Introduction A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit,

one leg of which includes the unknown component. Its operation is similar to the original potentiometer . Wheatstone bridge for R measurement is presented in this lab. In one of the arms bridge Rx is inserted and in another arm 4 available resistor is mounted which is 100 , 1k , 10k , 100k . For the best sensitivity of the bridge the resistor to be selected is the one approaching as much as possible as the resistance can be measured.

Objective The objective of this experiment is being conducted is to measure the value of resistor.

Theory The Wheatstone bridge is used to determine an unknown resistance (Rx in our case) by adjusting a known resistance so that the measured current is zero . Figure 1 shows the principles of this measurement . The bridge has four resistive arms together with a source EMF (battery) and null detector (usually a galvanometer or another sensitive current meter ) . The resistor to be measured (Rx) is inserted into one of the arms of the bridge . In another of the arms a Sample Resistor is mounted , selected between the 4 available on-board the panel having values of 100 , 1k , 10k , 100k . For best sensitivity of the bridge the resistor to be selected is the one approaching as much as possible the resistance to be measured . When the Wheatstone bridge is unbalanced current flows through the galvanometer causing a deflection of its pointer . The deflection is a function of the galvanometer sensitivity . For best sensitivity of the bridge the resistor to be selected is the one approaching as much as possible the resistance to be measured . The bridge is to be power supplied by a DC voltage . Use the same + 15 V from the power supply . The bridge is said to be balanced when the potential difference across the galvanometer is 0V so that no current flow through the galvanometer . This conditions occurs when Vra = Vr or Vrb = Vrx

Apparatus

Multi turn precision potentiometer with dial knob Wire wound potentiometer Resistor and capacitors sets Analogue midscale-zero meter Differential AC amplifier Precision rectifier Dual trace oscilloscope Function generator Frequency counter Digital multimeter

Procedure

1. Wiring is set up as in Figure 2 and the voltage source is set to +15V . 2. Voltage across Rx is checked by connecting a multimeter . The range of resistance is adjusted by inserting one at a time and then one which gives a voltage deviation nearest to is selected . ( ). 3. Multiturn potentiometer is adjusted to null indication and across the measure sockets of the bridge multimeter is connected .

4. To balance the bridge on board center zero meter can be used but it is preferably to use multimeter when the student have gained some operational experience . Switch able range indication is one the advantage using the multimeter . 5. The value of Rx is determined by using balanced condition equation :

Ra = reading from the potentiometer Rb= 10K - Ra 6. Value of Ra ,Rx and R is recorded.

Result

Resistance R Ra Rb Rx Calculation 100 4.6K 5.7K 98.71 1K 4.6K 5.7K 0.9K 10K 4.6K 5.7K 6.0K 100K 4.6K 5.7K 13.03K

RX (BASED ON R-MEASURED)

Rx

Rx calculated

Value 121.9 1.11K 7.407K 16.09K

RX (BASED ON R)

Rx

Rx calculated

Value 123.46 2 k 2 5k 2 5k

DIFFERENCE (%) ( R AS BASE) -1% 10 % -500 % 87 %

Discussion The best value of Rx = 123.46, since it has an acceptable difference of Rx values of 1% .

Conclusion From this experiment conducted I could further my understanding on wheatstone bridge and the ways to retrieve more accurate reading .Other than that we also could see that the bigger the value of R, the bigger the distortion value, therefore the result is unreliable.