Bin Contents: 2 Digital Multi Meters (DMM), a pack of Wires, a thermocouple with adapter, an Extech meter, and the PASCO slide wire apparatus. Not shown but included – a stopwatch/timer.

NOTE: Be careful with the wires! Never pull by from the cord! Always pull from the plug!

Also – re-tie the wires as indicated! 

Obtain a Gray LVPS (Low Voltage Power Supply) – return it when finished.

Obtain a tray, a calorimeter, and a beaker – return when finished.

The slide wire apparatus, left / lo-voltage side; from top to bottom: the black fixed (vertical) post, the knob holding the slide wire, and the black moveable (horizontal) post.

Note that this moveable post usually stays at 0 cm except when removing the slide wire;to remove the slide wire it is shifted a little to the left of o cm.

The slide wire apparatus, right / hi-voltage side; from top to bottom: the red fixed (vertical) post, the knob holding the slide wire, and the red moveable (horizontal) post.

Note that this moveable post is free to slide to any position along the slide wire; to remove the slide wire it is shifted a little to the right of 24 cm.

Sometimes the moveable post “sticks” to a certain position; this is simply due to friction; do not over apply force to any component; if the moveable post “sticks” the best course of action is to grab it by the left and right edges and raise it a little and move it past the cause of obstruction.

For the purposes of illustration only – the yellow wire indicates the fixed post while the blue wire indicates the moveable post.

For the purposes of illustration only – the yellow wire indicates the fixed post while the blue wire indicates the moveable post.

From Page 9, Step 4, a-c

To remove the slide wire, first loosen the knobs at either side then shift the black moveable post just left of 0 cm and the red moveable post just right of 24 cm.

The slide’s area must be determined by its diameter.

Your table drawer contains two micro(u)-meters; the orange or blue case holds the digital version; if that’s missing or not working, the gray case holds the mechanical version.

NOTE – the lowercase ‘u’ is a standard alternative for the Greek letter micro.

From Page 9, Step 4, d

The digital micro(u)-meter; ensure that it’s set to mm and that it’s properly zeroed.

From Page 9, Step 5

Ensure that the slide wire is slipped UNDER the leads from the moveable posts as shown.

From Page 10, Step 5

A DMM, set to Ohms and connected to the moveable posts to measure the resistance of the slide wire. It is mission critical that the DMM is connected ONLY to the moveable posts; otherwise the measurement will be off SIGNIFICANTLY.

A close-up showing the dial setting and the connections.

Alternative – if the LCR meter is available, it may be substituted for the DMM ONLY TO MEASURE RESISTANCE.

Never use an LCR meter to measure current or resistance.

From Page 10, Step 6

A DMM voltmeter connected to the moveable posts; the blue COM lead to the black moveable post and the yellow V lead to the red moveable post.

A close-up showing the dial setting and the connections.

From Page 10, Step 7, a-c

Wire the LVPS’s lo/”-” port to a DMM current meter’s COM port.

A close-up showing the dial setting and the connections.

From Page 10, Step 7, d

Wire a DMM current meter’s A port to the slide wire’s black fixed post.

From Page 10, Step 7, e

Wire the slide wire’s red fixed post to the LVPS’s hi/”+” port.

From Page 10, Step 7

The completed circuit at the end of Step 7.

For Part A (Step 8), you leave the moveable posts at 0 cm (for black) and 24 cm (for red) and only adjust the current knob.

For Part B (Step 4), you leave the current to 1.00 A as directed but shift the red moveable post to various locations around the slide wire.

For Part C – take note of the fact that there are 2 types of calorimeters: the light bulb types use the green label and the resistor types use the red label; they have very different requirements!

A side-by-side comparison of the calorimeters; the light bulb type requires approx 200 mL of water while the resistor type requires 250 mL of water (this is to ensure that the resistor is FULLY SUBMERGED). They also required different maximum voltages! (read Page 12, safety notes)

The calorimeter, fully disassembled.

From Page 12, Step 1 – weigh and record the empty calorimeter’s mass.

From Page 12, Step 4 – fill the inner, clear plastic jar to the fill line as indicated.

NOTE – water will be made available at the rear sink by the ice-maker.

The calorimeter re-assembled.

The calorimeter re-assembled.

From Page 12, Step 7 – weigh and record the filled calorimeter’s mass.

NOTE – the difference is mass is equal to the amount of water mass that was actually poured into the jar. There will always be some deviation in the actual mass vs. the 200 mL or 250 mL values, this is to be expected and recorded for calculations.

From Page 13, Step 9 – disconnect the voltmeter from the slide wire apparatus.

From Page 13, Step 10 – disconnect and remove the slide wire apparatus.

From Page 13, Step 10 – disconnect and remove the slide wire apparatus.

Move the tray to where the slide wire apparatus used to be.

For convenience, all meters and calorimeter should be kept inside the tray.

From Page 13, Step 11 – connect the current meter’s yellow wire to the calorimeter’s black port and connect the LVPS’s red wire to the calorimeter’s red port.

The circuit as it ought to appear at the end of Step 11.

From Page 13, Step 12-a – connecting the voltmeter to the calorimeter.

From Page 13, Step 12-b – connecting the voltmeter to the calorimeter.

Ensure that the thermocouple (in yellow) is connected to the adapter (in white) such that + matches + and – matches –

To connect the thermocouple into the Extech DMM, the adapter must be inserted as shown with the – to the COM and the + to the Temp port as shown.

A close-up showing the connection and the dial setting (at TEMP).

You will need to press the (deg)C button since the Extech meter always defaults to (deg)F.

From Page 14, Step 1 – insert the thermocouple into the calorimater.

NOTE – for the light bulb types there will always be a wide hole available for the thermocouple. However, for the resistor types conditions vary!