Lab Report Day Five - Nodal Analysis Lab

Today, we are going to use nodal analysis method for solving circuit problem. To check if we get how to use nodal analysis, we first do a pre-lab and find the theoretical value, and compare it to our experimental value, and find the percent difference. 

 

 

Here is our work for the pre-lab.

 

 

Two group members are doing this pre-lab, to make sure we can get the right theoretical value. And our values match. 

 

 

While setting up the experiment, we first want to use a switching power supply as one of our voltage source. Then professor Mason tells us that it will also add current to the circuit. So with the help of our classmates, I learn how to use waveform. 

This is wrong.

 

 

This is the set up of this experiment. We just build it like the circuit in pre-lab.

 

We measure the true values of our three resistors. 

 

Our measured data. 

We get 2.44 V and 4.43 V. Our theoretical value is 2.424 V and 4.424 V. 

% difference = (2.424-2.44)/2.424*100% = -0.660%

% difference = (4.424-4.43)/4.424*100% = -0.136%

 We get our % difference in less than 1%. This is not exactly 100% same as theoretical value because the resistor we are using are a little bit off. Overall, this experiment is a good experiment, and the results are reasonable.

 

Summary:

In today’s lab, we learn how to do nodal analysis. It simplifies the way we solve the equations, while requires more thinking. We also learn mesh analysis. After, we use what we’ve learned in class to practice with a lab and do fine on the lab.