College of Arts and Sciences

Mathematics, Statistics and Physics Department

Experimental Physics II for Engineering

The fuse
Student’s Name: Abdulah Youssef Jarouf Student’s ID: 201506738

Partner’s Name: Abdullah Thabit Alyafei Partner’s ID: 201307354

Partner’s Name: Hassan Ali Al Muhsin Partner’s ID: 201306879

Lab Instructor: Huda Fadol ALyafei

Date Performed: OCT 17th, 2016

Date Submitted: OCT 24th, 2016

:GRADE

Objectives:

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 a. Understanding the meaning of a fuse and its function.
b. Investigating the dependence fusing current of cupper on its diameter.
Introduction:
A fuse is a type of low resistance resistor that acts as a sacrificial device to provide overcurrent
protection, of either the load or source circuit. Its essential component is a metal wire or strip that
melts when too much current flows through it, interrupting the circuit that it connects.
It was found that the maximum current that a wire can
exceed depends on its diameter, and therefore it also
depends on its area as shown in the graph. However
this experiment deals with dimeter only and so
students will rely on the equation I =K d n to test the
fusing current. In fact, the values K and n are
constants depends on the materials of the fuse. In this
experiment, the wires are made of cupper so the value
of n is supposed to be 3/2. To draw the relationship of
I with d easily, the pervious equation can be rewritten
as: ln I =ln K + n ln d and so the slope is going to be n
and the y intercept in ln K because it is a linear
equation. The graph to the right shows how the fusing
current increases as the radius (or dimeter) of the wire increases.
Experimental Apparatus and Procedure:
Power supply rheostat set of wires ammeter

Steps:
1. Students first should pick 3 wires from each set they have (total of 15 wires).
2. Using the micrometer students measures the diameter of the wires and record it.
3. Connect the first wire to the circuit.
4. Slightly students will try to reduce the resistance from the rheostat.
5. At the same time, the current will increase and the wire will start burning.
6. Before the wire totally burn, the current will reach the highest
level and then the circuit will be opened and the current will
again be zero.
7. The most important thing that students should record the
fusing current for each wire.
8. The picture to the right represents the circuit of the
experiment.

Experiment Data:
Set No Wires diameter (mm) Wires fusing current (A)

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 d1 d2 d3 Average I1 I2 I3 Average
d I
1 0.07 0.06 0.07 0.07 1.8 1.9 1.8 1.8
2 0.22 0.24 0.24 0.23 10 9.8 9.9 9.9
3 0.19 0.18 0.19 0.19 7.5 7.2 7.8 7.5
4 0.16 0.17 0.17 0.17 5.7 5.9 5.8 5.8
5 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.10 2.9 3 2.9 2.9
Graphs:
Fusing current
2.5

f(x) = 1.36 x + 4.25

1.5
ln (I) A

1.0

0.5

0.0
-2.80 -2.60 -2.40 -2.20 -2.00 -1.80 -1.60 -1.40 -1.20
ln (d) mm

Linest function:
Slope 1.360587 4.253303 Intercept
Error slope 0.054109 0.110311 Error intercept
R2 0.995278 0.055063 Error bars

R2= 0.995, the graph is linear, and the value of R2 is close to one, therefore it is a suitable value,
and the trend line is close to the points in the graph.

Calculations and analysis:

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Since the equation of the graph isln I =ln K + n ln d, so the general formula of a linear equation if
y=mx+c , where m is the slope and c is the y-intercept. In our case, the slope is n and the y-
intercept is ln(k). However, from the linest function we find:
Value of K:
Y-intercept = Ln (k) = 4.25
K=e Intercept = e 4.25 = 70.10
∆K= e Intercept × ∆y-intercept = e Intercept × 0.11 = 7.7
Therefore, K = 70.1 ± 7.7
Value of n:
n = slope = 1.36 ∆n = ∆slope = 0.05
Therefore, n = 1.36 ± 0.05 A/mm
k th −k expmntl
2 = ¿ 2 ¿<3
th 2 expmntl
( ∆ k ) +〖 ∆ k ¿¿
 = 0.56 < 3  the values of n are almost the same
2

theoratical−expmntl 1.5−1.36
% error in n = ∗100 = ∗100 = 9.3%
theroratical 1.5

Conclusion:
The results obtained from the experiment were as expected. By looking to the values of K
and n obtained from the experiment, it is shown that those values are close to the actual
values, and that the error percentage which is equal to 9.3% is Kind of small in the
comparison . Moreover, by looking to the table of results, it is clear that the fusing current
of the copper wire increase with increasing diameter, which verifies the dependence of
the fusing current on the diameter of the wire used.

References:
a. PHYS 194 Manual, p18, p30-32.
b. Error propagation file
c. Internet sources: Douglas Brooks, fusing current notes.

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