Change of Resistance of a Metal with Temperature

OCdt Reitsma

25 November 2015
Abstract
The resistivity temperature coefficient of copper was determined to be ((4.45 0.2) x 10-3 C-1 by
measuring the resistance of a copper coil at different temperatures from 39.1C to 50C.

Introduction
The resistance in the copper coil can be measured using a Wheatstone Bridge (Fg. 1). In order to
find the resistance of the copper coil, RCu, the current through the bridge (CB) must equal zero.
Fg. 1 Wheatstone Bridge Apparatus

When it is zero, it must be that :

VAB = VAC and VBD = VCD (1)
Where V is voltage (V).

Using Ohms Law:

 V = IR (2)
Where V is voltage (V), I is current (A) and R is resistance ().

Therefore, it must be that:

I1R1 = I2RCu and I1R2 = I2RS (3)
From this it can be said:
I1R1 = I2RCu R1 = RCu (4)
I1R2 I2RS R2 Rs
Therefore, when the coil is heated and all resistances in the system are set so that the current in
the bridge is zero, then at that specific temperature:
RCu = RsR1/R2 (5)
In terms of the temperature coefficient of copper, :
RCu = RCuo(1+T) (6)
Where RCuo is the resistance of copper at 0C, T is temperature (C), and is the temperature
coefficient of copper (C-1).
Combining (5) and (6), it can be said that:
RsR1/R2 = RCuo(1+T) (7)
Which can be rearranged to:
R1 = R2RCuoT + R2RCuo (8)
RS RS
Which on a graph would appear:
R1 =b*T +b* (9)
*b = R2RCuo (10)
RS
The slope of the resulting graph can be used to calculate the temperature coefficient
slope = b = slope/b
(11)
Procedure
A copper coil was placed in a beaker of room temperature water and its resistance was measure
using a Fluke 8010A Digital Multimeter with an instrument uncertainty (A) of 0.2 mA. Then,
a wheatstone bridge was set up following Fg. 1, where R2 was a decade box set to (1500.4) ,
RS was (393.9) fixed resistor, R1 was a variable decade box, RCu was the copper coil in the
beaker, and the Ammeter was the same Fluke multimeter as used before. RCu was placed atop a
hot plate and a thermometer and magnetic stirrer were inserted into the beaker. R1 was then set so
that it had a greater resistance than RCu, so that the multimeter read about 10 mA. R1 was
recorded and then the copper coil was heated. When the current through the bridge read zero, the
temperature of the copper coil was recorded, and R1 was raised again in the same manner.This
process was repeated, raising the temperature of the copper coil until it approached 100 C.
Then, R1 was set so that it was less than RCu and equal to a previously recorded R1 value so that a
second trial could be performed. The copper coil was then cooled using ice cubes until the
multimeter read 0, and the temperature and resistance were recorded. This was repeated until the
copper coil reached room temperature. The results are shown in Fg. 2.

Results
Fg. 2 shows the relationship between the resistance and the temperature of the copper (raw data)
and it is clear that this is linear relationship.
From Fg. 2, the slope, m, was calculated to be (0.158 0.006) /C and the y intercept, b, to be
(35.7 0.2). Using m, b, and equation (11) ( = slope/b), was calculated to be ((4.45 0.2) x
10-3) C-1. Additionally, using b and equation (10), RCuo was calculated to be (9.3 1.0).

Discussion
The theoretical model shown in equation (9) predicts a linear relation between resistance and
temperature. This prediction is confirmed by the results in Fg. 2.
From the linear analysis a value of ((4.45 0.2) x 10-3) C-1 was obtained for the temperature
coefficient of resistance for copper. This value agrees with external sources value for copper,
which is 4.29 x 10-3 C-1 (engineeringtoolbox.com) as the established value lies within the error
margins of the experimentally determined value. Additionally, the experimentally measured
value of RCu (resistance of copper coil at 21.6 C), (9.9 0.2), agrees with the RCu calculated
using equation (6), (10.2 1.1).

Conclusion
The temperature coefficient of resistance for copper was determined to be ((4.45 0.2) x 10-3)
C-1, which is in agreement of the established value of 4.29 x 10-3 C-1.

References
Resistivity, Conductivity and Temperature Coefficients for some Common Materials.
(n.d.). Retrieved November 24, 2015, from http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/

Appendix
The uncertainties used were R1 = 0.2 , R2 = 0.4 , RS = 0.4 , and T = 0.1C.