Physics Labs with a Digital MultiMeter

I have four labs that I have my students do with a digital multimeter (DMM). Because some of them are copyrighted, I can't just go ahead and post them here. However, I'll describe the labs in general, and then give you URL links to labs already posted on the Internet that would be similar. When you find a lab on the Internet, you can often copy and paste the materials into Word and then make the specific modifications you want for your own classroom.

The first chapter in my AP Physics C Electricity and Magnetism course is on Electric Potential. With the digital multimeter, a couple of electrodes made out of wire, and a couple of batteries, students can map the electric field lines created. Penn State has placed a nicely written lab on Electric Potential and Field Mapping on the Internet.

The second chapter in my course is on electric potential, thus static electricity labs would seem a natural. I've not had much luck getting the static electricity labs to give decent results. Thus I skip doing a lab in this chapter, and instead have them do two labs in the third chapter in my course on Ohm's law and Electric Circuits.

The first lab we do in the third chapter is a simple lab on DC electrical circuits. Cerritos College in California has a web site that hosts a nice introductory lab on DC Circuits that includes an explanation of how to use the DMM.

The second lab we do in the third chapter is on Ohm's Law. Cerritos College also has on their web site a nice Ohm's Law lab that would be similar to what my students do. Or you might find pages 1 though 8 at the Southern Australian Science Teachers Association web site to be a suitable lab for your students on Ohm's Law and basic DC circuits.

The fourth lab I have my students do with the DMM is looking at charging and discharging a capacitor in a DC circuit. For suitable versions of this lab activity, you might check out the following:

a) Pages 10 and 11 of Capacitor Changing and Discharging Circuits at the Southern Australian Science Teachers Association web site.

b) This site hosted by North Carolina University deals with charging and discharging a capacitor through an LED. While they use a proprietor program called Data Studio, with a little bit of effort you should be able to work around that. When they talk about using a Signal Generator, notice that they also tell the students to set its output to DC; I call that combination "a battery".

c) The lab Mr. White posted at this site, gives students work with the time constant in an RC circuit.

d) I like the way they use the calculus to lay the foundation for the study of the voltages in an RC circuit at this lab hosted by Harvard.

As exploratory material, since LEDs usually aren't talked about in our textbooks, here is a site that has a very nice background and explanation of LEDs and how they are hooked into a circuit.

Content related to this blog posting can be found at HippoCampus under Electric Field Lines, Potential & Electric Field, Resistance, Multiloop Circuits, Capacitor & Resistor Circuits, and Flashing Light - Simulation.