Physics Lab Station: Electricity and Magnetism
Labs to use with the Physics Lab Station Electricity and Magnetism bundle.
Grade Level: Advanced Placement • High School
Subject: Physics
Activities
01) Magnetic Field of a Permanent Magnet
Students measure the strength of the magnetic field surrounding a permanent magnet as a function of the distance from the magnet.
02) Ohm's Law
Students measure the current and voltage across a resistor while varying the output voltage, A graph of voltage versus current will reveal Ohm's Law. This version uses the potentiometer module to vary the voltage.
03) DC Circuits
Students construct a circuit consisting of two resistors in series and then in parallel. They measure the voltage across the resistors, and the current through the resistors. From their measurements they can infer Kirchhoff's loop and junction rules.
04) Capacitors and RC Circuits
Students construct a circuit that charges and discharges a large capacitor through a light bulb. They create a model for their observations and test the model with current sensor data. They measure the voltage across a smaller capacitor as it is discharged through a resistor and calculate the capacitance from the data.
05) Exploring Inductors
Students construct a circuit that produces current in an inductor and use a compass to investigate its properties. They remove the batteries and use a magnet to produce current in the circuit by moving it by the inductor. They experiment to find patterns between how the magnet is moved and the resulting magnitude and direction of the current.
06) Planck's Constant
Students construct a variable brightness LED circuit. They calculate the frequencies given the LED wavelengths of 4 different color LEDs. They measure the voltage that causes the LED to just turn on and use it to calculate the energy of the emitted photons. They construct a graph of energy vs. frequency and calculate Planck's constant from the slope.
07) Magnetic Field in a Coil
Students construct a circuit that produces current in a coil and use a magnetic field sensor and current sensor to investigate its properties. They determine the direction of the magnetic field in the coil and the direction of the current through the coil. Students measure the magnetic field as a function of current and estimate the permeability constant from their data. They predict the magnetic field as a function of the axial distance and test their predictions and assumptions.
