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Question 62

An engineer at a materials testing facility is profiling the electrical characteristics of four different circuit elements for a high-precision sensor design:

  • A 10 cm length of heavy-gauge constantan wire
  • A 50 cm length of fine constantan wire
  • A tungsten-filament micro-lamp
  • A silicon p-n junction diode
a.

State four additional items of electrical laboratory equipment required to acquire data to plot these electrical profiles (excluding the four circuit elements and standard connection leads).

[4]
b.

During testing, the engineer must ensure that the constantan wires are maintained at a constant ambient temperature.

Explain why maintaining a constant temperature is critical to the validity of the results.

[1]
c.

Outline two practical laboratory techniques that can be used to prevent or minimise temperature fluctuations in the wires during the data collection process.

[2]
d.

Four different current–voltage (III–VVV) profiles are described below. Match each component to its corresponding graph description:

  • Graph A: A linear relationship passing through the origin, exhibiting a very high rate of change of current with respect to potential difference.
  • Graph B: A linear relationship passing through the origin, exhibiting a low rate of change of current with respect to potential difference.
  • Graph C: A symmetrical curve passing through the origin whose gradient continuously decreases as the magnitude of the applied voltage increases in either direction.
  • Graph D: A curve showing negligible conduction under reverse bias and low forward bias, but an abrupt, massive surge in current once a specific forward potential difference is reached.
[4]
Markscheme

Electricity Questions

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