Solderless Breadboards and Serial and Parallel Resistors
In this lab, you are to characterize a breadboard as which holes are connected and which
ones are not. To do that, you are to use the continuity function of the digital multimeter
and probe through using two wires, each inserted in a hole and if the buzzer sounds, they
are connected. As a finished product, you are to create a drawing of the breadboard you
have and point out all the connection.
For the next part of the lab, you will create series and parallel combination of the resistors
provided in class. The followings are the formulas to use and figures of how they should
look like:
Serial combo: R = R1 + R2 + …
Figure 1 – Series Resistors
Parallel combo: 1/R = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + …
Figure 2 – Parallel Resistors
You could use the resistor color codes to find out the theoretical values of the resistors
and once you have the measured values, you are to use the following formula to find the
error percentage.
% Error = (| Theoretical Value – Measured Value| / (Theoretical Value)) * 100%
For additional practice, next you apply a 12V power (from Agilent E3631A) to the input
of both combinations (Series and Parallel Resistors) and measure the voltages across each
resistor using a multimeter (Fluke 179) and record your results. Here are the figures of
how the connections should be made:
Figure 3 – Series Resistors with Power Supply
Figure 4 – Parallel Resistors with Power Supply
Please show me your results at the end of the session.
Here is again the Resistor Color Codes: