Series and parallel circuits virtual lab answers

Building Electrical Circuits

LAB #11 Building Electrical Circuits

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Overview

This lab is composed of tasks utilizing a PhET (Physics Education technology) simulation. You used this simulation, “Circuit Construction Kit: DC - Virtual Lab” , back when doing lab #2. This is just a continuation of some the concepts you learned then.

If you have questions or problems with the interactive website, be sure to ask your TA for assistance.

Instructions:

Download and save this document to your computer. Answer the questions directly in this document. When you are done, SAVE the file as “PHYSICS LAB 11”, and return it to your TA via BB Learn. Please contact your TA with any questions or other issues.

Go to the Circuit Construction Kit Simulation at:

https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc-virtual-lab

PART I

Use the simulation to construct the basic series circuit below.

Use three light bulbs two batteries and a switch

1) After closing the switch, with current flowing, use both the voltmeter and the ammeter to measure the voltage and the current at the locations indicated in the table below.

TYPE OF MEASUREMENT/LOCATION

Measured Value

Voltage across a & b

Voltage across c & d

Voltage across e & f

Voltage across g & h

Voltage across a & d

Voltage across a & f

Voltage across c & f

Current between g & a

Current between b & c

Current between d & e

Current between f & h

2) Looking at the Voltage measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Voltage in a Series Circuit?

3) Looking at the Current measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Current in a Series Circuit?

PART II

Use the simulation to construct the basic parallel circuit below.

Use three light bulbs two batteries and a switch

TYPE OF MEASUREMENT/LOCATION

Measured Value

Voltage across a & b

Voltage across c & d

Voltage across e & f

Voltage across g & h

Voltage across a & d

Voltage across a & f

Voltage across c & f

Current between g & a

Current between g & c

Current between g & e

Current between b & h

4) After closing the switch, with current flowing, use both the voltmeter and the ammeter to measure the voltage and the current at the locations indicated in the table below.

5) Looking at the Voltage measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Voltage in a Parallel Circuit?

6) Looking at the Current measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Current in a Parallel Circuit?

Part III

Use the simulation to construct a basic series circuit, as you did before except this time replace one of the bulbs with two bulbs in parallel . The circuit diagram is below.

Use four light bulbs two batteries and a switch

7) After closing the switch, with current flowing, use both the voltmeter and the ammeter to measure the voltage and the current at as many locations that you need to be able to answer the following two questions.

a) Looking at the Voltage measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Voltage in the Parallel part of the circuit as opposed to the Series part of the circuit?

b) Looking at the Current measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Current in the Parallel part of the circuit as opposed to the Series part of the circuit?

Part IV

Use the simulation to construct a basic parallel circuit, as you did before except this time replace one of the bulbs with two bulbs in series . The circuit diagram is below.

Use four light bulbs two batteries and a switch

8) After closing the switch, with current flowing, use both the voltmeter and the ammeter to measure the voltage and the current at as many locations that you need to be able to answer the following two questions.

a) Looking at the Voltage measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Voltage in the Series part of the circuit as opposed to the Parallel part of the circuit?

b) Looking at the Current measurements you took, what simple general rule could you make about Current in the Series part of the circuit as opposed to the Parallel part of the circuit?

Part V

Watch the following video:

https://youtu.be/x2EuYqj_0Uk

9) In what way, if any, did the video confirm your findings in Parts I thru IV above? What did you learn, if anything, from this video about Series vs Parallel circuits?

SAVE THIS WORD DOCUMENT WITH YOUR ANSWERS

RETURN IT TO YOUR TA VIA BB-LEARN.

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