acquire a battery, a light bulb, and a single piece of wire. Experiment with different
configurations to illuminate the bulb. Specify the conditions necessary for the bulb to
illuminate.
A student has momentarily connected a wire to the battery terminals until the wire becomes
warm to the touch. The student observes that the warmth appears evenly distributed along the
wire. What is the reason for this?
Illuminate a bulb using a battery and a single wire. Monitor and document the bulb’s
behavior (i.e., its brightness) when objects made from various materials are introduced into
the circuit. (Consider materials such as paper, coins, pencil lead, eraser, your finger, etc.)
Examine the inside of a bulb. Two wires extend from the filament of the bulb into the base.
Guess where the wires attach to the base.
We will make two assumptions:
1. A flow exists in a complete circuit from one terminal of the battery, through
the rest of the circuit. We will call this flow electric current.
2. For identical bulbs, bulb brightness can be used to indicate the amount of current
through that bulb: the brighter the bulb, the greater the current.
Part 2: Bulbs in Series
Make a connection with the power source and Circuit Experiment Board using the alligator
clips to the battery terminal. Set the voltage to 3.00 V and put DC on the function generator.
Place two bulbs back to back on the Circuit Experiment board and connect one after the
other. One cable must connect the battery to one bulb, one cable must connect one to the
other, and one cable must connect the other bulb and the battery.
Then, compare the brightness of the two bulbs with each other. Compare the brightness of
each of the bulbs in the two-bulb series circuit with that of a bulb in a single-bulb circuit.
Part 3: Bulbs in Parallel
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Do not change the place of the bulbs. Both ends of the first bulb are connected directly to the
battery. The other bulb is connected either directly to the battery or to the left and right of the
first bulb.
Compare the brightness of the bulbs. Is the brightness of each bulb in the two-bulb parallel
circuit greater than, less than, or equal to that of a bulb in a single-bulb circuit? Does the
amount of current through a battery seem to depend on the number of bulbs in the circuit and
how they are connected? Unscrew one of the bulbs in the two-bulb parallel circuit. Does this
change significantly affect the current through the branch that contains the other bulb?
Part 4: Limitations: the need to extend the model
Assume a circuit with three identical bulbs in it. Two of them (A, and B) are series and one of
them (C) is parallel to one of the series bulbs (B).
Predict the relative brightness of the bulbs.
Predict how the brightness of bulb A changes when the C bulb is removed from the circuit.
Conclusion
In this experiment, we examined the results of connecting different bulbs to different circuits.
In Part 1, it was found that the circuit must be closed for the circuit to work and that the
circuit must consist of conductive materials. Because the light bulb only burned when the
wire touched the metal part of the bulb. Also, while the wire touches the bulb, the bulb must
also touch the battery so that the bulb can light up.
In Part 2, the bulbs were connected in series. The brightness of the bulbs was different
because the same current flows through both bulbs, but because the bulbs also act as resistors,
less current flows to the next bulb. Although there is a difference in the brightness of the
bulbs, this difference is often very small.
In Part 3 the bulbs are connected in parallel and the brightness is the same because the bulbs
are identical and have the same resistance. Since they have the same potential difference from
the battery, the current flowing through them is also equal because of the formula V=I*r.
In Part 4, the differences in the currents flowing through the bulbs connected in parallel and
in series are analyzed. With 3 bulbs connected together, bulb A is brighter because all the
current flows through bulb A while the bulbs connected in parallel share the incoming
current. When bulb C is removed, less current flows through bulb A because less current is
supplied to the circuit.
