Year 10 - Science
Measuring the resistance of a diode
Circuit components
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit explores current, resistance, and potential difference. It covers circuit design for lamps, diodes, and thermistors, and emphasises planning experiments, data interpretation, and presenting scientific conclusions.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to interpret an you–V graph of a diode in order to describe its properties.
Key Notes
- The properties of a diode are different, depending on the direction of p.d. across it.
- An appropriate range of p.d. includes 0 V and the maximum voltage of the diode and at least four other readings.
- An appropriate range for a diode includes the maximum p.d. in both directions, with positive and negative values.
- For electricity investigations, it is good practice to take many more than the minimum number of measurements.
Vocabulary To Learn
- diode: an electrical component that is used to prevent current flow in one direction
- semiconductor: a material that has both metallic and non-metallic properties
- threshold p.d.: the potential difference at which a diode allows current to flow
- reverse–biased: when a diode is reverse–biased, it prevents current from flowing
- forward–biased: when a diode is forward–biased, it allows current to flow
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- The gradient of an I–V graph is equal to 1/R because I = V ÷ R.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the scientific idea in this lesson using two key points.
The properties of a diode are different, depending on the direction of p.d. across it. An appropriate range of p.d. includes 0 V and the maximum voltage of the diode and at least four other readings.
2. Define this scientific word and use it in context. 'diode'
an electrical component that is used to prevent current flow in one direction. Include the word in a full scientific explanation, not as a single label.
3. Correct this common scientific misunderstanding.
Mistake: The gradient of an I–V graph is equal to 1/R because I = V ÷ R. Correction: Explain how the equation for a straight line graph y = mx + c does not apply in this case because the graph is not a straight line.
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