Current and Potential Difference Lab
Take readings for a resistor, a filament lamp and a diode, and watch each I–V graph build up.
About this activity
Students change the potential difference across a fixed resistor, a filament lamp and a diode, read the ammeter each time and see the I–V graph plotted point by point. They calculate resistance from their own readings, explain each shape and match three graphs to their components. The first screen says how the practical fits the student’s exam board: a required practical for AQA and a core practical for Edexcel.
How to use Current and Potential Difference Lab
- Current and Potential Difference Lab is a free Physics activity for Years 9 to 11 that takes about 12 minutes. Try it on this page on a computer, tablet or phone: there’s nothing to download.
- In a lesson, choose Show on the board to play it together as a class.
- To set it for a class, a teacher shares it and gets a code: students type the 6-digit code at lycolearn.co.uk/join with their first name and the first letter of their surname (no accounts needed), and their scores come back to the teacher.
Students will
- Connect an ammeter in series and a voltmeter in parallel
- Calculate resistance from potential difference and current
- Explain the I–V graphs of a resistor, a filament lamp and a diode
- Recognise each component from the shape of its graph
Teaching tips
- Ask students to calculate the lamp’s resistance at 2 V and at 6 V and say why they differ.
- Works well on the board: take the readings together, then predict the next graph.