Ohm’s Law Lab
Every step during the introduction of DC current is illustrated with a simple hands-on activity using Pasco circuit
boards with 2 D-cells, lights, resistors, and capacitors. The students produce a series of short lab reports with circuit
diagrams, observations, and simple calculations. The major activity in this set is the Ohm’s Law component.
Purpose: To determine the voltage of the cell graphically from the slope of a best-fit line.
Equipment: Resistors, digital multimeter, D-cell, connecting wire.
Theory:
V  IR
The student must collect resistance and current data, and then linearize it to obtain the desired result. Because only
four unique resistance values are provided, the student must rely upon equivalent resistance to get the required
amount of data; since I ask them to use at least 8 unique resistances.