PHYSICS
PROJECT WORK
TOPIC: METER BRIDGE
AISSCE
Session 2019-20
Supervised By- Presented By-
Mr. Sandeep Singh Ayush Kumar Singh
PGT Physics Class- XII B
A. F. S. Gorakhpur Roll No:-
CERTIFICATE
I certify that Ayush Kumar Singh of class XII ‘A’ worked
on the project “Meter Bridge” under my supervision.
He has completed his work successfully during the
session 2019-20.
This project is considered as fulfillments of the AISSCE
Examination conducted by CBSE, New Delhi.
Internal Examiner External Examiner Principal
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I'd like to express my greatest gratitude to the people
who have helped & supported me throughout my
project. I will treasure the knowledge imparted to me
by Mr. Sandeep Sir, my grateful thanks to him for the
able teaching and guidance, his continuous support for
the project, from initial advice & encouragement to
this day.
Special thanks of mine goes to my school who helped
me in completing the project by giving interesting
ideas, thoughts & made this project easy and accurate.
I wish to thanks our school principal Mr. Anil Kumar
Tripathi for his constant support. .
I wish to thanks my parents for their undivided support
& interest who inspired me & encouraged me to go my
own way, without which I would be unable to complete
my project.
Aakarsh Singh
Class: XII-A
Roll No.:
CONTENT
1. Certificate
2. Acknowledgement
3. Introduction
4. Wheatstone Bridge
5. Meter Bridge
6. Lab Experiments
7. Problem Related with Meter Bridge
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
A meter bridge is an electrical instrument which is
used to determine the resistance of a given conductor.
It can be also used to calculate the effective series and
parallel equivalent of resistances.
The meter bridge consists of a long meter bridge wire
which is of 1m length and the meter bridge has two
different sections which are left and right sections. In
the left section we connect the known resistance while
in the right section that resistance is to be joined
whose value is to be determined. A jockey is present
which detects the balance point. The length is
measured from the left end which is also called zero
point to the balance point.
WHEATSTONE BRIDGE
Meter Bridge is an instrument that is used to find the
unknown resistance of a coil or any other material.
This bridge works under the principle of Wheatstone
bridge. We know that the Wheatstone Bridge is used to
measure the unknown resistance connected in a
circuit. It consists of four resistors of which two
resistors are known Resistors, one variable resistor
and one unknown resistor. It also consists of a
galvanometer. The bridge has two series-parallel
arrangements of resistors. The figure of Wheatstone
bridge is shown below:
Wheatstone bridge
It consists of four arms AD, DC, CB and BA which has
fixed and variable resistors. Resistors resist the flow of
electric current. Its measure is called resistance. Here
R1 and R3 are the fixed resistors and R2 is the variable
resistor and Rx is the unknown resistor. The variable
resistor is the resistor which restricts and also can
control the flow of electric current. It can control the
flow of current by either increasing or decreasing the
value of resistance. Here AD and BA are the ratio arms.
A galvanometer is connected between the terminals D
and B. So they are called as the Galvanometer Arm.
As the cell is connected between the terminals A and
C, it is called battery arm.
Here by adjusting the value of the variable resistor
R2 we will make the deflection in galvanometer as zero.
The bridge is said to be balanced when no current
flows through the galvanometer. When there is no
current flowing through the bridge the potential
difference or voltage between the points D and B is
zero. Here the current flowing through the fixed
resistor R1 and the variable resistor R2 is the same and
is considered as I1. The current flowing through the
fixed resistor R3 and the unknown resistor Rx will be
the same and is I2. When the potential at D and B is the
same, the voltage drop from the point A to D is equal
to the voltage drop at from point A to point B.
By applying Kirchhoff’s law we get I 1 R1 - I2 R3 = 0. That
is I1 R1 = I2 R3. Kirchhoff’s voltage law states that the
algebraic sum of all voltages within the loop will be
equal to zero.
Now the voltage drop from point C to point D is equal
to the voltage drop from point C to B. So I 1 R2 - I2 RX =
0. Thus I1 R2 = I2 RX.
Now divide the equations
Thus Rx = R2 R3 / R1. Finally the unknown resistance is
determined in terms of other known Resistors of the
Bridge.
The applications of the Wheatstone bridge include
strain gauge, thermistor, potentiometer, light
detector etc. Wheatstone bridge are also used in
operational amplifier as it can measure and amplify
the small changes that takes place in resistors.
METER BRIDGE
Meter Bridge is also known as the Slide Wire Bridge.
It consists of a wire whose length is one meter and has
uniform cross sectional area. Now the wire is stretched
along a meter scale. The bridge has two metallic strips
which are in reverted L shape on either side of the
wire. These metallic strips act as holders for the wire.
The wire is being clamped to the strips. These two
metallic strips are made up of metals like copper. The
bridge consists of another metallic strip which is
placed between those two strips with a gap between
them. So totally there are five leads on the bridge.
Meter bridge
A resistance box R and an unknown resistance S is
connected across the two gaps of the metallic strips as
shown in the figure. One end of the galvanometer is
connected to the middle lead of the metallic strip
which is placed between the L shaped strips. The other
end of the galvanometer is connected to a jockey. The
jockey is used to slide on the bridge wire. It is a metal
rod with one end as knife edge.
Meter Bridge
Now adjust the value of resistance in the resistance
box and slide the jockey along the wire. This process is
to be done until the galvanometer shows a zero or null
deflection. Consider at point B the galvanometer
showed zero deflection. So now the jockey is
connected to the point B on the wire. Thus the
distance from the point A to B is taken as L 1 cm. Then
the distance from point B to point C is L 2 cm that is 100
- L1 cm. Now the meter bridge becomes similar to the
Wheatstone bridge. The meter bridge now is drawn as
Wheatstone bridge for more clearance.
Meter bridge to Wheatstone bridge
We know that R = ρ L /A, where R is the resistance, ρ is
the resistivity, L is the length of the wire and A is the
area of cross section of the wire. So the resistance
across the portion AB of the wire is R w L1 and that the
resistance across the point BC is R w (100 - L1). Rw is the
resistance of the whole wire. That is according to
Wheatstone bridge we get
This is the equation
So to find the unknown resistance S we have S = R
(100 - L1) / L1
LAB EXPERIMENTS
If we are doing the meter bridge experiment in the lab,
by adjusting the value of resistance box the
galvanometer will show the null deflection. Then we
will find the value of L1 and L2. After substituting these
values in the equation we will find the unknown
resistance. Now the process is being repeated for a
number of values of resistance by adjusting the values
resistance box. Then finally we will get the actual
unknown resistance by calculating the mean of the
unknown resistance. That is, total sum of unknown
resistance / no of times the readings have been taken.
Also the specific resistivity of the material of the wire is
ρ = π r2 X/L, where r is the radius of the wire, X is the
unknown resistance and L is the length of the wire.
PROBLEM RELATED WITH METER BRIDGE
Problem-1: In a meter bridge, there are two unknown
resistance R1 and R2. Find the ratio of R1 and R2 if the
galvanometer shows a null deflection at 30 cm from
one end?
Solution: The null deflection in the galvanometer is
given as 30 cm from one end.
So consider L1 = 30 cm
So L2 = 100 – 30 = 70 cm
Thus the ratio of the unknown resistance can be found
as
Thus R1: R2 = 3: 7
Problem-2: In the meter bridge, the null deflection is
shown on the galvanometer which is at a distance of
30 cm from one point. When a known resistance of 10
Ω is connected in parallel with another unknown
resistance S the null deflection shows at 50 cm from
the same point. Find the unknown resistance of R and
S.
Meter bridge
Solution: In the first case L1 = 30 cm
As the resistors are connected in parallel we know that
the equivalent resistance is R1 R2 / R1 + R2
= 10 * S / 10 + S
In the second case L1 = 50 cm So L2 = 100 – 50 = 50
So according to the formula
R/S=1
= R / (10 S / 10 + S) = 1
So R = 10 S / 10 + S
Substituting the value of R in equation 1we get
From equation 1 we get
Problem-3: A 20 Ω resistor is connected in the left
gap and an unknown resistance is connected in the
right gap of the meter bridge. Also the null deflection
point is shifted by 40 cm when the resistors are
interchanged. Find the value of unknown resistance?
Solution: In the first case the deflection point is taken
as L1. Let the balance point gets shifted to L 2 by 40 cm
when the resistors are interchanged.
So we get L1 - L2 = 40
Also we know L1 + L2 = 100
Solving these two equations we get L2 = 30 cm and
L1 = 70 cm.
CONCLUSION
The meter bridge uses the same principle as
the Wheatstone Bridge.
It is used to find the unknown Resistance of the
Material.
The meter bridge consists of a wire of 100 cm, a
scale, one unknown Resistor, one
known Resistor or a Resistance Box,
a Galvanometer and a jockey.
For finding the unknown Resistance, connect
everything as required. Now until the
galvanometer shows a zero or null deflection,
adjust the value of resistance in the resistance box
and slide the jockey through the wire. Measure the
length of the wire L1 at which the galvanometer
showed null deflection. Calculate the length
L2. Then by using the Wheatstone bridge principle
we can find the unknown Resistance of the
Meter Bridge. The Meter Bridge is also known
as Slide Wire Bridge.
Bibliography
In completing the project I took help of my teacher Mr. Sandeep Singh & the following
references
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
APC Physics Lab
Manual for Class-XII
