Okay
I have this piece of equipment. Its a board with a bunch of wire wrapped around a wooden stick. Each coil of wire is a different length, thickness or material. I believe the purpose of this board is to show how resistance depends on resistivity of the material, length and cross-sectional area.
Now my question is this..
1. How do I write a lab activity to have students experimentally show what R is? I was thinking of just having them use Ohm's law and send a fixed potential difference through the wire. THen they could just measure the current using a multimeter. (not quite sure where to measure current but I think I can figure that out)
2. Now I asked some of my electronics students (dumb of me) what they thought. They are convinced I will blow the power supply or melt the wires. So how do I do this so that I don't wreck it.
3. Does anyone have a similair lab? I remember doing something similiar as undergraduate but apparently I had a bonfire with my lab write-ups.....
Thanks
tina
Tina Fanetti
Physics Instructor
Western Iowa Technical Community College
4647 Stone Ave
Sioux City IA 51102
712-274-8733 ext 1429